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
