Purnima - SouthBank - Monty Escapes (Again)
Last night we and the kids on the Southbank Centre to try something different - Purnima Chaudhuri, a singer of Akashvani and Doordarshan who has appeared in the National Programmes and Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan various times. B.B.C. TV has also telecast her programme. Chaudhuri is Sangeet Pravin (M.Muse) from Prayag Sangeet Samity, Allahabad. Her wailing, to the traditional hindu drum and strings, beyond me but the audience enraptured, emitting exclamations of enthusiasm at moments which do not seem to correspond to a song's rythme. Madeleine loves the performance while Eitan reserved - he leans on my shoulder, clearly drowsy and up past his bedtime. The both of us, brother, and I too fall asleep (Sonnet jabs me a few times as my head rolls). Afterwards we stroll along the river and catch a train from Waterloo.
Before the performance, we have dinner at buzzy new restaurant 'Bangalore Express,' which is the head-chef from Chelsea's 'The Painted Heron.' Of note are the booths, which are stacked on each other so we enjoy the unusual luxory of dinner ten feet above the floor. I comment to our waiter that hoisting food and drink up a ladder not particularly easy and she shrugs - just like any job, I suppose. The kids climb around like moneys and Sonnet on edge that one will fall off - presumably into someone's dahl below. From there we stroll to Queen Elizabeth Hall and pass a late-evening bike ride with spooky-costume theme - pictured. The nights now early and dark, which is the perfect foil for this pre-Hallowe'en event. Any kind of communal excercise to ward off the the natural anxiety of an approaching winter welcome, I am sure. Since I have my trusty camera I take a lot of images but unfortunately without a tri-pod they are mostly bunk.
Monty escapes again and this time smart enough to find a safe=haven behind the children's bathtub. This becoming a lot like work. The morning spent coaching the rodent free, me using broom stick, which elicits an occasional shrieking sound from the poor thing. Madeleine cries. We leave Monty for the day, hoping his nocturnal nature will give us the evening advantage -- upon our return, we are unable to find him despite barricading bathroom the door. More Madeleine tears "this is the saddest day of my life" she wails from her bed and "I just want to hold Monty." Eitan saves the day, hearing Monty scratch behind his bedroom drapes, and the chase is on. Sonnet screams a few times as the hamster - a fast little bugger - races around the room with us in hot pursuit. We nab him, finally, and plop! back into the Habitrail. This, I tell Sonnet, one of those priceless family moments. And it is.
