The social elite of the yesteryears is caught in a time warp
Berjis Desai
The senior naval commander’s widow was greatly relieved when her monthly pension was substantially increased by the Government of India. She would now be able to afford the salary of a live-in maid-cum-cook. Just the previous month, she had sold with a heavy heart, her antique jewelry including the pigeon blood red Burmese rubies, to pay for some much needed repairs to her tenanted but spacious residence in one of Bombay’s richest neighborhoods. For a long time now, she had stopped eating her favorite pomfret, the most expensive flesh in the city, pretending she was allergic. Her mode of transportation......