BLURRED VISION: September 2015

FOR TEXT N PIX.

September 2, 2015

My dear Family and Friends:

I am back!

It has been a long hiatus in my golfing outings. Rains and sickness have conspired to keep me at home. I took Simran out to the Golf course in May. But I was strong enough only to drive the buggy whilst he hit the balls out of the park; long hitter that he is. He has now got the Golf Club membership in his own right. Then came Hark and I was in better shape. We played nine holes together. I would have been beat, if we had kept score; but not too badly. It was a mixed blessing that rains had taken a long break in July; so buggies were allowed on the Course. Both the boys are now ready to go back to School: Simran to his graduate year at Wharton and Harkirat to his first year at Queens University Kingston Canada. Their parents are right now with them. Good luck and God Bless boys.

The rain Gods have been less than generous. Mumbai region has had decent rainfall; but not the countryside. The cloud seeding in Nashik did not quite bring down the much needed water supply. It is always a story of drought n floods in India. And this year is no exception.

My golfing friend Tara Chand had lost a grown Daughter and is making valiant attempts to get over the grief. His younger daughter is proving a great bulwark of support to him. She organised a family trip to Kashmir and onwards to Kedar Nath. Daughters' love for their father is something very special. No offence meant, Mickey, Vicky or Simran n Hark; Nor to the many Nieces or D in laws.

Just a few days ago, we heard of the passing away of another colleague of mine: VG Mulloth. He was Director Technical and Manufacturing and retired as part of my Team. A solid Technical expert he would resolve complicated problems without much fuss. RIP my respected colleague.

We took possession of our apartment in Ashiana Lavasa on 12 August. The Management there did the handing over with a lot of pomp n show. We revelled in the attention.

Having got to this point, focus shifted to fit out and furnishing. We are still not savvy enough to depend on the mail order suppliers and buying durables sight unseen. So we have been doing the rounds of showrooms. Also our choice is narrowed by the remote location to be serviced. We selected Godrej Interio for modular kitchen and the big items of furniture. Smaller items are being procured from Ekbote of Pune who were warmly recommended by our friend Sanjiv Sain. In view of heavy rainfall in that area, we have tried to get wooden furniture and avoided MDF etc.

We shall get the electrical equipment from Samsung or LG in Baner so that we have a better chance of after sales service. So we are well on our way to have the apartment functional Come September.

One thing led to another, and the structural repairs to the rest of the Mumbai apartment have been getting pushed further n further. We are now hoping to get the repairs started soon after Ganpati and be done before Diwali.

I had changed my Chest Specialist a few months ago. The new doctor is quite accessible. However all this has not reduced the frequency of my infection episodes. In fact in some respect these are more acute. He had hinted that he may have to resort to Bronchoscopy to get a better idea of what we are up against. I am ready n willing.

Our sister Jasbir returned to India after over five months stay with her son Mintoo in Melbourne. This was just in time for the Rakhi gathering at our home last Saturday. The whole clan turned up to celebrate her 75^th landmark birthday which went by whilst she was in Melbourne. Both Sukhjit n I were a bit under the weather; but our younger sister Guljit took charge n the younger brigade pitched in. It was good to have a gang of small kids doing what kids do. They were excited to connect with each other. Good time was had by all. It is such a blessing to have a large extended family and a united one at that. It is the biggest blessing from the Gods on High.

To round off: a Twitter friend decided to visit us the other day and we were happy to have another friend in real life. Ahmed, you were most welcome. It is good to connect with young people who are starting out on making a life for themselves… entrepreneurs at that.

It was heartening that another Twitter friend, an Indian, in far away USA heeded my advice and gave up smoking. Well done! Kumail.