Narendra and Rama’s flat in Bombay. Here and at Rupa’s place too you couldn’t leave the bathroom without being dressed perfectly decently. It’s a lifestyle thing because, I decided, there are always a lot of people around.
Here we had the main household help, a man who had an assistant both living on the premises. They made drinks and snacks all day long, served the meals and did basic household chores. Then there was the full time cook who made really wonderful meals mid-day and dinner. And the fulltime driver. A different person came in to clean the flat and Another different person cleaned the bathrooms. And someone else took care of the pressing and laundry and people were stopping by all the time to drop off or pick up one thing or another, and not to mention the friends and relatives. It’s very different…
Narendra and Rama are Jains which means they are more strict in their food selection than even Hindu vegetarians. (Not all Hindus are vegetarians but that’s another story…) but you wouldn’t know it by the variety and quality of the offeings.
The British have this expression, they say a thing or an experience is ‘brilliant’. I could string a bunch of adjectives together but actually I think this does the trick. Everywhere, the food was Brilliant!