Storyteller

After a few years being coddled by Catholic Irish nuns in Ranchi,I was thrown like a lamb in the rough and tumble of public school life at Bishops in Poona at the age of 12.I still remember my first day there.I arrived in new white uniform and maroon striped tie with my aunty Karuna in a autorickshaw.I had never seen so many raucous boys before,being used to a gentler kinder environment of silent, pink nuns , pretty girls in uniform and flowers, where boys were tolerated at best. The few that studied in Loretos were a tightly knit well behaved band.
So here I was and the first guy I met was a thin,weedy Sindhi chap called Lacchu Vasandani, a cross between the artful dodger and Reggie,who briefed me about the class and teachers and what was expected.During the day I met some of the characters who would have an impact on me over the next few years.Desmond Tomlinson was a large, friendly good looking guy with light eyes and a Kirk Douglas dimple on his chin.He was facinating because he had these endless stories of cowboys and Indians which we listened to with rapt attention during the 10 minute stretch break and after lunch.The stories were so good especially because of 2 reasons.First because Desmond would intersperse his tales with the appropriate action sounds such as gunshots,horses hooves,arrows flying through the air and the crack of the bullwhip..kapowww,zippp,ktchakkkk,pinggg and so on.The second reason was that Desmond assured us that he was actually on close talking terms with cowpokes like Tom Mix,Roy (Rogers) and Lash Larue,apart from the stars that played Cochise and Geronimo.And he enslaved us by saying that maybe,just maybe he would introduce us to them on their next visit to Poona and actually let us ride one of the cow ponys.One of the most stunning revelations he made was that Lash(Larue) on his last visit had actually placed a silver dollar on Desmonds tongue and from a distance of 30 feet had flicked it off with his trusty bullwhip with a sound like gunshot.He was a master storyteller whose descriptions of Shanes fast draw , the Colt 45 and the Bowie knife would leave us asking for more.Im sure if he had been trained,Desmond would have turned out to be a master novelist.The fact is that he left school about a year after I joined, and migrated to the UK with his sister and mother.We never heard from him again,and the last anyone saw of him was as an usher in a cinema theater in London.Maybe that was the job he really wanted.

Summer blues

Sorry havent blogged for a while.Maybe its the unnatural summer heat and humidity for this time of the year or maybe Ive just felt dull and stupid.The heat has been awful with humidity hitting 90% on some days.Went and bought a new airconditioner for the living room,even though I know Ill soon get humongous power bills soon.My mind has not been at rest ever since my Aunty Karuna underwent an MRI two weeks ago.The doctors prognosis isnt too good and I feel very tense and fearful for the future.Her daughter is arriving on Sunday from the USA,and I cant help but feel a tad resentful that they(she and her sister) didnt get her checked up a bit sooner during one of their visits to Kolkata.I really dont know how this is going to be handled.Meantime Moti continues to be as exasperating as ever with his know it all comments and doing things his own way.The good news is that both his cataract operations were successful and now he can actually see.Thats a reward for all the trouble taken getting him to and fro from hospital and putting eye drops.Talking about eyes I got myself a new set of spectacles and reading glasses.The old ones were really bad and needed to be discarded.Moreover they hurt my nose.
My favorite Alphonso mangoes this season are non existent and for the first time I still havent tasted the fruit so late into April.A bad crop means no arrivals of the fruit in the market and the little being sold are at astronomical prices.I have bought a few dozen,but they have been ripening for the last 5 days.Im wondering whether Ive been ripped off .