I left Boston June 22 and reached Mumbai June 24 by an Air France flight. I stayed a couple of days with my old college friend Sri J. K. Patnaik who retired from his government job and lives in Mumbai. He recently lost his wife. His wife came from a family that I knew well during my school days. The purpose of my visit to Mumbai was also to spend some time with my uncle (Kakei) Sri Biswamohan Misra who is gracefully going past the magic age of 80. His wife (Khudi) has been sick for a while. They live in an apartment overlooking the sea in Worli.
I had supper with Kakei and Khudi in their apartment on the 24th. I had to visit the Nehru Science Center next day to learn about the interactive displays for children that they have been trying out.
The most interesting day was the 26th when we tried a Jaganantha puja at Kakei's apartment. I collected various food materials through our local resources and showed up about 2 PM in Worli. The cook in Kakei's place is from Rajasthan and he loved the concept of Sri Jagannatha and the special food of pohA cooked through hand pressure. It look a couple of hours to prepare various dishes and we started our puja about 4:30 PM. The two grown up grandchildren took interest in the puja and joined with me. The older boy Sarthak is an engineering graduate from Stanford and is scheduled to enter the MBA program at Harvard this Fall. The daughter Sannidhya is a medical student in England and is an accomplished painter. Her paintings grace their apartment. Kakei's son Santrupt is a high-ranking officer with the Aditya-Birla group in Mumbai and keeps very busy. He showed up about 5 PM. His wife Anjali, who works as an officer in the Indian Railways could not get home through the traffic.
I read sections of the Devi and the Gita. Kakei recollected and recited the Jagannathashtakam. We all sang together Ahe Nila Saila, the traditional oriya song offered as a prayer , followed by Ahe DayAmaya BiswabihAri, another popular Oriya prayer. My friend Jitu and his son Deepesh joined in. It became a spiritual afternoon. KhuDi seemed to feel better, she was walking around. She served us food. I had to take the flight to Bangkok that evening and I had to head to the airport at 7:30.
I am attaching a couple of pictures of my uncle, aunt, Sarthak and Sannidhya.
