I aced the interview!

Did I tell you about the interview I had submitted for review? The writing workshop had an interview piece that we each had to do - we could select the person to interview. I wanted to interview Abodh Aras, CEO of Welfare of Stray Dogs. Interviewing someone approachable, interesting and passionate about his cause was quite an experience: rewarding in more ways than one. I had a glimpse of the crusade he's on - controlling stray dog population and sterilizing, vaccinating them, giving them first aid - and the effort he puts in every single day for a cause that's one of a kind. It took me more than a day to sit down and condense everything to 10 questions, which was the submission limit. Quite naturally, the questions flowed well and gave an idea of a continuous conversation rather than a disjointed question answer session.

I got a "Well Done" by the reviewer. She also observed that I did my homework well before going for the interview. It put me in a great mood all of Sunday.

It reminded me of that day when I left home at 7:15 am to get the bus that would take me to Churchgate. The office was at Kalaghoda, the art destination of Mumbai. I had to wait an hour before I could go and interview him and not one restaurant was open, there was no place to sit down and read my newspaper. Only juice and sandwich stalls were open, as were newstands. Tea and idli sellers roamed the streets with their stainless steel containers, often parking at a spot where early office goers swarmed like flies to catch a hot cuppa chai or a steaming idli and green coconut chutney before they clocked in. Tiny offices, tucked away in crumblingly old buildings. I climbed treacherously old wooden stairs to reach the office where I waited in the hot, unventilated passage before Abodh came in to unlock the office door.

He swiftly ushered me into the visitors room and sat in a chair and gave me an anticipative look which signalled me to start the interview right there. I didnt know how an hour passed and then a few minutes more before I shut my notebook and thanked him for giving me his time. He noted down my email address and also my blog address which I quite nervously gave; it's quite a personal space. He blogs too:

http://strayingaround.blogspot.com/ (where he writes about Mumbai and strays in general)

I've been hunting around for his stray dog adoption blog but havent found it yet.

I'm now going to hunt for someone who can publish this interview.