Last fall, I discovered that freedom
costs about $10,000 plus a life to your self. I left for the U.S visualizing
of this freedom and entering the land of opportunity with reckless abandon.
Of course I missed my home, parents, friends…but still I had my own life
and had to carve a niche’ for myself in this big bad world. All my life
I have lived with my parents and have been sheltered and cosseted by them.
I enjoyed it but for a while…
My hometown is a quaint little community
where everyone knows everyone. People gawk at you if you act the slightest
bit different and talk a trifle bit loudly.
Enough said.
So, I boarded a plane and landed
in Pittsburgh on a cold frosty morning (2:30 am to be precise!). I stayed
with a friend for the first 2 days and eventually moved to the school dorms
where I was going to share my room with a big black girl. (ooops, pardon
me, I mean an African American!) My fate was sealed when I entered my room.
I had chosen this life. So, I had no alternatives. My only solace was that
I had my precious freedom, my own bed-room (not that I did not have it
at home!) and a sort of comic “Two’s party” existence.
I had only one roommate but it felt like I had two. Sounds weird huh? But only much later, I got to know that my roommate was bi-sexual. That explains a lot you see! I learned a lot from my roommate. I learned about the important things in life mostly: how much alcohol can one consume before becoming violently ill? (For more tips: please contact the Webmaster of OKC, he has been “there” and done “that”!) How to successfully live off cheap macaroni and cheese and Ramen noodles as your only sustenance? I also learned the essence of being bi-sexual. It was interesting. Yes Sir, it was!
I have to admit that the most valuable lesson I learned in the past year was that college life existence is truly a soap opera. I guess, I could have given Leeza and Springer a run for their money! Let’s face it – most of the American stereotypes are true. I remember going to bed with drunken slobs in our room having a party (read orgy!) in the living room with my roommate. I also remember a bunch of girls partying in my room all night, morning and afternoon with my roommate and making passes at her and making out and getting sick! Such things ceased to bother me anymore. My life took a Springer-like turn when two of her friends came crying to me telling me that they were in love with my roommate – one a girl and other a boy! As much drama as there was in our room, no chairs, vases were broken. Thank God for small mercies!
I had to explain this whole situation to my sister - not only was I living with a messy roommate but she was bi-sexual too. “Huh…She is special?”…She bellowed into the phone. You see, my entire clan suffers from minor deafness. (Don’t even get me started on my mother and father’s conversation about a common friend Vinay Lal!) So, I spoke a little loudly, “Akka, she is a bi. And that is someone who likes to play with others and themselves too!” Very politically correct huh?
But that was my life last fall. So,
much so for freedom huh? Almost surreal in how comically stereotypical
it was. My roommate and I were broke beyond means sometimes, but we were
happy. I learnt a lot…Yes Sir I did! I had my freedom – could have all
play with ourselves if we wanted to – at the price of learning something…something
new…something different.
Henley’s quote comes to my mind:
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the
scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
I agree. Truly!
- LKS
| Music | Jobs in USA and Europe | Feedback | Kannada Pages | OurKarnataka This Week |