<img style="float: left;" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2023/jul/Rahul-op_e.jpg" alt="Rahul Da Cunha" width="200" height="69" />It&rsquo;s been 10 days since my father passed away, and Lobo Lobo stood at my doorstep:
&ldquo;Dikuna men, sorry men I missed the mass for your dad, I thought I would share my condolences in person&hellip;&rdquo;
&ldquo;Please come in Lobo Lobo,&rdquo; I began.
He&rsquo;d hardly entered, when my phone pinged&hellip; it was Nats aka Natasha, my 19-year-old, <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/news/opinion/article/my-dad-the-dude-23294220" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">Gen Z neighbour</a>.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Sup yo, Rahul bruh, wanted to pop by, but I saw that weirdass TV dude at your doorstep... wassisname&hellip; Gomes Gomes,&rdquo; her <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-news/article/sylvie-is-now-a-star-in-the-sky-23293640" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">WhatsApp</a> message read.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s Lobo Lobo, not Gomes Gomes&hellip; but come,&rdquo; I messaged back.
Within a few minutes I had my cable <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/news/opinion/article/goat-gets-my-goat-23292933" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">TV technician</a> and nosey neighbour, standing side by side, staring at me face to face.
&ldquo;Sorry for your loss, bruh, but you seem pretty sorted,&rdquo; Nats said.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m hanging in there, Natasha, thanks.&rdquo;
Lobo Lobo continued&mdash;
&ldquo;Dikuna men&hellip; your beloved father has been granted safe passage. The risen Lord will watch over him, he is in a better place.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Excuse me?&rdquo; Nats enquired.
&ldquo;You are eskyused,&rdquo; Lobo Lobo said.
&ldquo;Uhm&hellip; no, I&rsquo;m intrigued. Did you say, that Rahu bruh&rsquo;s dad is in a &lsquo;better place&rsquo;?&rdquo;
&ldquo;Yes dat is ezzacly what I said, young lady!&rdquo;
&ldquo;And how do we know this fact with 100 per cent certainty, that he is in a better place from before?&rdquo;
I felt a low rumble&hellip; like molten lava was about to erupt from Mount Lobo Lobo.
&ldquo;Uhm, Dikuna men, who is dis dame ya, damn cheeky she is!&rdquo; (Eye roll)
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m standing here, sir, you could address me directly,&rdquo; Nats rasped, politely.
&ldquo;Better place means better place, we Catlicks believe dat ok, you Hindoos have udder customs and beliefs about de afterlife, so how I&rsquo;ll esplain.&rdquo; &nbsp;
&ldquo;Clearly sir, we come from different spiritual worlds but FYI, I&rsquo;m a practising Buddhist, if you must get technical.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Oh foe... my dotter, Cinderella, &nbsp;she flies foe Catay Paciffic, she is into dat, wochyiucall Buddhism also.&rdquo;
(Eye roll)
&ldquo;What&rsquo;s your point, sir,&nbsp;
Buddhism is one of the world&rsquo;s religions.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Hey hey... don&rsquo;t lecchur me. Ok, young girl, whole, whole day she toh does dat chanting&mdash;birdie num num sumting, rang ho ho h, birdie num num rang ho.&rdquo; (Triple eye-roll)
&ldquo;Excuse me, you are actually confusing some silly Peter Sellers dialogue with our sacred mantra, &lsquo;Nam myoho renge kyo&rsquo;.&rdquo;
&ldquo;All dis chanting has not made her calm&hellip; whole day she is shouting onie... at her &lsquo;kadka&rsquo; boyfriend, at her mudder, at her colleagues, wots all dis point of meditation and mantra, if it duzzent relax you down?&rdquo;
&ldquo;Listen, not everyone who chants is necessarily a Buddhist&hellip; for all you know, your daughter could be an atheist or agnostic who just enjoys chanting.&rdquo;
Lobo Lobo looked perplexed.
&ldquo;Arrey same ting men&hellip; religious agnostic, or atheist means you don&rsquo;t believe in God?&rdquo;
&ldquo;I beg to differ sir. Technically, an atheist is someone who doesn&rsquo;t believe in a god, while an agnostic is someone who doesn&rsquo;t believe it&rsquo;s possible to know for sure that a god exists.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Ohoho wot all high funda tings you are saying&hellip; I&rsquo;m sure now you&rsquo;ll tell me dat our Lord is a lady.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Well since you mention it, I am non-binary... so, in my eyes God could be a he, a she, a them, a they or a their.&rdquo;
Mount Lobo Lobo finally erupted.
I thought it was an appropriate time to make myself scarce or for these two to disappear.
&ldquo;Uhm Lobo Lobo and Nats, I&rsquo;ve lost a parent a few days ago, and if you two wanna argue about God&rsquo;s gender, please take it outside or next door. I have things to do, a mother to spend time with&hellip; some grief to deal with.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Sorry Dikuna men!&rdquo; Lobo Lobo said hastily.
Nats gave me a sideways hug, &ldquo;Bruh... peace out.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Nats turned to Lobo Lobo:
&ldquo;Uhhm Mr Gomes Gomes, sorry Lobo Lobo, can I offer you an Espresso?&rdquo;
&ldquo;Umm&hellip; madam&hellip; wot is Expresso?&rdquo;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an uhm, Italian, uhm... coffee.&rdquo;
&ldquo;See haah, I&rsquo;m one simple Catlick bugger, I only drink cutting chai.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;That can be arranged,&nbsp;
Mr Lobo, come, I live next door, let me take you my resting place.&rdquo;
(Dimpled smile)
And with that my cable TV technician and my Gen Z neighbour went off to settle their religious differences while I could rest&hellip;with some peace and quiet.
Rahul daCunha is an adman, theatre director/playwright, photographer and traveller. Reach him at rahul.dacunha@mid-day.com
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“Sorry for your loss, bruh, but you seem pretty sorted,” Nats said.

Lobo Lobo and Nats come visiting

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Lobo Lobo and Nats come visiting

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