In my childhood, all the cousins would come here to meet our grandfather: Prithviraj Kapoor. The activities were to meet him and rush for a swim in the sea, have nariyal pani and then a lovely lunch. After that we would go and play in the old theatre. It was a big hall with a stage. We would enact our own performances. We would use the props kept in trunks to improvise our enactments. Sometimes we would go to Juhu with our own parent or sometimes with an Uncle. So, Shashi Uncle lived a few minutes away and I often went with his kids and vice versa for this Sunday picnic. Sometimes, we had lunch and a swim earlier at Sun n Sand. Shashi Uncle loved Mercedes cars so that was another attraction. My dad only liked American cars: Chevrolet, etc. Prithvi Theatre was also where we ate the famous Khudjaama. This is simply egg on toast cooked in desi ghee, sprinkled on with green chillies and salt. Delicious. I could eat 4 at a time. At that time!

After playing around, we would generally chill. Which meant quiet down and find a cool spot in the Prithvi cottage to rest. The elders would always be in a discussion with our grandfather. Even in his golden age, Dadaji would be a student. He would be learning the veena, or sanskrit. Something would always be going on. Other visitors would consist of the Prithvi team. Which by the way is a lot of the film industry, who would pop in to pay their respects.

We would leave at sunset. It was a sad moment. Grandfather would give us a brand new one rupee note as a gift upon arriving and that would be tucked safely in our pockets. We would be asleep, before we reached home. These memories are at age 10 onwards.

Today I am 61. I have closed my motorcycle ride around the world at 12.21pm on 16th of April, 2018 after 10 months and 35,000 km.

At Prithvi Theatre.

I was a solo rider. So was my grandfather.