Note: All characters and venues are totally fictional; any semblance to real persons or places is merely coincidental.
Synopsis:Sheila meets Munni for the first time. They go out for coffee and shopping.
LIA= Life In America
Uncle Benny had a round face and a shiny bald head. He was a little shorter than his nephew. He had a wiry frame, wicker basket chest and a tiny paunch under that. A pair of round framed eye glasses and a grey mustache would make him a dead ringer for the mahatma or Ben Kingsley. MGR had that same big nose as his uncle. Benny must have smiled a lot; he had lines on his face with a permanent happy expression. His dark complexion, round face and the smooth scalp made him blend in well with the black citizens in Detroit; but when he talked, the locals could tell that he was from somewhere else. May be Jamaican, they often thought. Over the last couple of years, MGR had found out bits and pieces of his uncle's history.
His uncle was part of a big riot of the Telugu people in Chennai during mid December 1952. A policeman was indeed killed in the stone throwing and the general melee near Spencer's at Mount Road. Some of the school friends of the uncle were caught and "questioned" by the police. Uncle had escaped and couldn't return home because there was a policeman watching the house from across the street for days after that. Apparently one of his friends had named him. His uncle left India during the first week of 1953, as a cook's helper in a ship that was going to Mogadishu. In English-Africa, he had worked in shops in Mogadishu and Nairobi for Gujarati owners for a few years and then moved to Uganda before the independence. Uganda is where he had married auntie. In 1972, he had come to Georgia in America with Auntie, her brothers and their families. MGR learnt more details from his uncle's daughter Sheila.
When MGR first arrived in California, he had called his uncle on the telephone. His uncle asked him about the trip, where he changed planes, his apartment, college and classes. Then he gave him the phone number of his daughter Dr. Sheila Shah and told him to call her in San Francisco. Sheila worked in a hospital in the city. MGR was thrilled that he had such a close relative, living not too far away. When he looked at a map the bay area, he found out that the city was on the other side of the famous golden gate bridge, not really close for him to walk. Later he learnt that he could take the train there. When he called the phone number, he got an answering machine with a woman's voice. It sounded very different from any of the american women's voices he had heard in the few days he had been in America. MGR had not gotten used to the local speech yet; he often said "ha'nh?". One of his room mates taught him to say "I am sorry, could you please repeat that ?" and avoid the rude "ha'nh"s. He left a message on the machine and his apartment's phone number. After he hung up, he wondered whether what he said in the message would be understood by his cousin. When Sheila called him back that night, although he couldn't understand all of what she said, he was very relieved.
Sheila came out to the to meet him after a few days. On the saturday afternoon that she came to meet him, he waited outside his apartment building, so that she doesn't have to see his living arrangement with five other indian students in a small flat. MGR stood outside and observed a young woman in a light pink half sleeve blouse , black slacks and pumps who parallel parked a silver colored car in the street, got out, opened the rear door to get her handbag, crossed the street and came towards his building. He noticed she may be 5'6" or so, had a round, attractive face, a nice figure, shoulder length dark hair and fair skin. She had a very confident walk and for a moment, MGR thought she may be someone else, hispanic, or european. When she came closer, the kurthi with embroidery around the neck is made her seem like an indian.
When she came much closer and smiled at him and asked " Managalya? ", he was a bit unsettled as he raised his right hand moved it tentatively like a baby waving good-bye and said "Reddy".
"ready?", she laughed, as she took his hand and shook it,"...ready for what?…. I am Sheila"
"umm... call me Reddy", he added nervously.
It is not everyday that he gets to shake hands with a pretty girl. He noticed that she wore a pearl necklace and matching pierced ear studs with single pearls.
She understood from his ready-ness, that they were not going into his apartment. As they walked back across the street to the car, she asked "how do you pronounce your first name ?". For the past 10 or so days, this question had always been among the first few when he met someone who is not from India.
He gave her the same well worn answer,"please call me Reddy".
"isn't Ready your last name ?"
"..yes..but that is how my friends call me.."
"really ?….not Managalya?"
"..moo-na-ga-la", he parsed, and added,"it is a village between Hyderabad and Vijayawada, two cities in India….my native….".
"moonagala….moonagala…", she practiced as they got into her car. She put on her seat belt and went "mooooo…"; then turned to him and smiled. When she closed her car door, a gentle waft of perfumed air hit him. She is pretty, a doctor in america, drove a new, nice smelling car. And his cousin. He felt like a lottery winner. When they were in the car, he seemed not much taller than her; but his legs were scrunched.
She noticed his knees against the glove compartment :"you can move the seat back if you like" she said,"may be the control is on the bottom of the seat...or may be on the other side of back rest..".
As he bent down to feel for the seat moving control, he noticed her shoulder harness parting her kurthi in the middle of her chest.
"did you eat lunch?" she asked as she eased the car in reverse for a couple of feet and looked for traffic on her side reflector.
"ha'nh ?" he stammered as he tried to look away. Then added," yes..yes..yes"
She turned, smiled and said,"then we will go for a little walk, have coffee and chat about family…..I want to ask you a lot of questions"
He dropped his chin down and said "OK". He wondered if she had caught his stolen look. She didn't seem to care. He had no clue where they were going; he couldn't obviously offer any choices. She seemed to have a plan. When she pulled into the road, the car hardly made any noise. He wanted to say something. Considered "this is a nice car" or "this car..very quiet..is it electric?", then felt they all sounded a little too genuflecty. So he gave up and looked at the scene in front through the windshield.
"we will be there in a bit", she broke the silence at a red light stop.
It was only five minutes, before she stopped in a very large parking area. There were many shops. All the shops were in single story squat red stone buildings laid out around the car park. She parked the car and declared,"Stone Ridge Mall".
"Very different from Malls in India", he said.
"I have never been to India", she said.
She undid the seat belt, opened the door and stepped out, all in a smooth motion while he was looking for the seat belt button. He heard the back door open, turned around and saw Sheila taking out her handbag and a jacket. He too got out. Sheila fished out a sunglass from her bag and put it on. It was a nice fall day and she draped her jacket over her arm. MGR came out of the car and as he walked around to her side, noticed that it had a logo of slanted "L" within a circle. He didn't know what kind of car that was. He was somewhat relieved that he was once again taller than his companion. She had to raise her chin to look at him now. She pressed the button on her car key to lock the car. "Come", she said and slapped him lightly on his upper arm. He walked beside her towards the nearest building. It was a Starbucks Coffee.
He followed her into the shop. There were not many customers in that shop and none at the counter. She went to the order counter, turned around to him and asked him "what kind of coffee would you like?"
"..with milk and sugar" he said.
She turned back to the girl at the counter and said,"two tall lattes", opened her purse and got out her wallet, and put her folded sun glasses in. MGR had brought along $40 and some change in his wallet and wondered if he should offer to pay. Then he decided not to do that and just follow her and be a polite guest. She paid for the coffees and went back to a table in a shady corner away from the doors.
"If you want to use the restroom, it is over there", she pointed in one direction.
He looked in the direction she pointed and said" no..no..I am alright" and sat down. She sat down beside him in the next chair, and put her jacket nicely folded on another chair and set her handbag on it. As soon as they sat down, the counter girl came over with two coffees. They were both covered with the white plastic lid and had a wood stirrer on each.
"here ….you can add sugar if you want", Sheila moved the dish with sugar packets towards him.
He noticed that she wasn't adding any sugar to her coffee and decided to try his coffee without any sugar first.
"no..that is OK" he said. She looked at him as if she didn't understand what he meant, and let it go.
She opened her coffee lid, stirred it with the spoon and re-closed the lid back. He watched her closely and did the same.
She took a sip, put the cup back on the table and said,"so …..tell me everything you know" and smiled.
"..ummm…I am here on student visa …and studying electrical", he said and wondered if he can go ahead and drink his coffee or whether he ought to continue with something more.
She laughed,"I was just kidding…..you must relax…we will be here for sometime….drink the coffee and tell me about your family".
MGR felt a mixture of great unease and happiness at the same time.
He told her about his mother, his older brother and sister-in-law, their 4 year old daughter, and described their house in Chennai where all of them live. Then about his married sister, her 10 year old son, her husband, where they live in the city. Then a bit about his college, wrote the Telugu and Tamil scripts on a napkin, drew a map of south India and pointed where the major cities and the village of Munagala are. She asked him to write her name in Telugu and Tamil on a Post-it and carefully put it back in a small notebook her purse. She asked him many questions about his mother, sister and sister-in-law. His mother's parents had both passed on. She asked when the grandparents died. She asked him not to tell this news to her dad on the telephone, but wait until he meets him in person. She also asked about other siblings of his mother. MGR told her about the two other brothers of his mother, and about their families. Sheila also asked him about the women of those families. MGR thought she was pointedly interested in the lives of the women of their extended family in India and felt happy about her inquiries. Then her questioning took a mischievous turn. She asked him if he is required to marry one of his Chennai uncle's daughters. There was only one plausible candidate. He blurted out "she wont marry me, even if I want". To her "why not ?", he said that his uncle is wealthy and MGR had no job or money. Then Sheila jokingly promised him that if none of her cross cousins on her mother's side would marry her, she would marry MGR. MGR blinked very confused and didn't know what to say for a moment. Sheila nudged his arm, laughed and went "….for today…you relax….and tell me the stories... you can start worrying about job and money from tomorrow…ok ?" She then told him about her family.
MGR listened with quiet attention as she told him about her parents and family. He was getting to understand her speech a little more and liked her accent. She explained that she grew up in Georgia and Mississippi where they had a different way of speaking than people in the north. She told him that her speech turns yankee at work, but outside work her accent slips back into her younger days. He learnt that uncle Benny met her mother in a Typewriting Institute in Kampala. To his "Kampala?", it was her turn to draw a map of east Africa on a napkin. Her mother was 14 years old when she married his uncle. Her mom's parents, the Patels, owned the typewriting institute and his uncle was working there as an employee. At this point of the narrative, she stopped and winked at him and said,"remind me of this type writing institute marriage later; I will give you more juicy details"
After the marriage, Benny had moved into the collective family with her parents and her three older brothers. The family owned a large house within a two acre compound on a sloping hill. She said she had seen old pictures of the house with rows of tall trees and coffee plants in their shade. The family also owned several retail shops and ten taxicabs in the city. Sheila's grandpa also had another brother in the city with a large family and several businesses. There were other relatives of the Gujarati clan in Kenya and Zanzibar; again, owning and operating a lot of retail businesses. In the year 1972, all their property in Uganda was confiscated by the government and they had to become stateless persons, refugees. They had to leave all their possessions and travel by road to Kenya. Sheila's grandpa died on that trip. A few of the refugees came to the US and many of them went to UK, stayed in Kenya or went to India. It was a grueling time for the Ugandan Indians. The Patels had saved some of their money in English banks of Kenya and the UK. They were able to buy a motel on a highway in Georgia. In those times one can buy a motel with only 5% down payment. It was the best business to buy and operate for a family with several working hands. Many gujarati families bought and operated motels in the south of the United States. Her parents lived in one room and worked at the office and in cleaning the rooms when customers checked out.
Sheila was born in Georgia in 1975. MGR quickly worked it out that his attractive cross cousin and a very long shot marriage prospect was a good 10 years older than himself. She told him that when she was 10, she too had joined the cleaning crew at the motel. Later, when the Patels bought more motels in other locations, they split up and made sure that there were a few family member managing each of their properties. Sheila and her parents lived in Missisippi during her highschool and college years. When Sheila told him that she went to the Ole'Miss, he didn't quite understand what it was; but then he nodded and let her continue. He understood that her uncles financed her college education. She laughed and said,"because I will marry one of their boys and come back into the family…no?". Apparently, Sheila had studied too long and too much for any of her USA uncles' boys to want to marry her. When MGR asked her about her father's name change, She could only guess that her dad may have done what many people without proper papers did in the old days in the african colonies: they just bought a birth certificate with a convenient and easy name. She suspected that her dad may have taken a name that is easy on the tongue.
MGR understood her eagerness to learn about her father's side of the family. He was also very impressed and inspired by his cousin's life. His life, in contrast, had been very ordinary and totally dull in comparison. Suddenly Sheila realized that they had been in that shop for close to two hours. She stood up and picked up her bag and jacket and said,"I am going to stop in the rest room for a bit….let us meet back here", and turned and walked away. MGR had been thinking "…I never knew the word 'cross cousin'…" and looked at Sheila walking away. To MGR she did not look any older than himself. After listening to her story, she even seemed taller. He smiled, stood up, looked behind and under the chair, tapped on his wallet in his back pocket and walked to the rest room.
When they met back at their table, Sheila asked him if he needs to do any shopping in the mall. He shook his head to mean no. She said "then..we will go to some shops and you can hold my bag and jacket when I shop.. OK?". MGR did an affirmative head-roll. Sheila smiled and said,"all my family can do that head roll!" She took him to a Coach Shop that was in the next building. He held her bag and jacket when she looked at bags, donned a few on her shoulder, looked in the mirror and put them back. She also made him uneasy by wearing bags with long shoulder straps across her chest and came to him with a "how do I look with this?". "very nice.." he said, looking down at her feet. After many bags, she decided she will not have any of them; came to where he was standing and put her hands out to him as if ready for a hug.
He said,"ha'nh?". "My Bag and Jacket, Moonagala!", she exclaimed.
Then she took him to a women's clothes shop. This time, Reddy sat in a chair holding her bag and jacket, until she came back to get him. She had bought a sweater in that shop, without asking for his opinion. When she pulled it from the bag and showed it to him, he was about to ask her "how much?", but checked his tongue and merely said,"very nice looking".
Historical Notes:
1) The demonstration of the Telugu speaking residents of Madras, soon after the death of Mr. Sriramulu, who fasted to his death calling for the joining of Madras City with a new province for the Telugus. Although the march started peacefully, it turned into a riot and police were used to disperse and arrest the rioters. Police "questioning" in the 1950's followed the same painful "procedures" used by the colonial police: broken bones were just bandaged and left to heal as such. Many had come out of police questioning with twisted appendages.
2) The expulsion of the Ugandan Indians, mostly gujaratis, by the dictator Idi Amin happened in the year 1972. Properties of foreigners (including English, a few Israelis and others) and many Uganda born Indians were confiscated for paltry/no compensation and people had to leave with the clothes on their back within 90 days. The preceding years of Idi Amin were full of propaganda against the asian-indians as blood sucking vermin who had to be eliminated. Soldiers committing crimes against asian-indians were ignored or even covertly encouraged. It became very dangerous for asian-indian young women to go outside their compound walled homes. The current president Mr.Y. Museveni had encouraged indians to come back to reclaim their lands and other property and receive compensation for lost property, such as cars, shops etc.. However, after more than 3 decades, many have no gumption or desire to go back. Mr. Museveni was in India during the 2008 India-Africa summit, thanking India for reopening relations with the country and restating his invitations for indians to come back. After a 2007 killing of an indian citizen in a riot, Mr. Museveni gave a speech to the local Indian Association in which he seem to want the indians to "assimilate" by marrying into the native community and not live in isolated clans. This is rather ironic, since all of Uganda is not one assimilated group, but several tribes and kingdoms who do not get along with one another. He had also promised security for indian interests and people in Uganda. Whatever the national policy be, there is still the remnant of the asian-indian hatred in Uganda-- as thenewer immigrants in the various parts of Uganda continue to be viewed as profiteers at the expense of the locals.
Synopsis:Sheila meets Munni for the first time. They go out for coffee and shopping.
Munni's LIA - Episode 3
Sheila meets Munni
LIA= Life In America
Uncle Benny had a round face and a shiny bald head. He was a little shorter than his nephew. He had a wiry frame, wicker basket chest and a tiny paunch under that. A pair of round framed eye glasses and a grey mustache would make him a dead ringer for the mahatma or Ben Kingsley. MGR had that same big nose as his uncle. Benny must have smiled a lot; he had lines on his face with a permanent happy expression. His dark complexion, round face and the smooth scalp made him blend in well with the black citizens in Detroit; but when he talked, the locals could tell that he was from somewhere else. May be Jamaican, they often thought. Over the last couple of years, MGR had found out bits and pieces of his uncle's history.
His uncle was part of a big riot of the Telugu people in Chennai during mid December 1952. A policeman was indeed killed in the stone throwing and the general melee near Spencer's at Mount Road. Some of the school friends of the uncle were caught and "questioned" by the police. Uncle had escaped and couldn't return home because there was a policeman watching the house from across the street for days after that. Apparently one of his friends had named him. His uncle left India during the first week of 1953, as a cook's helper in a ship that was going to Mogadishu. In English-Africa, he had worked in shops in Mogadishu and Nairobi for Gujarati owners for a few years and then moved to Uganda before the independence. Uganda is where he had married auntie. In 1972, he had come to Georgia in America with Auntie, her brothers and their families. MGR learnt more details from his uncle's daughter Sheila.
When MGR first arrived in California, he had called his uncle on the telephone. His uncle asked him about the trip, where he changed planes, his apartment, college and classes. Then he gave him the phone number of his daughter Dr. Sheila Shah and told him to call her in San Francisco. Sheila worked in a hospital in the city. MGR was thrilled that he had such a close relative, living not too far away. When he looked at a map the bay area, he found out that the city was on the other side of the famous golden gate bridge, not really close for him to walk. Later he learnt that he could take the train there. When he called the phone number, he got an answering machine with a woman's voice. It sounded very different from any of the american women's voices he had heard in the few days he had been in America. MGR had not gotten used to the local speech yet; he often said "ha'nh?". One of his room mates taught him to say "I am sorry, could you please repeat that ?" and avoid the rude "ha'nh"s. He left a message on the machine and his apartment's phone number. After he hung up, he wondered whether what he said in the message would be understood by his cousin. When Sheila called him back that night, although he couldn't understand all of what she said, he was very relieved.
Sheila came out to the to meet him after a few days. On the saturday afternoon that she came to meet him, he waited outside his apartment building, so that she doesn't have to see his living arrangement with five other indian students in a small flat. MGR stood outside and observed a young woman in a light pink half sleeve blouse , black slacks and pumps who parallel parked a silver colored car in the street, got out, opened the rear door to get her handbag, crossed the street and came towards his building. He noticed she may be 5'6" or so, had a round, attractive face, a nice figure, shoulder length dark hair and fair skin. She had a very confident walk and for a moment, MGR thought she may be someone else, hispanic, or european. When she came closer, the kurthi with embroidery around the neck is made her seem like an indian.
When she came much closer and smiled at him and asked " Managalya? ", he was a bit unsettled as he raised his right hand moved it tentatively like a baby waving good-bye and said "Reddy".
"ready?", she laughed, as she took his hand and shook it,"...ready for what?…. I am Sheila"
"umm... call me Reddy", he added nervously.
It is not everyday that he gets to shake hands with a pretty girl. He noticed that she wore a pearl necklace and matching pierced ear studs with single pearls.
She understood from his ready-ness, that they were not going into his apartment. As they walked back across the street to the car, she asked "how do you pronounce your first name ?". For the past 10 or so days, this question had always been among the first few when he met someone who is not from India.
He gave her the same well worn answer,"please call me Reddy".
"isn't Ready your last name ?"
"..yes..but that is how my friends call me.."
"really ?….not Managalya?"
"..moo-na-ga-la", he parsed, and added,"it is a village between Hyderabad and Vijayawada, two cities in India….my native….".
"moonagala….moonagala…", she practiced as they got into her car. She put on her seat belt and went "mooooo…"; then turned to him and smiled. When she closed her car door, a gentle waft of perfumed air hit him. She is pretty, a doctor in america, drove a new, nice smelling car. And his cousin. He felt like a lottery winner. When they were in the car, he seemed not much taller than her; but his legs were scrunched.
She noticed his knees against the glove compartment :"you can move the seat back if you like" she said,"may be the control is on the bottom of the seat...or may be on the other side of back rest..".
As he bent down to feel for the seat moving control, he noticed her shoulder harness parting her kurthi in the middle of her chest.
"did you eat lunch?" she asked as she eased the car in reverse for a couple of feet and looked for traffic on her side reflector.
"ha'nh ?" he stammered as he tried to look away. Then added," yes..yes..yes"
She turned, smiled and said,"then we will go for a little walk, have coffee and chat about family…..I want to ask you a lot of questions"
He dropped his chin down and said "OK". He wondered if she had caught his stolen look. She didn't seem to care. He had no clue where they were going; he couldn't obviously offer any choices. She seemed to have a plan. When she pulled into the road, the car hardly made any noise. He wanted to say something. Considered "this is a nice car" or "this car..very quiet..is it electric?", then felt they all sounded a little too genuflecty. So he gave up and looked at the scene in front through the windshield.
"we will be there in a bit", she broke the silence at a red light stop.
It was only five minutes, before she stopped in a very large parking area. There were many shops. All the shops were in single story squat red stone buildings laid out around the car park. She parked the car and declared,"Stone Ridge Mall".
"Very different from Malls in India", he said.
"I have never been to India", she said.
She undid the seat belt, opened the door and stepped out, all in a smooth motion while he was looking for the seat belt button. He heard the back door open, turned around and saw Sheila taking out her handbag and a jacket. He too got out. Sheila fished out a sunglass from her bag and put it on. It was a nice fall day and she draped her jacket over her arm. MGR came out of the car and as he walked around to her side, noticed that it had a logo of slanted "L" within a circle. He didn't know what kind of car that was. He was somewhat relieved that he was once again taller than his companion. She had to raise her chin to look at him now. She pressed the button on her car key to lock the car. "Come", she said and slapped him lightly on his upper arm. He walked beside her towards the nearest building. It was a Starbucks Coffee.
He followed her into the shop. There were not many customers in that shop and none at the counter. She went to the order counter, turned around to him and asked him "what kind of coffee would you like?"
"..with milk and sugar" he said.
She turned back to the girl at the counter and said,"two tall lattes", opened her purse and got out her wallet, and put her folded sun glasses in. MGR had brought along $40 and some change in his wallet and wondered if he should offer to pay. Then he decided not to do that and just follow her and be a polite guest. She paid for the coffees and went back to a table in a shady corner away from the doors.
"If you want to use the restroom, it is over there", she pointed in one direction.
He looked in the direction she pointed and said" no..no..I am alright" and sat down. She sat down beside him in the next chair, and put her jacket nicely folded on another chair and set her handbag on it. As soon as they sat down, the counter girl came over with two coffees. They were both covered with the white plastic lid and had a wood stirrer on each.
"here ….you can add sugar if you want", Sheila moved the dish with sugar packets towards him.
He noticed that she wasn't adding any sugar to her coffee and decided to try his coffee without any sugar first.
"no..that is OK" he said. She looked at him as if she didn't understand what he meant, and let it go.
She opened her coffee lid, stirred it with the spoon and re-closed the lid back. He watched her closely and did the same.
She took a sip, put the cup back on the table and said,"so …..tell me everything you know" and smiled.
"..ummm…I am here on student visa …and studying electrical", he said and wondered if he can go ahead and drink his coffee or whether he ought to continue with something more.
She laughed,"I was just kidding…..you must relax…we will be here for sometime….drink the coffee and tell me about your family".
MGR felt a mixture of great unease and happiness at the same time.
He told her about his mother, his older brother and sister-in-law, their 4 year old daughter, and described their house in Chennai where all of them live. Then about his married sister, her 10 year old son, her husband, where they live in the city. Then a bit about his college, wrote the Telugu and Tamil scripts on a napkin, drew a map of south India and pointed where the major cities and the village of Munagala are. She asked him to write her name in Telugu and Tamil on a Post-it and carefully put it back in a small notebook her purse. She asked him many questions about his mother, sister and sister-in-law. His mother's parents had both passed on. She asked when the grandparents died. She asked him not to tell this news to her dad on the telephone, but wait until he meets him in person. She also asked about other siblings of his mother. MGR told her about the two other brothers of his mother, and about their families. Sheila also asked him about the women of those families. MGR thought she was pointedly interested in the lives of the women of their extended family in India and felt happy about her inquiries. Then her questioning took a mischievous turn. She asked him if he is required to marry one of his Chennai uncle's daughters. There was only one plausible candidate. He blurted out "she wont marry me, even if I want". To her "why not ?", he said that his uncle is wealthy and MGR had no job or money. Then Sheila jokingly promised him that if none of her cross cousins on her mother's side would marry her, she would marry MGR. MGR blinked very confused and didn't know what to say for a moment. Sheila nudged his arm, laughed and went "….for today…you relax….and tell me the stories... you can start worrying about job and money from tomorrow…ok ?" She then told him about her family.
MGR listened with quiet attention as she told him about her parents and family. He was getting to understand her speech a little more and liked her accent. She explained that she grew up in Georgia and Mississippi where they had a different way of speaking than people in the north. She told him that her speech turns yankee at work, but outside work her accent slips back into her younger days. He learnt that uncle Benny met her mother in a Typewriting Institute in Kampala. To his "Kampala?", it was her turn to draw a map of east Africa on a napkin. Her mother was 14 years old when she married his uncle. Her mom's parents, the Patels, owned the typewriting institute and his uncle was working there as an employee. At this point of the narrative, she stopped and winked at him and said,"remind me of this type writing institute marriage later; I will give you more juicy details"
After the marriage, Benny had moved into the collective family with her parents and her three older brothers. The family owned a large house within a two acre compound on a sloping hill. She said she had seen old pictures of the house with rows of tall trees and coffee plants in their shade. The family also owned several retail shops and ten taxicabs in the city. Sheila's grandpa also had another brother in the city with a large family and several businesses. There were other relatives of the Gujarati clan in Kenya and Zanzibar; again, owning and operating a lot of retail businesses. In the year 1972, all their property in Uganda was confiscated by the government and they had to become stateless persons, refugees. They had to leave all their possessions and travel by road to Kenya. Sheila's grandpa died on that trip. A few of the refugees came to the US and many of them went to UK, stayed in Kenya or went to India. It was a grueling time for the Ugandan Indians. The Patels had saved some of their money in English banks of Kenya and the UK. They were able to buy a motel on a highway in Georgia. In those times one can buy a motel with only 5% down payment. It was the best business to buy and operate for a family with several working hands. Many gujarati families bought and operated motels in the south of the United States. Her parents lived in one room and worked at the office and in cleaning the rooms when customers checked out.
Sheila was born in Georgia in 1975. MGR quickly worked it out that his attractive cross cousin and a very long shot marriage prospect was a good 10 years older than himself. She told him that when she was 10, she too had joined the cleaning crew at the motel. Later, when the Patels bought more motels in other locations, they split up and made sure that there were a few family member managing each of their properties. Sheila and her parents lived in Missisippi during her highschool and college years. When Sheila told him that she went to the Ole'Miss, he didn't quite understand what it was; but then he nodded and let her continue. He understood that her uncles financed her college education. She laughed and said,"because I will marry one of their boys and come back into the family…no?". Apparently, Sheila had studied too long and too much for any of her USA uncles' boys to want to marry her. When MGR asked her about her father's name change, She could only guess that her dad may have done what many people without proper papers did in the old days in the african colonies: they just bought a birth certificate with a convenient and easy name. She suspected that her dad may have taken a name that is easy on the tongue.
MGR understood her eagerness to learn about her father's side of the family. He was also very impressed and inspired by his cousin's life. His life, in contrast, had been very ordinary and totally dull in comparison. Suddenly Sheila realized that they had been in that shop for close to two hours. She stood up and picked up her bag and jacket and said,"I am going to stop in the rest room for a bit….let us meet back here", and turned and walked away. MGR had been thinking "…I never knew the word 'cross cousin'…" and looked at Sheila walking away. To MGR she did not look any older than himself. After listening to her story, she even seemed taller. He smiled, stood up, looked behind and under the chair, tapped on his wallet in his back pocket and walked to the rest room.
When they met back at their table, Sheila asked him if he needs to do any shopping in the mall. He shook his head to mean no. She said "then..we will go to some shops and you can hold my bag and jacket when I shop.. OK?". MGR did an affirmative head-roll. Sheila smiled and said,"all my family can do that head roll!" She took him to a Coach Shop that was in the next building. He held her bag and jacket when she looked at bags, donned a few on her shoulder, looked in the mirror and put them back. She also made him uneasy by wearing bags with long shoulder straps across her chest and came to him with a "how do I look with this?". "very nice.." he said, looking down at her feet. After many bags, she decided she will not have any of them; came to where he was standing and put her hands out to him as if ready for a hug.
He said,"ha'nh?". "My Bag and Jacket, Moonagala!", she exclaimed.
Then she took him to a women's clothes shop. This time, Reddy sat in a chair holding her bag and jacket, until she came back to get him. She had bought a sweater in that shop, without asking for his opinion. When she pulled it from the bag and showed it to him, he was about to ask her "how much?", but checked his tongue and merely said,"very nice looking".
---o0o---
Historical Notes:
1) The demonstration of the Telugu speaking residents of Madras, soon after the death of Mr. Sriramulu, who fasted to his death calling for the joining of Madras City with a new province for the Telugus. Although the march started peacefully, it turned into a riot and police were used to disperse and arrest the rioters. Police "questioning" in the 1950's followed the same painful "procedures" used by the colonial police: broken bones were just bandaged and left to heal as such. Many had come out of police questioning with twisted appendages.
2) The expulsion of the Ugandan Indians, mostly gujaratis, by the dictator Idi Amin happened in the year 1972. Properties of foreigners (including English, a few Israelis and others) and many Uganda born Indians were confiscated for paltry/no compensation and people had to leave with the clothes on their back within 90 days. The preceding years of Idi Amin were full of propaganda against the asian-indians as blood sucking vermin who had to be eliminated. Soldiers committing crimes against asian-indians were ignored or even covertly encouraged. It became very dangerous for asian-indian young women to go outside their compound walled homes. The current president Mr.Y. Museveni had encouraged indians to come back to reclaim their lands and other property and receive compensation for lost property, such as cars, shops etc.. However, after more than 3 decades, many have no gumption or desire to go back. Mr. Museveni was in India during the 2008 India-Africa summit, thanking India for reopening relations with the country and restating his invitations for indians to come back. After a 2007 killing of an indian citizen in a riot, Mr. Museveni gave a speech to the local Indian Association in which he seem to want the indians to "assimilate" by marrying into the native community and not live in isolated clans. This is rather ironic, since all of Uganda is not one assimilated group, but several tribes and kingdoms who do not get along with one another. He had also promised security for indian interests and people in Uganda. Whatever the national policy be, there is still the remnant of the asian-indian hatred in Uganda-- as thenewer immigrants in the various parts of Uganda continue to be viewed as profiteers at the expense of the locals.
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