A day with a Doctor

Before I start something today, I send this special message to Sanjay Joshi, A Mira Road resident and my friend in 6:33 local from Churchgate, “Many many happy returns of the day. You have been just like my dad and have filled my life with love and fun. God bless you and your family. My prayers are always with you. Have a great year ahead.”

I take you to the past in 2009 when I was in Surat. Nowadays, I never go to Surat as I have really good memories back in 2009-10 with the city. Therefore, whenever I go there, I remember the most memorable time spent in the city that makes me quite worried. And tell you the truth; I do not like worries at all. Those are stored safely in my memory disk and so, I am sharing one of my best days spent in Surat today. A day with doctor.... 

Like a BOSS. Pankhi at her Home

Doctor is no one but Pankhi Shah. Pankhi has been practicing physiotherapy in Pune since many years. There's long story how we became friends. She is from Pune, I am from Valsad… Blah…. So let it go and start the topic leaving it. Her native place is Rajan Nagar, Valsad where she comes on holidays. I often go there to my maternal uncle's riverside apartment. I call it The Fortress of Pankhi Shah. Once upon a time she was coming for holidays in Valsad. She had insisted me to show the beautiful city Surat and taste the Surti food. So I invited to visit it. She came with her childhood friend in morning train, whose name I forgot and we started our day with excitement. 

I joined them at the Majura Gate where both ladies got off from a sharing auto. They asked me what the plan was. I told them we would go to the best places of the city. But first we should have the breakfast. We took them to eat Locho, which is a variety only found in Surat and its neighbor cities. It is made of the mixture of steamed Vati Dal and served hot with refined oil poured on it. If you go to Surat and if you don't eat that, you have done nothing in the city. You're a complete piece of crap. After all, “Surat nu jaman, ne kasha nu maran”. So our plan was the same. To eat, eat and eat! When we went to Mahidharpura, we saw huge crowd gathered to buy Locho. As it was a morning, many students had also come there. I was scaring to go there but her friend broke into the crowd and brought the plates of Locho. It was very shameful act of mine when I couldn't go in crowd and took help of that lady who bought for me. I know the doctor had taunted me on this topic to her friend with whom she came. We had the tasty dish of Locho and we went Athwagate. The day was too short to roam in Surat, we went to the garden situated on Athwalines opposite Adventist hospital and sat near the bank of the river Tapi. It was very peaceful and the river was giving us the coolest breeze which made us stuck there for a while. It was a noon and the sunlight started disturbing us. So we went from the place and left the garden. 

Then we decided to go Dumas, one of the beach situated in the interior part of Surat. Dumas is an isolated place where mostly the couples go to take the benefit of loneliness. We were going because we wanted to eat the famous Tomato Bhajia which are only found in that particular place. To go Dumas, we cannot hire an auto as they might take more charges. We have to go in typical "Chhakdas" (You know chhakdas, I used to travel in Gurgaon!). These chhakdas stood near the Athwagate circle opposite the plane. We got in it and went towards Dumas. Instead of going anywhere else, we went to the chaupati where we were having the Tomato Bhajia. It was noon and lot of heat the sun was throwing its heat on us, we only order single plate. Three of us, completed the plate and both ladies separated from me for a while. The other was residing in Valsad who was Pankhi's best friend needed to talk with her for a while. Pankhi hardly comes to her native place as she too, has busy schedule. Both are known to be very close friend. I was seeing curiously both ladies, their friendship, was one in a billion. Her friend kept her head on Pankhi's shoulder and chatted for several minutes. I could not control and went to them, 

"What are you doing? This is public place." I asked mischievously. 

Her friend replied, "I love Pankhi. You don’t know our relationship. Please stay away from here.” 

            I left them with their mysterious relationship and moved away.  As we had taken the plate of that Tomato Bhajia, none of us was starving. While returning from Dumas, we somehow got an auto instead of that Chhakda. So we were lucky and we went in the large mall situated in Piplod area. We were going here and there in the huge mall and enjoying ourselves. We bought ice cream to eat before leaving the mall. The doctor was asking to have the lunch there but I knew where I was gonna take her for lunch. The mall was centralized air conditioned and we were feeling quite refreshed coming out of it. Then we moved in an auto. Meanwhile I challenged Pankhi to get her the best lunch she had ever before. The dish of a Paneer and Parathas. I told her that it would be the best food than any other place in the world. She told me it wasn’t possible because the Paneer plates she ate in Pune were best according to her. Again we got down on Athwalines. I took them into the Klassic Restaurant and it was my favorite food restaurant in Surat. All their staff knew me very well as I often went there to have my favorite food. They give me the menu and asked me to order which I prefer. I ordered Paneer Kadai and Kulchas. While having lunch, I asked Pankhi,

“So, now what’s your view about the Paneer? Better than Pune?”

“Well, can’t say. It’s actually good. But not the best like Pune. Come there and have it once. You will never forget the taste.” She replied.

“Sure! I would love to.” I said.

            Finishing the lunch, we went to drink the famous coco situated in the Athwalines area. We preferred to walk toward the coco store as we just had lunch, while Pankhi was watching the beautiful bungalows on the Athwalines.

“Chintan, these are so beautiful. Surat is much developed now.” She said.

“It’s the posh area of Surat and you may find all the bungalows tremendous as they are.” I said.

“Oh! I wish I had a boyfriend who belongs to one of these bungalows.” She ended.

Pankhi, celebrating her 1st Birthday with her mom. So cute kid

            Pankhi is well known for her typical Tom Boy character. She never had a boyfriend in her life. Actually she really hates boys. If anyone would try to compare her name with any boy, she would kill him/her. She is often teased with several boys’ names. By walking, we reached at the famous coco centre and had the glasses full of coco. It was noon and we were still not tired. So we took auto from there and decided to go the famous Chauta Bazaar. Chauta bazaar is a local market for women where many would come for shopping. From rich to poor, no one misses to visit the cities most popular market. When we reached there, we saw huge crowd, as usual. It is always surrounded with women as the things are quite cheap and good for them. I consider the Gurgaon based market is as similar as the market of Chauta Bazaar. But the difference is only that in Gurgaon, you may easily find any women to enjoy yourself for a while at a very low cost. Doctor said,

“Chintan, get me a bottle of water.”

I went and took two bottle of Aquafina out of which, Doctor consumed the one alone. She was quite thirsty. It was almost evening when we came out from Chauta Bazaar. I saw doctor was quite tired and unable to move further. So we decided to go finally back to station and catch the Viramgam Local. So we caught an auto and headed towards the Surat Station. The train arrived before time and we got seat. 

            A nice day in Surat ended with unforgettable memory with Doctor Pankhi Shah. Like her name Pankhi, she has got the quality of flying independently in to the huge sky. She comes from Pune sitting on the door steps of the Rajkot bound train alone and gets off Valsad station at 3 o’clock early morning; she lives alone without her family yet enjoys her life in a best way.  She belongs to Jain community and that’s why I like her a lot. These including many things make me feel proud of the Doctor. I always remember her on the occasions of Navratri because one of Matarani’s garba says,

“Pankhida re udi jajo pavaghadh re…”

I confess, I really miss her company.