not handle it and he was stoned. On the top of it, he filled himself with beer and was too drunk to know what he was doing. He did not remember that we had beckoned him to our midst while he walked into the party previous night.
Lucy was tall enough to be called Lucy in the Sky. It became a common sight during subsequent dance parties that she would carry Babu and dance. She then started carrying him to the dormitory dining hall and around the campus! She left her boyfriend and started dating Babu. They would be married within one year of that memorable dance episode.
The course work and the research were the integral part of the graduate school and this took up most of my time. Weekend parties would soon be followed by a serious workweek. I remember many days of serious study listening to the Carpenters “Rainy Days and Mondays” that my roommate blasted out of his stereo. He was one of the lord Krishnas. His girlfriends used to visit him often, interrupting my studies. I thought how unfair it was—here, he was crawling with girlfriends while I had to make do with no girlfriends at all. Life was unfair.
The grand ceremony of Christmas would come toward the year end, as a fitting conclusion. The festive atmosphere amid serious study for the semester finals was an unusual mixture. The song “Silent Night” heard in the perfect stillness of the Canadian snow was, and still is, an unforgettable experience. The sound waves got trapped in the snow, and so the Canadian nights were perfectly still, and therefore it appeared appropriate that some of us commented that “Silent Night” should be the Canadian national song. Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” was another appropriate song for Canada, because we always had white Christmases. The song reminded me and my friends that we were in an ideal land to have days merry and bright and to have all our Christmases white, just like Bing Crosby sang.
Christmas would lead to the New Year and its celebration. ComeApril, spring would arrive and thereafter summer. The spectacular greenery of the lawns and the trees was a totally different sight from now-familiar snow-clad Canada.
We were all invited to Babu’s wedding in the summer. All of us were relieved that Lucy did not carry him to the altar where they were married by an Anglican minister. The church allowed a band to play “Lucy in the Sky with diamonds” just after the wedding vows were exchanged. That was a special song for both of them, bathed in sentimentality.
Babu gave her a diamond ring.
I, along with my friends from India, treasured the friendship which we made with our Canadian friends. We were amazed at the uninhibited and unconditional friendship that many of them offered to us. They considered each of us as one among them, even though we were poles apart from them in tradition, culture and outlook on life.
I would say that it was those invaluable friendships that eased by blending with the western culture. I especially treasure the memories of my life in the Canadian university dormitory during the initial years of my stay in Canada.
Even though many Canadian winters with evergreen trees covered with snow have gone by since I came to Canada, even though many rainbow colored leaves have fallen in many Canadian falls since I came here, even though many Canadian summers with their emerald green meadows have passed by me since I arrived here, I still maintain contact with my friends whom I met during my initial years, and would always gratefully remember how they extended bouquets of friendship, easing my transition into an unfamiliar culture.
***
I returned to Kerala in 1981 for a visit.
When I boarded the plane from Toronto en route to Kerala, I was full of anticipation and was looking forward to seeing Kerala after six years of absence. Kerala’s coconut palm trees would once morebe fluttering for me, the tall areca nut trees would once more be beckoning me to their elegant presence, and the restless
Lucy was tall enough to be called Lucy in the Sky. It became a common sight during subsequent dance parties that she would carry Babu and dance. She then started carrying him to the dormitory dining hall and around the campus! She left her boyfriend and started dating Babu. They would be married within one year of that memorable dance episode.
The course work and the research were the integral part of the graduate school and this took up most of my time. Weekend parties would soon be followed by a serious workweek. I remember many days of serious study listening to the Carpenters “Rainy Days and Mondays” that my roommate blasted out of his stereo. He was one of the lord Krishnas. His girlfriends used to visit him often, interrupting my studies. I thought how unfair it was—here, he was crawling with girlfriends while I had to make do with no girlfriends at all. Life was unfair.
The grand ceremony of Christmas would come toward the year end, as a fitting conclusion. The festive atmosphere amid serious study for the semester finals was an unusual mixture. The song “Silent Night” heard in the perfect stillness of the Canadian snow was, and still is, an unforgettable experience. The sound waves got trapped in the snow, and so the Canadian nights were perfectly still, and therefore it appeared appropriate that some of us commented that “Silent Night” should be the Canadian national song. Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” was another appropriate song for Canada, because we always had white Christmases. The song reminded me and my friends that we were in an ideal land to have days merry and bright and to have all our Christmases white, just like Bing Crosby sang.
Christmas would lead to the New Year and its celebration. ComeApril, spring would arrive and thereafter summer. The spectacular greenery of the lawns and the trees was a totally different sight from now-familiar snow-clad Canada.
We were all invited to Babu’s wedding in the summer. All of us were relieved that Lucy did not carry him to the altar where they were married by an Anglican minister. The church allowed a band to play “Lucy in the Sky with diamonds” just after the wedding vows were exchanged. That was a special song for both of them, bathed in sentimentality.
Babu gave her a diamond ring.
I, along with my friends from India, treasured the friendship which we made with our Canadian friends. We were amazed at the uninhibited and unconditional friendship that many of them offered to us. They considered each of us as one among them, even though we were poles apart from them in tradition, culture and outlook on life.
I would say that it was those invaluable friendships that eased by blending with the western culture. I especially treasure the memories of my life in the Canadian university dormitory during the initial years of my stay in Canada.
Even though many Canadian winters with evergreen trees covered with snow have gone by since I came to Canada, even though many rainbow colored leaves have fallen in many Canadian falls since I came here, even though many Canadian summers with their emerald green meadows have passed by me since I arrived here, I still maintain contact with my friends whom I met during my initial years, and would always gratefully remember how they extended bouquets of friendship, easing my transition into an unfamiliar culture.
***
I returned to Kerala in 1981 for a visit.
When I boarded the plane from Toronto en route to Kerala, I was full of anticipation and was looking forward to seeing Kerala after six years of absence. Kerala’s coconut palm trees would once morebe fluttering for me, the tall areca nut trees would once more be beckoning me to their elegant presence, and the restless
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