That’s exactly what’s written in big bold letters on the packet. (English words in Telugu script)
Nick November 25, 2009
The ad said, “rent room in the house of retired professor”. The prospect of not signing a lease drew me in, so there I was a few days later, renting a room in Nick’s house.
Nick is a seventy seven year old retired professor of English who lives in a large house he shares with two dogs, a cat, two mice, some gold fish and anywhere between two and five tenants. He owns two battered cars, three refrigerators, assorted pieces of exercise equipment (which he puts to use from time to time), an old wasp’s nest and a basement and garage full of fascinating odds and ends.Rest assured, anything you ask Nick for, he will have two of. How a person who doesn’t play a piano can own two of them is beyond me!
Each evening, he would greet me with a pleasant, “How was your day, dear?” Such a welcome change from coming home to an empty apartment! Most nights, we would have dinner together. It was usually something simple I cooked or something complex I brought back from my weekly visits home. Sambar, stuffed parathas, spicy tomato pickle, tamarind rice, you name it – Nick enjoyed them all. We would start out talking about Indian spices, Western cooking and my vegetarianism over dinner and move on to more interesting things like his bike rides in Scotland or the house he built in Colorado over tea. Sometimes, he would tell me about his plans for the weekend which usually included either his grandchildren or picking apples or corn from a nearby field.
Occasionally, I would come home to see Nick entertaining a lady guest. Nick would cook a lavish dinner for her and the other tenant and I would join him in the kitchen after she left. While we helped ourselves to the food, he would tell us about the difficulties of dating at seventy seven. These easily outnumber those of people in their twenties. Alzheimer’s for one, is not a serious concern for those in their twenties.
I could talk about what the seven weeks of living there meant to me, or about what I learned from him about growing old but I can just hear him say, “More action, less thoughts”. So here I end the description of one of my newest friend. We’re meeting again next month when I go back for my convocation.
Yawn! Is it Spring Yet? November 23, 2009
I’m hibernating. This time, for real. I’ve been reading books at a remarkable rate, cooking, eating, sleeping, spending time window shopping on Amazon (I love the used books), chatting with friends, reading random news (even more than when I was working at Tech Support) and been generally day-dreaming…
I’ve also decided to apply to some PhD programs. 
I know, like the Husband’s PhD wasn’t hard enough, we’re going to live through another one. This time though, Husband will be making tons of money and also, he’ll be forced to be more “understanding spouse” than I was because he’s been through the PhD thingy. Whatever… This assumes that I am actually going to get an admit from a school I like. With funding being cut everywhere (in everything except healthcare and related fields) it might not be all that simple.
Other updates (bulleted list because I miss writing case papers for school):
- Texas is warm
- We’re finally living within 10 miles of Mysore Masala Dosa serving restaurant
- We’ve been driving our car on its spare tire because we’ve been too lazy to get the flat repaired
- We own actual furniture (bed, dining table, futon and TV) Yay Ikea!
- bought a completely useless appliance called electric kettle (I’m too lazy to even heat water on the stove now)
- decided to make new friends and well, blah blah blah!
Ooh! Forgot! The Husband and I are going to celebrate “one month of living in the same apartment” in a few days. Major milestone for us. So, this is what being married really feels like!
