Campus Life and Tourism

A threesome.
It was sometime toward the end of '69 that Gita joined the U of I journalism course. She moved in with us and soon we were making fun of her being called 'kattaar' as in additon to the typical south indian practice of having the first letter of her father's name as an initial, she used her ancestral village name as another, again a common practice in our area. Spelt Kutur, with the u pronounced like the oo in 'hoot' . And it was also Ramu's initial, Mugur, similarly pronounced in India and mispronounced here as 'Magaar', that tickled us.
It had become a regular practice for me to come back from work or class and hustle up a dinner. One Tuesday, when I usually came late, and for some reason was further delayed that day, I was hungering to eat soon, only to find both Ramu and Gita serenely reading a book each. Then I gave them an ultimatum. They knew I was late on Tuesdays, didn't they? Well, hereafter I would not prepare dinner on Tuesdays! One of them could. Rather taken aback at this outburst, they quickly made a pasta and this became the new arrangement.

A Footstool is Advertised
One day, soon after we moved into the student housing flat, I saw a notice on the bulletin board about a footstool for one dollar. So I went to that apartment and picked it up. Casually, I asked the woman if she had anything else to sell. Well, she said, their car, a Volkswagen, was available. How much? Two hundred and fifty, she said. I told her I would be back and in a few hours, after ramu and I had a look and a drive in it, the deal was made.
We loved that car and had a lot of fun in it. It was easy to park, and start. In winter, in the open parking lot that the housing unit had, while all others were struggling to get their cars started, our air-cooled engine would roar at first go. But, usually, we had nowhere to go in it during the week, as we could not drive into campus, being considered students. So we had to sit in the still cold car every other day to keep our battery in condition! That made us aware of the one defect our very own 'Herbie' had – its left side [the driver's side]heater was not heating at all. Even after a mechanic tinkered with it, it refused to work. Still we took it on short and long journeys - the east coast in the spring break – New York, staying with Krishna and Arvind in Queens, Washington [where we stayed with R's brother, Nanju and family] and the Niagara falls [there we met up with Balu, my cousin, who was studying in Rochester]. The car behaved beautifully except that on the high altitude roads, the winds were so strong that we felt we might blown away in our puny vehicle any moment. Another problem was the passing by of the monstrous trucks- they seemed to suck our car in, well almost. But we did survive these fearful events.
We were less fortunate with the heater on this as well as on other trips. As we went northwards, the heat was on, but we had to change drivers pretty frequently to avoid having our left leg get so frozen that it might lead to amputation issues!
Another enjoyable trip that summer was our camping trip in our friend Palani's commodious car. We went to Yellowstone, the Badlands in the Dakotas, and Glacier National Park [called International Peace Park in the Canada section]. Such variety in one trip! We bought a tent that the two men would put up in ten minutes flat, while I cooked a simple meal within that time! [Using instant potatoes, dehydrated onions, canned peas/beans and other vegs, minute rice and so on. One day we even had masala dosa with bisquix for the dosa mix]. We found the tent life, with sometimes indifferent toilet and bath facilities, a bit too much to take throughout with the long distances we drove, so we alternated staying in motels to get a real good night's rest and a proper shower. Still, some of the camping sites were quite comfy with all amenities that you could either hook up to or in a common amenity section.
Out in the Dakotas, there was no speed limit and we touched 140 mph on those unbelievably straight roadsm so straight that one might easily fall asleep on while driving. The sign 'next gas station 100 miles' came in view often on these roads,and there was not a soul or a habitation in sight most of the time.
Of all the glorious sights we were treated to on this trip, the serene and clear glacier lakes and hazy mountains of the Glacier National Park were the most breathtaking.
Later that year, Bimal Ganguly, another friend, got his Ph.D. And we had a party to celebrate it at our flat. He brought some champagne, which I had made him promise he would do if he got his degree, but with just a couple of sips, I was sick. And a hangover the next day! I have been wary of champagne ever since.