India Visit Days 7 and 8 - Quiet days

On the 4th and the 5th of March, I was busy sorting out affairs at home and related to my own issues in India, including visiting relevant people like my C.A. etc. I also had the opportunity to meet or talk on the phone with many more people whom I have lost regular touch with. I had a chance to meet some of my own GS class-mates over tea and snacks at a restaurant in Opera House area, Mumbai. The friends who came to meet me were few in number, but they more than made up for it in apportioning a lot of their busy time to chat with me and share their ideas. They included Drs. Dhaval Gandhi (a plastic surgeon), Suhas Parikh (a cardiac surgeon) and Raghunath Phatak (a diabetologist). Dr. Phatak is also my own diabetic doctor. The four of us met at Vihar Coffee House and had a very good time! We had some chinese vegetable starters and a medley of dosas over tea or coffee. It was high quality time indeed and I returned from this meeting with very good memories. Here, I share a few photos of this meeting.

Drs Dhaval, Raghunath and Suhas from left to right with me

I also had the chance to meet with an old friend of mine, also my classmate, but also close to me because we hail from the same native place in Gujarat. This was Dr. Shailesh Joshi, who is now a successful Orthopaedic surgeon in Bhandup and other central suburban areas of Mumbai. We met at his house in Bhandup, where he had invited me. Here are a few photos of this meeting:

And that, my dear reader, brings me to the end of this entry. Thank you for reading. I would much appreciate your comments.

India Visit, Day 6: My own birthday

On the third of March, my family and I went out to Barbecue Nation for a celebratory birthday dinner. This outlet is located inside the Atria Mall at Worli. My daughters had pre-booked, so there was no problem with finding a table; however, we did get a bit delayed, so we had to call them to tell them to keep our table for a little while longer (this restaurant has two seatings at fixed times, as their barbecuing gets going before that to make sure that every table gets whatever they want as much as they need). The theme was seafood, and while the barbecue sticks kept coming as long as we did not put a stop to them, the main course could be had from the side boards where the food had been laid out on a buffet. 

Earlier in the day, I was presented my "gifts", consisting of a tee-shirt and a wallet. Thank you, dear wife and daughters.

Following the extremely enjoyable dinner, we also had desserts and then a cake that the kids had asked the restaurant to serve at the end of the meal. Happy memories follow.

India visit, Day 4 and 5: Family dinner at Apoorva and meet-ups

The next few days went by with me doing a lot of stuff that would otherwise be termed minor - like doing chores and running errands, but it helped me organise the pending activities in the house, as all the rest of my family are continually busy with their work and profession. In the evening, on Tuesday the 1st of March, we all went out for dinner. The place we chose is the Apoorva restaurant in Fort. It is one of the most famous, reasonably priced fish food joints in south Mumbai. This time, too, it did not let us down. We had generous portions of starters and a fried fish (surmai) for the main course. Really enjoyed myself.

On Wednesday, I went to meet some of the important family members I did not meet last week, such as my uncle Moiz Sawliwala. He is nearly 90 but continues to be mentally sharp and active. I also had a chance to meet a few others - on the road, while shopping or moving into the market. One such person was my cousin Masuma Pacha. She is the daughter of my mum's first cousin. It was a pleasure meeting her near Crawford Market with her daughter Munira.

There was great interaction between me and some of my neighbours. This is especially true of Iqbal Bhinderwala, who is my immediate neighbour. He and his family have been a source of great support to me and my family. The next is Mr and Mrs Subair and Sabina Sawliwala. I met with them and their very pretty daughter Zahra. Finally, I had a long meeting with the Karmalawalas, my third-floor neighbours, whom I went to visit to commiserate on my behalf as they had a double loss of both their parents last month within the space of a few hours. Here, I also met their elder daughter Tasneem, who is in India from the UK. She lives with her husband in Liverpool.

In addition to these people, I also met with the neighbours of my mum when I went to visit her. One of the people I met was Razia Shakir, who is the daughter of Mr and Mrs Yusuf Sihorwala. She lives in Dubai, and meeting her by chance after nearly 3 decades was an amazing thing.

India Visit, Day 3: A family visit

I made my statutory visit to the home of my sister in law, who recently lost her husband to an unexpected, short illness. Pappu bhaiya we called him. 

He leaves behind his wife, Balwinder, a son and his wife, and their toddler son Vansh, apart from my wife, Kamaljeet (Nishrin), his sister and some other relatives. The visit was statutory because my brother in law passed away just over 3 weeks ago. It was a sad home, and there was nothing much to say. I tried to bring some cheer to their family by taking some toys and stuff for Vansh, but there really wasn't much I could do to alleviate the sense of loss the entire household suffered from. 

May Waheguru rest his soul in peace. 

India Visit: Day 2, Unravelling the surprise

Today would be the BIG day. I woke up really early and dressed up. The aim was to travel to Tungarli by bus and reach the place where the entire Savliwala family was gathered for an annual get-together. There, I would surprise everyone by presenting myself. Buses to Pune leave from near Dadar. The first Shivneri A/C bus would start at a quarter past five a.m. Accordingly, I left my house at half past four, reaching the Dadar bus stand at five a.m. The bus was loading already. I purchased my seat, then visited a local stall to get a cup of tea. The journey started on time, and I got off at the Khandala bypass at a little after half past seven. From here, I got a rickshaw to take me to the bungalow where the family had got together the previous morning. 

Imagine the shock those on the verandah got when they saw me alighting outside the gate of the bungalow! They almost shouted my name, and within the next thirty seconds, all the family, including my own sweet wife and daughters had come out running to greet me. Disbelief was writ large on their faces, but they all were smiling and cheering me when they realised that it was indeed me and not someone else who had come calling on them as they lazily woke up to a cheerful Sunday morning. One of the major talking points was their awe at how much I had reduced, and how much more fit I looked. My friend (and cousin) Salim Dadla was joyous at meeting me, and my uncle Abbas Dadla came over to get a photo with me, saying that he wanted to be in a photo with me because I was his favourite nephew ;-)!

The rest of the day passed meeting with everyone, playing games on the outside ground, joining the family for a delicious lunch, taking pictures, and fraternising with the elders of the family. Here are a few of those memories:

With my beloved wife, Nishrin (Guddi Kamaljeet)

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With Shenaz Dadla

Abbasuncle Dadla

My mother

With Inas

All the young and pretty women

The scenic environment

Creative climb

My younger brothers Murtuza (above) and Kaizar (middle)

It was at about noon that Nishrin had to leave us as she had some customers booked at her salon in Mumbai in the evening. The rest of us left at about 5 in the evening. My own family and that of Murtuza with our mum travelled in a hired car driven by a professional driver. We stopped at a food mall on the way, but arrived without any incident by ten in the evening. We first dropped mum at her place, and then, drove to Mazgaon where Murtuza and his wife and kids alighted first, followed by a drive to my own place where we relinquished the car and reached our home safely at about half past ten. It had indeed been a landmark day!

India Visit, Day 1: World Vision Partnership Meet

I was aware that there was an opportunity for me to meet two of my four sponsored children at the Mumbai Partnership meeting arranged by the NGO that has enabled me to organise charity for underprivileged children: World Vision India (see their website). My arrival at the Mumbai airport was at around 1 p.m. My objective was to reach the venue of the meeting before half past two. I knew that would be almost impossible, since I had to first travel to my home in south Mumbai, and then, to the meeting venue which was again in north Mumbai, at a suburb known to many as the Queen of Suburbs of India, or, simply said, Bandra. I hastily completed my immigration formalities.By half past one, I was out of it and into the cab hire area. I chose a cool cab and was on my way home within a few seconds. I requested the cabbie to wait for me to go up and dump my luggage and then, when I came back down, to take me to the Bandra suburb to the venue of the meet. 

When I arrived at the auditorium, someone from WVI immediately engaged me in the registration process, while another one called out to the two Mumbai-based children who had come to the venue with the hope of meeting me. We then met up with each other - me and the two children, and it was a magical moment that I won't ever forget.

Here are some photos of that memorable occasion. 

After meeting with both my friends, I went into the auditorium to attend part of the Partnership meet which was about showcasing the work of the organisation as well as presentations by many of the sponsored children who have now grown out of their childhood and are settling down in higher education and so on. It was all very inspiring, but I left soon as I was dog tired from my air travel. However, I did capture a few moments from the events on the stage. The first is a group song, while the second is a screen grab of the head of the WVI addressing the gathering.

Returned home to finish unpacking my stuff and then went out to have a nice fish dinner in the restaurant down my lane. I slept early as I planned to take an early morning bus to Tungarli to join the rest of my extended family and my own in a move that would take everyone by surprise. 

What the surprise was

Nearly a fortnight later, I am ready to continue writing my blog as I was too busy to sit down and write. As many of you are already following me on the social media, you all may have guessed that the surprise I spoke about on my previous entry was my completely unannounced but well-planned visit to my home-town for 10 days starting 26th February 2016.

Hannah, my daughter, and I had discussed the possibility of my visiting Mumbai a few months ago; in fact, she was the one who had broached it. I had said it would not be possible as it would be too quick to ask for a holiday after my joining the new job in November 2015. She had got reconciled to this, but I began to think, why not. When I came to know that my entire family would be on a trip to a family get-together on the last weekend in February, I spoke to the doctor who arranges off-days and vacations in our department. I told him I needed some days off which could be deducted from my annual quota of vacations. He agreed with the dates I proposed. Once he sanctioned this, I booked my flight tickets and proceeded with the plan to visit India. 

A major incident occurred in early February which could have toppled the apple-cart. My brother-in-law suddenly passed away. My own family's participation in the larger get-together was dicey, as my wife Nishrin was suddenly bereaved. Over the next few weeks, the loss dulled somewhat, and many of my cousins, including those who had planned the get-together convinced Nishrin to, in fact, join in the do. As the day of the do neared, so did the day for me to fly. I finally took the host couple (actually, the ones who did all the arrangements for the do)  into confidence. I told them that I needed the address of the bungalow they had hired for the do, as I was planning to reach there as a surprise. The couple, Salim and Samira, were pleasantly shocked when I shared the news with them, as they had, sort of, accepted the fact that I wasn't going to be among the family at the meeting. They promised to keep the secret. 

A few days before the actual event of the get-together, my family announced in our extended family group (on Whatsapp) that their participation was on. I knew now that my trip and its objective of a secret arrival was going to be a success. I flew to India on the evening of the 26th, arriving via Abu Dhabi on a Etihad jump flight on the afternoon of the 27th. I had broken the news to my neighbour, who usually have a set of spare keys to my house. They had coordinated my arrival with me so beautifully! And had kept the secret as well. Had I not confided in them, I would have had no way to enter my own home on my arrival! 

All the chips fell in place, then, and I arrived to a locked house at about half past two on the Saturday, My immediate task was to dump my luggage and proceed immediately to a social event organised by World Vision India, a non-governmental Christian organisation that I am a part of as I have adopted some poor kids through their agency. They were having a big Mumbai Partners' Meet at a public auditorium in Bandra. I was supposed to meet my Mumbai-based adoptees here between 2 and 3 p.m. Although I was running late, I did manage to reach a few minutes after three, when the kids I had adopted were about to leave, having waited for me for over an hour with their mothers. I met them then, and had photos taken of our meeting ... but that's another story. 

I will end this entry here, and continue my visit experiences over the next several entries. Do read on. 

Thanks for visiting my blog ... do put in your thoughts into the comments section.