Some of my comments on Ramarao Kanneganti's Wall in a post about his first trip to USA for higher studies.
Me1) Much contrast from my first trip in 1968 From Bombay to London. I did not want a family send off and was vague about my trip to avoid my father. I only remember there were 3 or 4 stops and weren't straight to a hotel arranged by the Nuffield Foundation people. It was quite close to the British Museum. My troubles started. Even though one was familiar with the west from films and books, the accents were difficult to follow. It was cold, towards the end of September. I could not eat the food in the hotel except for bread. I do not remember how I handled the bathtub but remember the problems later when Professor Wall put me up in his house since rooms were not available. I did not know about how to use the beds and used the bed cover to cover myself. It was cold and I kept the heater on. I did not know one had to clean the bathtub after a bath. They had enough of me and found a room in a seminary. Rooms were available since theology was not very popular. The heating was off by 10:30 in the night and I panicked. Then one of the theology students showed me the mystery of western beds; how to get under all those blankets and how to make a bed. From cockney to Scouse, language still difficult but theology students were helpful. Some were agnostics and were in it for social work. They introduced me to Bob Dylan. Next December when I landed in USA it was smoother. Except by that time, I considered myself a veteran and on the first evening went to a bar called The Pub in New Haven since it sounded British. It turned out to be gay bar and with my new British habits invited one of the guys to the guest house I was staying. I was alone in the guest house since there was Yale-Harvard game that night. It was a bit of struggle to extricate myself.
Me2) Those days after drinks in a pub in Liverpool which ended around 10:40, one of the people would invite everybody to his house to a have a coffee. I was following that habit and thought that women did not go to bars that much in America. Somebody told me about the pub later. I seem to be remarkably unobservant. These days travel is more difficult for me. The modern technology confuses me and I have become a stay-at-home man. Apart from the actual home, the only area I feel comfortable is around Krishna river in Guntur District.
Me3) This may interest a Kamala. While I was in USA from 1969 December to 1970 July, I made friends with Americans of African and Jewish origins and stayed in their homes too. I recently contacted one of those friends to inform her about Gidla Sujatha and she replied that she would be happy'to connect with this young sister'. The deposit for the house in which I live was paid by a British friend in hose house I stayed several times. As some famous Liverpudlians said ' I got by with a little help from friends'.
Me1) Much contrast from my first trip in 1968 From Bombay to London. I did not want a family send off and was vague about my trip to avoid my father. I only remember there were 3 or 4 stops and weren't straight to a hotel arranged by the Nuffield Foundation people. It was quite close to the British Museum. My troubles started. Even though one was familiar with the west from films and books, the accents were difficult to follow. It was cold, towards the end of September. I could not eat the food in the hotel except for bread. I do not remember how I handled the bathtub but remember the problems later when Professor Wall put me up in his house since rooms were not available. I did not know about how to use the beds and used the bed cover to cover myself. It was cold and I kept the heater on. I did not know one had to clean the bathtub after a bath. They had enough of me and found a room in a seminary. Rooms were available since theology was not very popular. The heating was off by 10:30 in the night and I panicked. Then one of the theology students showed me the mystery of western beds; how to get under all those blankets and how to make a bed. From cockney to Scouse, language still difficult but theology students were helpful. Some were agnostics and were in it for social work. They introduced me to Bob Dylan. Next December when I landed in USA it was smoother. Except by that time, I considered myself a veteran and on the first evening went to a bar called The Pub in New Haven since it sounded British. It turned out to be gay bar and with my new British habits invited one of the guys to the guest house I was staying. I was alone in the guest house since there was Yale-Harvard game that night. It was a bit of struggle to extricate myself.
Me2) Those days after drinks in a pub in Liverpool which ended around 10:40, one of the people would invite everybody to his house to a have a coffee. I was following that habit and thought that women did not go to bars that much in America. Somebody told me about the pub later. I seem to be remarkably unobservant. These days travel is more difficult for me. The modern technology confuses me and I have become a stay-at-home man. Apart from the actual home, the only area I feel comfortable is around Krishna river in Guntur District.
Me3) This may interest a Kamala. While I was in USA from 1969 December to 1970 July, I made friends with Americans of African and Jewish origins and stayed in their homes too. I recently contacted one of those friends to inform her about Gidla Sujatha and she replied that she would be happy'to connect with this young sister'. The deposit for the house in which I live was paid by a British friend in hose house I stayed several times. As some famous Liverpudlians said ' I got by with a little help from friends'.
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