ALAN Braithwaite and wife Pat, both 73, had landed from London a day before we meet them. We assume they will be jet- lagged septuagenarians, especially Alan, since he recently signed off from the Cambridgeu2019s Royal Papworth Hospital after an open heart surgery in November 2019. When his doctors declared him fit to take a flight, he took the first flight here.

u201c We have long family connections in India. My grandmother was born in Mysuru, my grandparents got married in Mumbai, my mother was born in Belgaum and my parents were married in Shimla. But after Independence, we were sent back to the UK, and I was born in London, which is incredibly boring,u201d Alan laughs, telling us why he is in India.