Fifth floor, Savitri Building,
forth into corridors and opening cupboards, searching for things
Malviya Road,
that might be ‘usefull’ for me. She tells me that in the circumstances
Vile Parle East,
they lived in, they did not own much to carry with themselves in the
Mumbai- 400057
form of material culture, hence only “essentials” were carried; there was no item that was for “show” or “just memory”. However, I insist, there
It is a spacious 2500 sq. ft house on the topmost floor of a 5 storey
must be something!
building. The two houses have been combined into one generously sized house with four rooms, two living rooms and one kitchen.
After close to two hours of searching, we are back in the living room
Shifting Sands, 1967
I am with her in her current house, following her as she moves back and
Sand
Home, Beyond Frameworks
Current Residence:
with some remaining vessels from her initial collection, 4 brass dabbas that fit into each other, 3 steel plates, 2 steel glasses and a steel vessel “Parn ayun aj kholase vaara ta made ghar eh eda apein”
with engraved greetings on them. With these is a bag full of fabrics
We as people are very open, so we have always chosen houses
containing her wedding saris and borders, a broken gold necklace and
that have a certain openness within them.
matching earrings. Most other jewelry she says has been converted into
Prabha Nemchand Rambhia, Bai
something else and has taken a new form, and some old black and white photographs from her wedding, one of their wedding, one with her best friend Devyani, and one of her with her siblings at the field in Kutch,
You will always find Bai seated on the right corner of an olive sofa
where they used to spend many a Sunday’s roaming around after
diagonally opposite the door and next to a side table with the landline
lunchtime. She fondly remembers her elder brother, Babubhai as she
phone on it, either playing Solitaire on the sofa, talking to a relative on
calls him, take his camera to the field and click pictures of them. She
the phone, or with her legs stretched out as she watches Savdhaan India
doesn’t remember carrying these pictures with her to Bombay, but I
on the television. Sometimes, you will also catch her seated on the
see in her eyes the remembrance of a simple past, the full grown wheat
ledge of the open window of the living room, looking outside and
swaying with the slight breeze of the wind, the smell of the soil and
appreciating the grandeur of the neighbouring bungalow or
fresh air and of a past shared with those close to her heart.
enlightening you with some dharmic philosophy from Jainism. 31