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| Iced Cortado. Subko, Bandra |
I felt like taking a break the other day. Just chill. Not work. Not think of work.
Why didn’t you?
I had already taken such a long break. Taking another day off seemed too indulgent. Not right.
You have had a bad run as far as your health is concerned.
First the migraine that knocked you out.
Then the fall at home.
Going to the hospital after that. The stress of being at the casualty ward and of being made to sit on a wheelchair while you waited to see the doctor. His diagnosis which was a bit circumspect at that point.
The series of tests you had undergo the next day. Including the MRA where you had to overcome claustrophobia.
The uncertainty of it all.
Getting back your strength back slowly. The cocktail of meds consisting of pain killers, anti migraine med etc didn’t help as they knock you out. The multiple hospital visit to collect the reports and to meet the doctor. So stressing for K too.
You have every right to take a day off. Don’t be so hard on yourself. The earlier breaks that you spoke off were not breaks that you chose. They were thrust on you because of health issues.
She made sense. As she always does. I am talking of my therapist.
I realised that in corporate terms what I had considered as a ‘break’ is actually a sick leave. And what I now sought was ‘casual leave.’
I had a back pain after ages last evening. I could not sleep till 4 am. K woke up then as she had an early morning flight to catch. She suggested I take a pill. That worked and I finally slept.
I woke when the car cleaner rang the bell at 6am. I woke up again at 9. 30 when Nimki meowed to tell me that it was past breakfast time. Next for our driver. Then our cook who sauntered in and asked what had to be cooked. Two courier guys. You get the gist.
I was drowsy after the breakfast of multigrain dosa and chutney that our cook had made. Could be the meds. More likely to be the effect of sleeping so late. I did ten minutes of yoga nidra. Felt fresh. Chanted for 30 minutes. Had lunch.
K had recently suggested going to a cafe and reading to feel refreshed.
I took the book I am reading these days. The age of Vice. A potboiler. Nothing deep. Got into the car and headed out. I could have walked, but I had to give our driver some sense of purpose.
I wore my red Steve Maden kicks as I was trying to break the. They had not opened up unlike what the salesman had said they would when I bought them.
I went to Subko. Ordered the iced cortado that I love here. Bought some dessert for our neighbour and sourdough bread for ourselves and settled down in our favourite corner with my drink. There were three problems with the plan.
I’d got my spectacles case with me, but had left my spectacles behind, No, this was not transitory global amnesia that the doctor had spoken off earlier as a possible hypothesis for my blanking out after the fall. Just good old absent-mindedness. I held my book at a distance and could read it. I am far-sighted. Not short-sighted. Physiologically and metaphorically. Or so I like to believe.
The second problem was that the aircon was not working and it was stuffy inside. I later realised that AC in the central section near the display case was working! Thank god I chose the ice cortado as I always do here and not a hot drink.
I should have stayed home. The aircon works there, I muttered silently. K was right though, it did feel good to have people around, chatting gayly. Even if one perspired the way one would in the private buses of Calcutta during my student days when one had not had heard of sourdough, let alone a cortado!
I got up many pages later, picked up my bag full of goodies and walked down the lane to the car.
The third problem? Layla the resident cat slept all through my stay and made it amply clear through a swaying tail that she did not want to be woken up.
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| Bylanes of Bandra leading to Subko |
There was an elder gentleman walking in my direction. Headed to his house I suppose. He had a three pronged walking stick.
A young couple walked past him. Lost in love The girl knocked one of the legs of the old man’s stick as she walked by him. By a few centimetres. Inadvertently I am sure.
I was tempted to go up to her and request her to be a bit more careful. Tell her that we will all grow old one day. Her, 30 years laters than me.
I held my counsel. Or else she might have said, ‘uncle please.’
I took a few pictures of the quaint Bandra cottages that dot the lane. My stand on heritage buildings is that they look better for those outside than those who live in them.
I got the smell of kebabs while I waited for our car. I looked to the left and saw that my olfactory senses had got it right.
I spotted a couple of young boys selling fruits selling fruits in the stall beside him.The used to sell the same from a thela many years. We would stop to buy cut fruits from them on our way back many moons back.
Located close by is Jeff and Safe (sic) Caterers. Both Bohri owned. We used frequent Jeff’s to buy mutton cocktail kebabs and garlic chicken legs.
Once home, I was welcomed by Loaf and Nimki who looked at me sternly as if to say, ‘is this any time to return home?’
I later stepped out to meet and feed the Kitty Blinders. My community cat friends from round the corner. Determined to do only things that make me happy.
Hey, how come you are writing? Didn’t you say you want to take a break?
I did. But I love writing. Staying away is difficult. ‘Hard hain,’ as Ranveer Singh’s character said in Gully Boy.
If it counts, I did not write anything to do with my assignments or work. For that there is tomorrow.
PS: Talking of chanting I came across this line in one of one of our Buddhist study books:
In the words of German german playwright Frederich Von Schiller, “all art is dedicated to pleasure, and there can be no higher and worthier end than to make people happy.”
I want to mull over how can I make my readers happy through what I write. Is it it by bringing a smile to your face by writing something relatable? Is it by writing something that might help your enterprise? Is it by leading you to good food? Is it by writing about our cats and making you want to adopt one?
Please let me know if you have any suggestions. I am listening.
