A recap of SAC-1960: Reunion-2012: Day-2&3

(...Maxie's sequel to the recap of Day-1)
2012-Reunion: Day-2&3…. Kundapur!
Those who attended our "1st in 50-years Reunion in 2010" may recall, it was the small and diminutive of yesteryears, Subodh Malli (….there a few of us no bigger than him then too), who had volunteered to make arrangements in Kundapur for our second meet. And so, Kundapur was on the cards – though what exactly was in store for us there, was a bit hazy and not clear. At the Mangalore Club lunch on Day-1 Harry gave us some idea of having to share sleeping accommodation for the night-out in Kundapur the next day sharing three to a room. The mood and bonhomie in the group by then was such that everyone, including the ladies, were game for anything – and it was amazing to see how happily all concerned passed the hat around to deposit their own individual share of the prescribed contribution of Rs.3000/- for each.
It so happened in the end, that the highlight of this our 2012-reunion turned out to be this very night-out for the 'group' – not exactly in Kundapur, but on an island off the coast and yet not in the sea. The island was in the middle of a river off Basrur, a little distance from Kundapur, in neighbouring Udipi District a 100kms from Mangalore.
So, early morning on Jan-27 we met at 7:30am at the Fatima Retreat House Jeppoo where majority of those from outstation were housed, and boarded the bus that Harry had arranged for the trip; for our drive to Kundapur.
On the way, at a place called Padubidri we took a detour from the highway on to the Karkala Road – via Adve to visit St Joseph's Old Age Home where we had learnt was one of our classmates, Sylvie Rego, now housed. It was so nice meeting Sylvie after 51 years, and seeing his eyes light up on seeing us all landing there specially to see him.
While at the Old Age Home, some of us decided to meet the other inmates and make them happy too - and in the process, stumbled on to Stanislaus D'Souza my own uncle Sunny (mother's younger brother who decades ago had to leave the Jesuit community because of health reasons). I had last seen him in June 2010 at my Granny's house in Lowlands, Kodiyalbail – and then last December heard vaguely that he had been moved to an Old Age Home some months ago, for better care and attention than was possible for the aged within home environs. I was overwhelmed with emotion on finding my uncle on the premises, went inside the room right away and hugged him. Was amazed to see he had no difficulty in recognizing me and asked me by name, "when did you come from Delhi". The whole scene turned immensely sentimental and emotion filled, when uncle Sunny instantly became universal uncle to all we visitors, some of who unabashedly showered their love and attention on him asking about his welfare and also chatted him up.
After our visit was over, the group asked me to say a few words on behalf of all and hand over to the sisters a little token donation that we had collected by passing the hat around then and there. I thanked the sisters (…joined by Arun too in this act) for the love and care they were showering on their inmates, especially Sylvie our classmate and also my uncle Sunny. I then collected their address and other coordinates, so I could try and see what more I cud contribute towards my uncle's treatment and other welfare there (…which I was able to do two days later when together with my cousins in Mangalore and their families and children I was able to visit the Home again with something more concrete for the nuns in cash and kind).
From the Home for the Aged, we returned back to the highway and reached Kundapur by about 11:30am…. To honour the invitation extended to us by classmate doctor Subodh Malli – now settled in Kundapur with his family (….a respected member of the medical profession – a prominent local family physician). Kundapur was formerly a suburb of Mangalore just 100 kms away, now it's in Udipi district, after the erstwhile South Kanara district was bifurcated and Udipi District had been carved out from it as the new District.
Doctor Subodh Malli (who wasn't there with us on Day-1 of Reunion-2012) met us in town, tragically in not too good a physical condition. Just the previous night he had suffered injury on his left hand and his back, when a drunken driver had knocked him down brutally with his car. Even so Subodh was generous and gracious, he led our bus to the river side from where we were ferried across in a boat to an island (off and around Basrur on the main land) in the middle of the river. The island owned by one of Dr Malli's friends, has been developed as a resort, with modern cottages located amidst cashew and coconut groves, and other green wild life and a bird sanctuary – accessed only by a bamboo pole-driven boat. The boatman had to do two trips to ferry across all our group – and this I must say was not without its own share of fear, fun and intrigue on the part of some of the ladies (especially Stany's wife Shirley) who had their own inhibitions about large water-bodies.
I with most of the ladies was in the first boat trip – and once on the island, spared no time exploring right away the lay out and the facilities available on this resort. Some of us without hesitation raided the cashew trees for the ripe and juicy cashew fruit and dug our teeth into them warning each other even as we ate of the consequences if the squirting juices spilt on to our clothes. There were cottages spread across the island (…one even on stilts over the flowing water with a sit-out deck too) with electricity and running water in taps, with all the modern fittings, furniture and linen one would envisage at a suave tourist facility. For the price we paid for each room, it was evident to me that we had hit the jackpot by any standards. Without hesitation I selected for myself the cottage on stilts above the waters – and was surprised that others for some reason had thought fit to avoid.
Peter Fernandes took a picture of me at this cottage on his blackberry and I promptly shared it on email with my children in UK and USA. This was another thing – I was thrilled to find internet facility too on this island, through the Reliance NetConnect stick I had carried for my little laptop. Thanks to which, I could share more emails and pictures from this very island with family and friends.
After the second boat trip had arrived and all had chosen their respective rooms for the overnight bags we had carried, and the inevitably looked forward to night on the island….. we all assembled for some drinks and a lovely meal of course, at the makeshift gazibo on the island. This, after a good some time spent on island exploration for quaint fauna and flora and also for the birds we were told it was a sanctuary for. Apart from the central gazebo, there were hammocks spawning the stretch between trees – where Arun of course lost no opportunity to gently swing the ladies atop it.
By this time we had christened Narayan the boatman who had ferried us across the river as Captain Narayan. His efficient but very talkative wife Muthu was dubbed the favourite of all; she was found to be the chef and chief manager of the whole resort; and their lovely little 15 year old daughter Radhika was there too helping her out with the cooking in the open kitchen on the resort. Despite her confidence and efficient demeanour, Muthu found cooking for a group like ours quite daunting and intimidating – going by the manner in which we were polishing every dish she managed to put before us. The mackerel curry she had produced for the afternoon lunch was out of this world (I have not polished as many fish-heads in a long time, as I did that day).
The ladies, it appeared, had taken over and were totally in command by now – there was a clamour for toddy, and a little disappointment over its non-availability being already afternoon – but there was a promise of toddy the first thing next morning, so everyone made do with the beer and whiskies that Harry and Subodh had arranged for to raise our spirits. Coming back to the ladies, one wondered whether at all we'll survive the trip with the amount of leg pulling the ladies were up to!
'Am not really privy to what the others did and how they occupied themselves after lunch, having myself adjourned to my log cabin over the waters for my session on the laptop. I assume most must have gone to their own cottages too for a well-earned siesta or done something else that interested them. Till of course there were emissaries landing up to drag me out of my room with a clamour for tea. By the time I joined the rest at the gazebo, I thought the tea hour was well past; and before one knew, the bottles with glasses had made their appearance. The ladies had dreamed up a version of dumb-charades and pitted themselves against the men asking us to perform and enact words like 'circumcision' and 'lesbian' etc – which they were floored when we did! Then they made fools of themselvestotally trying to enact the word 'circumstances' I had chosen for them, and yet guessed the answer right – which evidently was just not possible without cheating! We all concluded Lennie the leader of the women's team was mischievously competent at this feat.
As 'schaknne', Muthu produced the 'Khube-sukhen' that she had promised for our evening drinks, and fried 'kaane'(lady fish). In addition and among other things like 'mogen saar', salads and vegetables, there was chicken fry, boiled red-rice and chapattis too for dinner. While we all hogged like pigs, to ensure he wud not drown his sorrows with drinks alone, somebody made sure there was enough vegetarian fare too for Prabhakar – the only veggie in the group.
Before I crashed out for the night, did hear sounds of some others arriving at the other room in my cottage over the waters, but not until morning of Day-3 when I dragged them out of the room from the deck side to take in the serene and calm river waters did I know that three of them – Leo, Siggie and Lionel, had shared the facility. Remembered that Siggie had stepped in to recce my room but said he preferred the loft in the other room for his yoga exercises in the morning, and had departed. We used the deck-chairs and watched the calmly flowing river and told the rest how deceivingly placid the night waters had appeared, and of the plop plop and plop of the fish jumping on the waters that disturbed my senses even while lulling me into deep slumber. Watching the king-fisher dive for their catch, we heard the peacock call from the opposite beach, and commented on the lack of adequate bird life to really call the island a bird sanctuary. Soon the ladies' raiding party arrived with all their 'oohs' and 'aahs', to inspect what they'd all missed at the cabin over the waters – and ended up taking pictures of the waterfront from over the deck.
Then the inevitable call for breakfast came, and we joined the rest at the gazebo dining facility for our morning cuppa, and a whopping breakfast produced by Muthu – idlis with lots of sambaar and authentic coconut chutney (the likes of which I hadn't tasted for a long time – bringing to mind mummy's well-ground narlachi chutney with green chilli and ginger for the morning pez); deep-fried Mangalore buns which I found to be just a local version of the north-Indian Batura which one has with Chole; and some mildly sweet exotic ksheera. With stomachs quite heavy under our belts we hurriedly bid farewell to the island after another inevitable philanthropic gesture of a tidy sum for Muthu, collected impromptu with the passing of the hat around!.
Boat rides again back to main land – we men breathed a sigh of relief watching the girls had conquered their fear of the water by now – and then by the same bus into Kundapur and to Malli's mansion there; where Norman's taxi was waiting to ferry him and Maisie for a wedding in Koppa up in the ghats. At the house we met Subodh's gracious but shy wife Jayashree – and experienced Arun to the fore once again to discover how small the world really is, with serious discussions with Jayshree over how many mutual connections their two families had and knew! Subodh escorted the ladies into town once again, the load their handbags with the famed Kundapur chicken and fish masalas – and some I spied had bought enough to last at least a thousand days! I owe one to Lennie, who brought a packet of chicken masala for me too to carry back to Delhi.
By which time arrived the much-awaited fresh and frothing toddy with which we all but got drunk; warranting a beeline to the washrooms by one and all before we set our course back to Mangalore. With the queue-ing up that resulted, at a particular point in time one heard one of the ladies even ask loudly "…are there no more bathrooms in the house?" Arun the naughty even remarked that he spied one of the ladies standing cross-legged too.
The trip back to Mangalore seemed all too short – and it was time now for farewells. It was good-bye to the Mangalore crowd anyway on Jan-26 night itself, as most from Mangalore (apart from Harry, Stany and Shirley) had not joined us for Kundapur. Then Peter Fernandes and Claudy Pais who had made the trip to the island, had already left the previous evening without spending the night on the island; and then while we left behind Subodh and Jayashree at their abode, it was good-bye to Norman and Maisie too from Kundapur. On reaching Mangalore around half past one pm, one by one the bus dropped Prabhakar and Arun at their respective stops before reaching the Fatima Retreat House to dislodge the Bangalore gang. I was the next in Falnir, followed by Stany and Shirley and then Harry the last – also in Falnir. All too soon, our fabulous reunion get-together of 2012 had come to an end.
Before I end, a sincere thanks to all – especially Harry, Walter and Subodh – who pitched in their time, energy and effort to make all this happen. Thanks also to all those who made it to the reunion, without whose arrival and participation it really wouldn't have been the fun and frolic filled event it ultimately turned out to be! And my special thanks are reserved of course to all the better-halfs that accompanied their spouses – Victor's wife Rosemary included, without whose presence and leadership we men would all have ended as mere damp squibs…
When is the next reunion, by the way? ….and when really are we meeting again? Soon, I hope!
Maxie