Old is Gold

It was a Tuesday and I was scheduled to meet fr. Robin. A quick train ride and brisk walk against the tide of people heading homeward and I was at his door just before 08:00PM. I remembered to top up his sim card along the way and we settled down to old familiar conversation... easy, unmasked and spontaneous -the type you'll rarely come across in your normal working life. This quality of conversation is only found among true friends or selfless beings on a higher plane of reality.

We were surprised by a visit from a very jet lagged Bindu, and although she was there for just a while she helped us plan the special event on the 17th March that we were actually here to brainstorm about. As we tossed ideas around and shot down a few as we identified constraints and opportunities we were interrupted by a parishioner who wanted to speak to our favourite priest. The Good fr. Robin spoke to her ascertaining that it wasn't anything serious or something she'd kill herself over before tactfully shooing her away. We got down to business and weren't able to come to a conclusion as to a precise plan of action but had enough ideas in our heads to play around with and see what comes about. In another 4 days time its going to be Fr. Robins 47th Anniversary since he joined the Society of Jesus. I told him priests of his ilk are pretty rare -a notion shared by many who've chanced to meet and interact with him. Bindu left soon enough and we ordered dinner from Sai Palace next door. I'd promised fr. Robin a feast and we rung up a Butter Chicken and 5 paper thin flat breads you could use to blow your nose in. This has been our staple diet for years together before we discovered other dishes on the menu that took our fancy- The Chicken Korean Noodles and Yung Chow Fried Rice! (Sai Palace Tandoori Chicken just cant beat the one we get at El Taj in Khandala). During dinner I told him about my recent jaunt into Pune in quest of good beer and my recent experience with Double Stout that tasted like Exotic Dark Chocolate from Sheperd Neame & Co., supposedly the oldest brewery in Britain. Once well fed, we were able to think more clearly and even managed to solve a few problems that never came to mind. Looking forward to a celebratory mass with a few of our inner circle we laid out plans for next week. Equally dividing 4 remaining Ferrero Rochers between us for dessert we happily parted ways until our next meet up.