Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Keith Kanga My Childhood Friend and Jimmy Dorabjee

We lived at Khatau Bhuvan from 1954 to 1963 ..
Keith owned almost half of B Wing ,,
We were tenants of late Nawab Kashmiris family ..we were staying in a room that connected to the flat of Keiths servants quarters ,,later sad irony when Keiths grandma gave away the entire flat on rent she was living with Keith in the servants quarters ,,of the same flat .
Later the building changed hands several times when the last owner sold it to Mr Mathews and he changed the name of the building to Jony Castle ,,
Keith and I stayed in touch I used to accompany him sometimes to Pune where he played for Three Coins ,,
The earlier name of Keith Kangas band was 100 Ton Chicken .. than his Ganna that we called her baptized the band as Atomic Forest .
Keith was very rich his late father Dosabhai Kanga invested wisely they owned New Era Printing Press Worli several horses ,
After his dads death his Diva mother Gwendolyn could not handle Keith she gave charge to her mother ..who was from Ceylon and Dutch origins .
His grandmother was a racist bigot and a Jehovah Witness..she hated abused every community ,,,but never me and Vimal Harshadhmma ..as his father was a goldsmith ,,, most of her venom she spilled on Naval and Jimmy Baria who stayed on the first floor ..
She liked me groomed me to become a Jheovahs Witness my childhood was more about reading the Bible ,,and more seriously when I came to stay with Keith my dads business crashed and my entire family mom and sisters moved to Lucknow ,,only my Dad and my younger brother Shakil lived on rent at Mereweather Road ,, I had to stay with Keith to complete my SSC ,,despite all the bible , watch tower and fuck knows what I managed 69 percent in SSC ,,
My job was too take care of Fufu their stray mongrel . who was lustily on heat ,,and every night I had to go search the bitch.. and even after taking care of her ..till the time I stayed with Keith she hated me the most for pulling her away from the dogs of Military Quarter Dogs that took turn humping her ,, it was a tough life ,, and the only good thing about Granna ..whatever her hate for Muslims she saw that I was never given pork.. so I do pray for her even now .
She was sad when my time came to leave as I pressed her legs ,, did all the domestic work cleaning the toilets etc,, so when my Prodigal dad came to take me home ,,my father too had had given her house on rent ,,because of the crash.. She looked at him with inner hate ,, she had already tried baptizing me once at Cuffe Parade near Bhadhwar Park but it had rained so she was waiting for a calm before the storm...to take me to her Hereafter Paradise where rivers of milk honey flowed .
Her death I was not aware of we lost touch I juggled a few jobs and than much later in the 70s would meet Keith at Slip Disc when I did late night shifts at Burlingtons Taj Mahal Hotel I called him Baba .. we would sit chat of old times if he was not high..
He loved my parents too...
I came to know of his death at Irani Cafe where I used to booze ,,Bandra Hill Road I read his obituary in an evening paper .
Vimal too died away in Sri Lanka ,,
And now two friends from that inner group remain.. the childhood group .. Rayomand Framroze and me ...
And this is what I could retrieve from 65 year old rusty brain..
The only regret I loved his mother and dont have a single picture of her Gwendolyn Kanga ,, the Queen of Wodehouse road who chain smoked and loved to tipple ,
Keiths mom liked me a lot when Keith left to study at Darjeling she made sure I slept on Keiths bed in her bedroom..
Most of the memories are fading ...but when I see Keiths picture some memories come back..
And Anita was very close to Keith ... in his later life after marriage ,
Thank you Anita
photo courtesy
Anita Bhatia Higgins

Ear Cleaners Tale.. Bandra Talao

Nerjis And The Ear Cleaners of Bandra Talao.










The shooting happened accidentally ..Nerjis actually came with me to feed the pigeons ,, and this gave her a thrill of her life ,,that she called the pigeons Sharukh Salman Amir should not be held against her ,,she is 2 with the brains of a wit .
And the pigeons responded as she was generous with the grain she gave them.. handfuls ,.what got Nerjis goat and no pun intended was the goats that terrorize the pigeons ,, rushing to eat the grains thrown to them.. and these goats belong to Miya butchers ,..who leave them here to fatten them for slaughter ..
Well she became friends with the ear cleaners and Kassim was her favorite ,, Nabi Raju too .. welcomed her to their world ,,
I shot the ear cleaners and so she too tried her hand shooting them..
After the Bandra Talao the other exciting part of this excursion for her was the Bandra Skywalk .. she loved shooting people sleeping away .. and than me carrying her down the steep iron steps ,, coming down at Lucky Hotel Bandra and we cut through Haji Noora Lane into De Monte Street and via Bandra Bazar too our house ,, and if she gets tired I have to carry her ,,
Now she will be 5 on 17 July she shares her birthday with her father ,,
Though she has already had one Islamic calendar birthday 15 Shaban.

Ramzan Mubarak Aya Donation Seekers Santacruz Shastri Nagar

Raju Ear Cleaner And Me A Cosmic Bond

Myth of Ear Cleaners Of Bandra Talao

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