City of the rising

This picture has been used for representational purpose

Sir PM was seated in his favourite bench inside the Horniman Circle Gardens. It offered him a 360-degree view of the grandeur of the architecture that graced him from all sides - St Thomas Cathedral, the Asiatic Society building and the fine assemblage of facades that constituted Horniman Circle. ‘It's been a while since I met Lady Flora, thanks to this wretched pandemic and the guidelines,' he thought to himself as he sipped on his milky chai from a flask and brun maska that the missus had packed for both of them. It was one of those rare breezy evenings in May, and the solitude of the surroundings relaxed him. The partial lockdown gave him plenty of time to do justice to the books that had collected dust on his bookshelf. He and Lady Flora had hardly met and he was clearly missing the weekly gupshup.

Too much for city to bear

As soon as both of them had got their second dose of the vaccination, they decided to catch up. "Pheroze, you've got a few more strands of grey, I see!" shrieked Lady Flora. She did a little jig as she approached him, and was itching to give him a hug. But this was the new normal, and restraint was crucial. Sipping on the chai that Sir PM offered her, her voice had a positive lilt to it, despite wearing the mask: "This feels so good. What a past month it's been, Pheroze. I mean, with the rising cases, the stubborn new strain, and as if we needed more grief, the killer cyclone. Bombay had its hands full…" It felt like ages since she had last discussed their beloved city with her friend. "And yet, thanks to so many visionaries and people of action [and not just words], we have been able to see the back of, which I dearly hope, are some of our worst days of the pandemic," Sir PM continued.

Silent avatar

As they soaked in the quiet, they both wondered for how long Bombay would continue to exude this silent avatar. "You know, my lady, all this seems very surreal, and a bit of déjà vu too. Doesn't it feel like only yesterday when we were right here, wondering if 2020 would be the last of this pandemic? And here we are, with nearly half of 2021 almost behind us, and we are still asking the same questions," Sir PM pondered. He went quiet for a bit, only to be interrupted out of that moment by the sound of the tolling bells from the nearby cathedral.

"Whatever you may say, Bombay saw some really bad days and I am so proud of how we fought back," she said. "Absolutely, Lady Flora. Thanks to our never-give-up spirit, we took it on our chin, and so many authorities, including my former employee, along with the police and other civic bodies, worked in tandem to ensure we didn't buckle down," he added, making it a point to ensure that unlike earlier, he was in the thick of things as far as the municipal corporation was concerned. Lady Flora was impressed. "Do you think we'll tide over this wave and the next, too?" she prodded. "Well, I'm no soothsayer," Sir PM, chuffed over the importance that was given to his opinion. "The good doctor Viegas warns that we should not get complacent with the fall in numbers. We cannot drop our guard.

Instead, the powers that be should learn from the mistakes made in early 2021, and use the time to strengthen our resources and infrastructure." Lady Flora seemed a tad shaken by all of this, Sir PM could sense in her body language, and so he quickly changed the mood. "I've been doing a fair bit of reading, and even had time to brush up on Bombay's history, a subject I felt I didn't do enough justice to. And I have the perfectly apt gem to share with you. Did you know we just passed a key date in the very existence of our dear city - it was on May 21, 1662 when the marriage treaty of Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal, ensured that the seven islands of Bombay were handed over to the British Empire as part of the dowry," he rattled off.

The dowry connection

Lady Flora was sufficiently distracted. "My word, that's a fascinating bit of history you've shared. I always heard about this dowry connection. Promise to tell me more as we go along. The city has a newfound closeness to me after this pandemic," she smiled, as the two walked towards the Gateway to watch the Arabian Sea in all its glistening glory. It was one of those evenings they wished would never end.

mid-day's Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city's sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her. She tweets @bombayana
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