September’24 kicked off with a visit to Mad Doh – Sourdough Pizzeria. Sourdough is made by fermenting a mixture of flour and water with wild yeasts and bacteria – just how life turned out to be this September – A little bit of everything mixed together!
In this month’s life updates:
- Abba – A life well lived
- Signal School, Thane
- Ganpati Bappa, Morya!
- Restaurant Reviews
- A month of birthday’s
- Friends in Pune
Abba – A life well lived
Our beloved Abba (Shashank Joshi), grandfather to my wife, passed away on September 7th. He was 91. Abba lived with us next door for the past 9 years. He was born and brought up in Murtizapur, one of the taluka of district of Akola of the Amravati division of the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. Abba moved to Nagpur when he was a kid and subsequently moved to Mumbai. He worked as a professor of botany at Rizvi college for many years (till retirement).
Till few years ago, Abba was an avid reader. He’d get up everyday and go straight to his newspapers. Since, he had interest in nature, I’d give him my Nat Geo magazines which he’d read. Apart from nature and botany, Abba was also a follower of cricket. He’d watch any match that played on TV.
Abba was Ashwini’s favorite – so much so that he used to always listen to her and take meds, even when scolded at. Abba was very fit – he’d take a stroll everyday with his walker and do 2-3 rounds of our floor lobby – visiting all corners and looking out of the windows, admiring the sunrise or the greenery around us.
Above: Abba with his walker, 23rd January 2020 (Pre-COVID), with his extended family.
All of us remember you Abba! Thank you for a life well lived and all the learnings you gave us!
A visit to Signal School, Thane
In loving memory of Abba, we decided to give a small donation (books & stationery) along with Vada Pav as snack to the kids at Signal School, Thane.
Signal school is an innovative concept initiated by Samarth Bharat Vyaspeeth under Tin Hath Naka signal Bridge, Thane, Maharashtra; it aims towards providing mainstream education to the children living on streets. Amongst, the many good things it does, Signal school has the following purpose:
- To terminate begging from children’s lives.
- To provide primary and secondary education to underprivileged children by friendly education.
- To bring weak and deprived children in mainstream education.
- To develop cognitive skills of children through social participation.
There are around 35-40 kids at Signal school and they provide education from Jr. Kg – Grade 10. Shipping containers are classroom and they do the job of keeping out the cacophony of the honking vehicles that crowd Teen haath naka, Thane.
✌️❤️
If you’d like to consider a donation to Signal School, please reach out to Bhatu Sir on +91-9987030916
Ganpati Bappa, Morya!
This was the month of the Indian Idol – The most revered God in India, Ganesh or Ganapati as we call him. Due to Abba’s passing away, we couldn’t celebrate this year. I did manage to visit Ganpati at my Kaka (uncle) and Aatya’s (aunt) house and caught up with cousins – Sanika, J (Jayanti) and Krishna.
Restaurant Reviews
Mad Doh – Sourdough Pizzeria, Mulund
We absolutely love pizza – both my kids and I. The good part about Mad Doh was that it made my wifey falling in love with their pizza. It was that good!
Classic Roasted Garlic Bread – 5/5
Wood fried Pizza Ortolana – 6/5
Smoked Vegetebale & Cottage Cheese Lasagne – 4.5 / 5
Definitely visiting again. Soon. Enough said!!
Prasadalay, Thane
This was my dear friend Nilesh Satpute’s find. As their IG bio reads, “Get Divine blessing of Gajanan Maharaj in every bite of our pure authentic Satvik thali.🍽️
Only At Thane’s Prasadalay .🍲🌿” – the food was so good, so tasty!
Total banger Satvik food!
A month full of birthday’s
September is the month of birthday’s or it might just be that couple’s get to work in December! Some of my favorite people on planet earth have their birthday’s in September. Here’s wishing them once again!
- IAS Sidharth Bodke – September 14 – He is my close friend since engineering (2001) – currently serving as Head of Doordarshan News, Marathi
- Kabir – Bro-in’laws son on September 14
- Aira – September 21 – My love, my daughter, turned 7 this year!
- Tushar Pereira – My school best friend shares his birthday with my daughter
- Anju – Ashwini’s mom bday was celebrated on September 26
- Aaji – September 15 – celebrated 84th birthday
- Lt. Col. Amol Bagayatkar – My childhood buddy who is posted in Bikaner, Rajasthan celebrates his birthday on 27th September
- Remembering my Mom, Shilpa on September 28th
Happy Birthday Mom!
Thank you for all that you did for us.
Friends in Pune
I happen to travel to Pune often. This month, I had to go for some bank work, so it was a one-day trip.
I always make it a point to meet friends, wherever I go – It’s important for me to maintain relationships. I really value my friends. My mantra is simple – Invest in friendships and you’ll get blockbuster returns in life!!
Life in September was very much like the sourdough pizza we had at Mad Doh.
Life happens, pizza helps!
On to more life in October.