Monday, March 16, 2009
London

I knew it would be a hectic day when I awoke this morning, but not even I was prepared for the way it turned out.

I ate a hasty breakfast after spending about two hours in bed responding to the B&Bs in Rome that have been sending information my way. It is astonishing how much time it takes to check their websites and their locations in Rome and to zero in on the ones that might actually work for us.

Anyway, I spoke to my parents in Bombay and told them I would next talk to them only on Sunday when I return from Italy. Then, I was showering and leaving for NYU as I had to teach today. Except that since my monthly bus pass has expired and I am going to spend the next week in Italy, it didn’t make sense to buy another. I decided to walk it out today and in 15 minutes I was at the door of the British Museum attempting to buy the catalog of the special exhibit on the Shah of Iran that my colleague Mahnaz requested me to bring her. She is currently teaching at NYU in Florence and will be coming to Padua for my lecture. Except that when I saw the catalog, my heart sank. Not only was it priced at 25 pounds which I thought was awfully pricey but it weighed a ton–over a kilo. Now since I am flying Ryanair which has strict baggage restrictions of just 10 kilos per person, I simply could not afford to carry such a heavy catalog for her. And yet I felt sorry to refuse her request as Mahnaz is a dear friend and I would have loved to oblige.

I walked quickly towards our Academic Center and would have easily had a few minutes to check my email. Except that I ran into one of my colleagues whom I hadn’t seen for ages. I inquired after his classes and discovered that he had just lost his mother-in-law. While he told me the story of her illness and death, the minutes ticked past. I barely had the time to enter my office and retrieve my folders and text book when it was time to go to class at 10 am.

I let my students off a half hour earlier (i.e. I did not give them their half hour break) and rushed off to my office to photocopy and print out a number of documents (including the lecture I’m giving) for my Italy trip. I also photocopied a number of pages from the Guide Books on Italy that I would like to read on he flight. On logging on to my email, I discovered that there were so many messages awaiting me from Italy to which I had to attend immediately.

My last-minute idea of spending a night in Venice did not work out, so I shall be going straight from Venice Trevizo airport to the Central Station from where I shall catch a train to Vicenza. Then, suddenly, my other NYU colleague who is currently teaching in Florence, Tim Tomlinson, emailed me to say that he and his wife will be coming to Padua for my lecture and will meet me there. He wanted to know where and how we could meet. All these folks had to be responded to and I was in such a hurry as I had to make my 2 pm appointment at the Victoria and Albert Museum where my students were awaiting my arrival.

It was a gorgeous day but I could barely stop long enough to appreciate it as I got on to Bus Number 14 and reached the Museum at 1. 45 pm. We spent about an hour in the galleries housing the sketchbooks and studies of John Constable which my students are studying in detail for their next research paper and then we parted company and decided to meet in an hour, i.e. at 4pm at the National Gallery so that we could see his final versions of the works best known to art lovers everywhere.

We hopped on to the Tube, got off at Leicester Square and I discovered that I was not too far from Foyle’s, the bookstore in which I hoped to find a copy of Bapsi Sidhwa’s Cracking India because Annalisa emailed me this morning to tell me that she was unable to find an English version in Italy. I drew a blank at Foyle’s and tried a number of other new and second hand bookstores all along Charing Cross Road, but could find the book nowhere. It was out of print even in the States where it had been published, they said.

Not wanting to be late for my 4 pm appointment, I met my students in the lobby of the National Gallery as planned and went straight to the Gallery containing some of Constable and Turner’s most beloved work. After we had studied The Haywain in detail as well as Turner’s work, I dismissed my class and hopped on the Tube again. This time I headed to St. Pancras Station and the Town Hall Library that is located right across to pick up a copy of the book as the folks at Holb0rn Public Library had informed me that St. Pancras did have it. In five minutes, I had the book issued out and I left.

One more bus later, I was at Bloomsbury, making my way to the Bury Food Store near the British Museum to buy some caddies full of English tea for some of my Italian friends. I figured that the lightest gifts I could carry for them would be English Tea and Biscuits and that was what I was laden with as I left the shop. Then, back at my office, I had to fill and fax out reservation forms for our hotel in Istanbul as well as respond to more email. I thought I was ready to explode by that point. Luckily, my friend Gauri at whose flat in Islington I was supposed to have dinner tonight, decided that it would be best for us to reschedule as she was held up at work. I was so relieved…

But I still had one more place to go–the Brunei Gallery of the School of Oriental and African Studies where there was a talk at 6. 30 pm. by Sir Christpher Frayling on ‘Museums and Films’. As the Rector of the Royal Academy of Art and someone whose interest in films has led him to publish widely on the subject, I was keen to listen to Frayling and I joined my students in the auditorium. Except that just five minutes before his lecture was scheduled to begin, the fire alarm went off and every single one of us had to troop back up from the basement, two storeys below, to vacate the building.

A good ten minutes later, the alarm was investigated and found to be a false alarm and we were trooping back into the auditorium. The lecture began at 6. 45 and finished at 7. 45. It was interesting but I realized that I was already too fatigued to really enjoy it though it was interspersed with interesting film clips.

I walked back home, was at my flat in 15 minutes and did my last minute packing. This took over an hour but then I was ready for dinner which I was much too tired to eat! Right after my meal (ravioli with bread and soup), I washed dishes, cleaned the kitchen, fixed myself some sandwiches for my lunch on the flight tomorrow, brushed and flossed my teeth and got ready for bed for I was ready to drop.

I have set my cell phone alarm for 6. 3o am as I intend to get out of my flat my 7. 30 to catch my 8. 3 am Easybus shuttle to Stanstead airport.

What a relief that this crazy day has ended! I am looking forward now to a calm and successful stay in Italy. I shall resume the writing of this blog next Sunday when I return from Italia!