When the old is young

It was a day of indulging the old (or perhaps it was the other way round?)

The first – an old man doddering alongside, who stopped to ask,

“What is this morcha for, do you know?”

We shook our heads and something prompted Rajan to add, “We are tourists. New to Bombay”

“Oh” he seemed confused,” with those big cameras I thought you were from the press”

We grinned and moved on.

After a while, the walk through Crawford market seemed endless, what with the impending political rally and the traffic diverted. We stood a while, sweat pouring on listless eyes and lo behold our old acquintance wobbled past again.

“You need to walk five minutes ahead to the market to hail a cab. It will be hard to find one here” he waved his hands in front, “Just five minutes. Walk”

Tired smiles on our faces. Just resting a while uncle.

He repeated again. “Walk” waving his hands frantically.

Well, we made a run for it. To please him. Or you could say we ran from him.

The long walk did throw in some interesting sights. And it was a mill workers strike.

The second – an entertaining 89 year ‘young’ Boman Kohinoor, the owner of the iconic Café Britannia at Ballard Estate.

He asked me to guess his age. I started low, to please him of course. With each shake of his wiry head I would “go up. Go up.” Till I reached 90.

“90 minus one. That is how old I am.” A self satisfied beam.

Then a conspiratorial whisper.

“My grandfather lived till the age of 114. Do you know the secret of his long life?

-         No smoking

-         No drinking

-         No gambling

-         No drugs

-         No womanizing

‘No Eating’ wasn’t on the list; so we gorged.

Café Britannia is an old Parsi joint at Ballard Estate. The food is great, though more expensive than you would imagine. Boman Kohinoor is endearing, with his collection of old photos and anecdotes.

And finally his hearty blessings, “May you live long, may he live long, may I live long”.