Saturday was yet another quiet day, but was upsetting, with the quality of the idlies made by me from the regular dough sourced from our neighbourhood retailer, not coming up to scratch for my father. I caught up with a lot of reading and responding to letters from friends. Ramesh came over in the evening to spend some time and to pick his spirits up. We have decided to have a couple of boys days out next week. I sourced dough for idlies from a new shop and let it ferment over night.
Sunday suddenly became very busy to start with me making a batch of idlies which finally met with the approval of my father. Phew! It warmed up with Jay wanting to take my help to chrystalize some of his thoughts. The discussions carried on throughout the day and till late in the evening. Kunal landed up with some badly needed replenishment of a typical whole wheat khari biscuits that my father likes. He also brought an aluminium walking stick which will now supplement the lighter one that I now prefer to use over wooden or cane ones.
Monday was peaceful again with no visitors but Jay kept me busy on and off with deep discussions on matters spiritual. I went to the park with the new walking stick which was much admired by those in the gang who use similar props to navigate their way.
Tuesday was, in contrast to Mondy, a humdinger. It saw Neena landing up with her 84 year old cousin Shalinitai for a visit and the latter was simply awesome. Brisk and lively she lit up our conversation and as a parting gift gave me a book of her published articles as well as a book written by her late husband. It was a grand reunion with Neena who I had not seen for many years.
Subsequently I drove the car to the bank and finally closed down the last superfluous bank account that my father had kept alive for sentimental reasons. One less complication to tackle henceforth. I was also mightily pleased that I could drive in heavy traffic manage the parking and tackle the bankers who were most reluctant to close the account.
On Tuesday, it was also the turn of the washing machine to conk out too. My telephone calls to the customer care center could not solve the problem due to their computer system not functioning. Luckily, due to earlier contacts, I was able to speak to the fracnhisee service provider who promptly sent a technician to solve the problem. My readers will find it difficult to believe it, but the problem was a couple of coins that had jammed the mechanism! I was however impressed with the service and the cheerful way that the technicians tackled the problem.
And to put some icing on the cake, just as I was about to leave for my evening walk to the park, I got a phone call from Srinivas, a young father of the little girl in the photo that follows, to join him for some coffee at FW. We spent around two hours discussing various things that were very stimulating for me, if somewhat tiring at the end. While in the FW a stream of other friends landed up to greet and wish me and it was all very gratifying.
After the hectic Tuesday, Wednesday was an anticlimax. A quiet day that afforded me enough time to finish reading a fascinating book “The Rational Optimist” by Matt Ridley. This was recommended to me by my friend Tilak in late January and I had been reading bits and pieces since the beginning of February. I was able to inform Tilak that I finally finished reading it and gave him my comments on it too. My father was feeling uneasy and I took him to the doctor who has diagnosed an upset stomach and gave him the appropriate treatment. He felt better by evening. Jay went missing on Tuesday night, but Ranjan was informed late in the night by him that he was safe.
Thursday saw my father fully recovered and back to his normal self. I had a quiet day and went to the park and did some shopping too. Jay returned looking well and took his baggage and disappeared again threatening that he will make a return soon.
I spent most of Friday convening an initiative for our local alumni association chapter. It went off well.