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Taken
from an E-mail:
It just so happened that a buncha seniors who were good freinds of mine
had finished their senior IS, and thus, were throwing a small [6 person]
party to celebrate and ofcourse I joined em seeing as campus was totally
devoid of any other life.....partook in a few drinks [okay, maybe we
bought two 24-packs of cheap beer] and woke up for the flight next day
with a hangover which couldve killed any animal apart from us
humans......luckily I was packed n ready to go, which I proceeded to
do....except things got crap right about this point....
Franklyns car broke down so she called her dad to come pick us up....which
made us desperately late......once he got here, we moved off towards the
airport, and guess what, his car broke down.....wasted another 20 minutes
getting it repaired at some hick gas station in the middle of a corn
field.... arrived in Cleveland 20 minutes before flight time
Luckily [had a lot of bad and good luck] the flight was delayed
*phew*....so we were safe....cept....the flight was delayed forever due to
bad weather in chicago.......I spent 2 hours on the phone getting in
contact with agents from national airlines who reassured me that my
connecting flight to Vegas was delayed in Chicago too....so, finally we
board the damn plane and I finally begin to relax a lil....10 minutes
later...."everyone please get off the plane"...further delay......3 hours
later, we finally board the plane and go thru sheer HELL in the sky
getting to Chicago....mustve been a record number of ppl throwing up for 1
flight; the winds were insane....
Got to Chicago airport....First thing I did was get well and truly
lost....that was fun [not] @!#@!#!@$#$##$ing airport....anyway, i finally
located the terminal for the flight I came from and they said that my
connecting flight had left and I should contact that airline for another
flight....i go to the other airline [3 miles away] terminal where they
say, no, the airline that got me late should re-imburse me.....close to
crying by this point I thought about calling Chanda Khala [mother's
cousin]....then I changed my mind, deciding I would rather sleep in a cot
they provide for laid over passengers [anything's better than that
house]......unfortunately pride [never again] got the better of me and I
ended up calling chanda khala anyway....who took 1 hour to get to
me.....but anyway, oh my god....the horror of that house....let me begin
The Characters:
Chanda khala: the mad mistress, who sucks on peoples souls in the name of
love and goodwill
Baby Baji: her schizophrenic sister, constantly being yelled at and
punished in bizarre manners by Chanda Khala
Khaleeq Uncle: The husband, similar to The Teacher from Pink Floyds The
Wall.....abused and mentally tortured by his wife, finding escape by 2
means [selectively deaf] and pornography of all manners [found on their
pc....im sure chanda khala is clueless]
Anyway, i cant really get into everything right now, just wanted to
express the immense sorrow AND the IMMENSE PARANOIA i felt staying
there.......its so hard to break free of Chanda Khala.....if i only had
the skill to draw the emotion experienced in that house, i would create a
golgotha......she told me her life story.......lets just say, she is full
of the greatest GREATEST rage [not anger, RAGE] against numerous people i
care not to mention....tho ofcourse she tried to cover it with her 'Allah
has helped me over come my bitterness' etc etc. bullshit....but she told
me some pretty horrific stuff....mostly about how X resulted in baby bajis
worsened condition and how badly X treated herself and baby baji over the
years [many, many stories] ....also told me horrific tales of baby bajis
various hallucinations 'she used to jump and touch the ceilings of the
roof' 'she showed up completely naked one day in my college, having got an
abortion in america and running all the way to dhaka' ........She has
letters she plans on making public at her death, proving
'everything'....shes insane......shes crazier than her poor sister.....she
tried to make me late to the airport until in the end i was pleading with
her [similar to baby baji and khaleeq uncle] to please please take me to
the airport [tears almost came flowing]...but no 'nahi, NAHI BAITA, first
finish all your food....BOHAT time hai' AAAAAAAAAAAH,.....i was very
scared....then we almost died, khaleeq uncle was driving us to the airport
and we heard a glass clink in the car.......all the way to the airport the
conversation was like:
CKhala: khaleeq where did this glass come from?
K: *mumbles* pata nahee....office
CK: NAHI! aap ke office main glasses kahaan hain,.....KHALEEQ ANSWER ME!
WHERE DID THIS GLASS COME FROM?
K: nahi maloom, gari chalaa nai do
CK: I MUST know! where did this come from HUH? HUH? khaleeq aap bata kyun
nahi saktay? its a simple question? WHO [the woman???] GAVE THIS GLASS TO
YOU?!?!
K: please, abhi nahi....
CK: NO! aap abhi batain WHO bought this glass? yeh GLASS GAREE MAIN KYUN
HAIN??!?!?!!?
in the end she was shrieking and we were way over the speed limit
careening everywhere....I prayed to god [everyone turns to a supreme being
when in deep shit]...thought this was the end.........survived
It will be the end soon tho.....its like requiem for a dream.......so sad,
so inevitable, nothing to be done.......1 of the 3 will kill the
others.....its sad
im glad im gone from there
anyway, enough morbidity.....ill talk happy things next time
roadtrip to NY, day 1:
started out from shamals house at 5 in the morning.......no sleep and
stoned out of my gourd....stuffed with cheap noodles and chocolate milk we
set out in pitch dark [reason A: to avoid heavy traffic - reason B:
shamal's aunt would drop us to the newark [remember dont drink the water?
woody allen as the caterer from newark :D] train station if we got to her
house by 9ish]..... so basically we moved off listening to bob marley -
credence clearwater revival and some really bizarre european techno shamal
recently got into....that covered the whole trip, apart from a mad spurt
of Guns N' Roses when the sun rose and our spirits were high......
arrived in Newark newjersey, covered with a fresh blanket of snoww! it was
very pretty....nice city - small but cute anyway....we stopped off right
on time at his aunt's house.....drank some orange juice...ditched the car
and drove up with his aunt to downtown newark [not very exciting...the
usual 10-20 tall buildings]....
jumped onto the train heading for new york and headed onwards [by now all
conversation had ceased...no sleep for 24 hours tends to do that]
New york: 1st impression...wow! an extended dirty toilet! or at least
thats what the underground train station looked like...got outside and it
was a different story...Still dirty, but it was just like the movies...his
college [nyu] is located around washington square park
[manhattan]....rather ideal location....! it was a pretty powerful 1st
step into the city.....we were stuck in the middle of 20 -30 story
buildings.....lil bizarre shops crammed everywhere [not un-like saddar]
and tons of people milling about....ran into about 2 drug dealers on the
way [they stand around looking suspicious till you pass em...at this point
they start off in a hurried whisper 'smoke smoke smoke? ganja? hashish?
shrooms?]...there r at least 4 every block in that neighbourhood...
anyway....we reached his dorm which turned out to be a 20 story building
[former hotel in which al capone lived]...very pituresque from the
inside...] ....took the elevator to the 8th floor....crashed into his room
[5 person room] and slept till 6 in the evening]
6 in the evening: woke up n showered 1 by 1....decided we were hungry so
out we ventured...ended up at a mcdonalds....sat down with delish, greasy
fast food...overheard radio traffic between two cops sitting on the next
table....[wife beaten and threatened by husband who was armed] somewhere
in the bronx *chill down spine...every1s afraid of 'the bronx'* ... ...
Stepped out after a satisfying meal, lit a cigarette and then shamal took
us around the streets for a while with one of his friends [varun..indian
chap] whod joined us from his dorm a couple of blocks away....we roamed
the streets, finally purchasing beer for a lil celebration back in
shamal's room ....the party went nuts till 3am when we all spilled back
onto the streets....ran around washington square park for a while and then
ended up in varun's room after which we departed for more sleep back in
shamals room...
next day; 2 in the afternoon: woke up n showered.....shamal and joon
followed suit 45 minutes later.....dying of hunger, we hit the streets
again.....shamal said he knew of a great place for hotdogs [best in the
city, best in the world!]....we ran down darkened seedy alleys [got
offered drugs a few more times]...walked briskly past shoe alley [100
shoestores all in a row] and ended up in a crowded, dingy, badly-lit
hotdog restraunt, surrounded by seeming hoodlums [though we looked pretty
similar] ....graces hotdogs....grabbed 2 hotdogs and a banana milk shake
for $2.50 [talk about cheap! was scared bout what the hell was in the
meat].....oddly enough, the worlds best hotdogs were cooked n served by
mexicans! anyway, the hotdogs were GREAT! we almost choked stuffing
ourselves....damn! they were good....after that we all headed
back...satisfied .....decided today would be roaming-around day.....
Started out by going thru wasington square park [which we hadnt roamed
around in properly yesterday given our drunken state].....kicked a few
pidgeons around [just kidding...but TRUST me, they get really
annoying].....then he took us to the village...which happens to sit next
to nyu [like i said, great locale].....the village consists of tons of
alleyways chockfull of bizarre stores and Bizarre people...everything from
Ali baba's house of Falafels to Thai - Land to 'Whatever' body peircings
and tatoo parlor to antiques from alaska to 'Very good souvenier shop'
which proudly displayed one t-shirt at its entrance which said 'NY - fuck
you, you fucking fuck'...it was run by a korean....
Also included in that place were a number of hookah bars, jazz and blues
clubs and comedy cellar! comedy cellar has to be 1 of my coolest memorable
experiences...more about it later....well basically....we roamed the
village....walked into the souvenier store where i bought a cute lil
happy-face ring [$1.50] made with hemp-twine...its sweet :) <--looks
exactly like that...
Shamal took us to his 12 story library....showed us around 'campus' [more
like city...the campus consists of many non-descript highrise buildings
scattered around every few blocks] ..... saw bizarre art displays and a
man dancing in a shop window, dressed in a skirt....[he was doing it for
some worthwhile cause such as aids]....at this point we decided to head
off up-town....times square to be exact.....1 of shamal's buddies latched
onto us and off we went in the subway....
times square: wow......talk about hip! [is that the right term?] talk
about hi-tech...talk about the mutha of all cities [joon says korea is
funkier though]....it was incredible....apart from the massive crowd
running around and all the hustlers and pimps and police and and punks and
beautiful people and street musicians blaring jazz or blues; the limos the
con-artists the uptight busy faces and all....it was insane! solid
concrete everywhere you looked....huge screens....advertising gone
crazy......and everything you ever wanted to buy....i saw it all! ranging
from 6 t-shirts for $10 [including throw-in psychedlic scarf] to digital
camera's to electric guitars and dj equipment.....a LOT of roaming
around...particularly in the new toys-r-us....we spent a good hour in
there [the damn place was so big it had its own ferris wheel!] ...... saw
the mtv headquarters....ran down side-streets to the more dingy side
stores crammed with musical equipment and stolen rolex watches [another
saddar reminder]......got tired around 10:30.....decided to head back but
once again, the damn city wont let you go....halfway to the subway, all
kinds of mad-cap antics drew us near such as a break dancing troupe and a
man painted in all-white....moving only when someone dropped money in his
hat! got onto the subway regretting leaving and ofcourse - lack of money
to buy new york out.
back 'on-campus' : shamal had booked seats for us at the comedy cellar for
11....so we headed that-a-way in a big hurry.....3/4ths of the way there,
we stopped at Ali Baba's foodhouse and ate falafels....yeesh! hardcore
spicy food! ....ran out once more [did a lot of running...so much to do,
so little time....everything about newyork is like that] ....ended up in a
line heading into the comedy cellar - a dingy, murky [all these adjectives
i use describe the city as a whole too btw....seems like every place has
absorbed the same atmosphere] little cellar at the bottom of some
building......the cellar was about as big as our verandah back home.....a
bar, a small stage, a single bathroom and about 60 ppl crammed inside to
see show....smoke floated just above your head while beautiful people
turned their chairs to greet the host of the evening....
There was a line-up of 7 comedians...all of them Really famous
apparently...this place was elite! [despite looking like a Dump] ....chis
rock had shown up just last week [he was the only name i actually
recognised] ....but anyway, the show consisted of guys from comedy
central, hbo and the howard stern show.....it was insanely good! the
stand-ups rocked; had the crowd in their grips and all i could do was
laugh along and think, 'wow, life is funny...never thought i'd end up
here!' .... the show ended at 2:30am! and just to show you how good it
was...it started with 60 ppl and ended with a 100! we all poured out onto
the street, sides aching from laughter and good times....stopped in at a
jazz club for a short period of time before once more heading out in
search of beer.... - beer found around 3am, we headed back to the dorm
[the gay college gaurd asked us if we wanted to buy some heroin...which we
kindly declined] ....
Ended up staying awake till 7 in the morning ....[roamed the streets on
several occasions in-between...even lay down on them!]....and that was it!
slept like mad till 4 in the afternoon, next day ...
4 in the afternoon: woke, showered......went and had hotdogs....every1 was
a lil down [hangover or lack of sleep or sad at having to depart].....we
all packed and headed down to the train station....got on,
all-glum...waved to the south-american band busy playing an el-condor
pasa-ish tune.....and headed back to newark, eventually to be picked up by
shamal's aunt from the train station....had vegetarian pizza there and
chilled out...slept and woke up erly next morn [10:30 am] to head on back
and now, im here...Baltimore on a chilly night....seated in a seedy litlle
place run by a japanese mobster.....it claims to be an internet and pc
game cafe...My cousin says its cool....but its dead fishy.....ofcourse
thats another story....till later then
Taken
from an E-mail:
Wow...1000 ppl crammed into this old theater-type place headbanging away
to insanely loud music....my ears are still ringing even after much sleep!
but it was good! soulfly rocked :) static-x was awesome...and this lil
band which opened for em, soil...they were good too........the crowd
totally erupted, twas quite funny cause before the music kicked in they
were these normal, rather silly looking humans All dressed in black or
red....all the lil hot topic stuff on em...chains, fishnet stockings,
white faces, black eyes...tons of goths! tons of long-haired dudes left
over from the 80's...tons of punks with hahaha mohawks! [i found them
particularly funny...though they did do the most damage in the mosh pit]
anyway, it was good...and, "sho shweeet" in a twisted sorta way...it was
Valentine's day [yes, thats how I spend Valentine's day] so all these
metal-head and goth couples had shown up to headbang and bite each other
together [no kidding...i mean BITE]
I got to see more naked females in that one concert than I probably will
in a lifetime....unless i go to Florida over the summer i suppose....hell
it got boring checking out the topless 1s, there were so many of em just
totally nude [wonder how they found their clothes later...??? Another one
of life's great questions...]
anyway...soil was good....got the mood going for soulfly....and they
ROCKED....started out with back to the primitive ...went into eye for an
eye...played a buncha new songs...oh yeah, they did Roots, [Bloody
roots]... every1s fav. Number from their Sepultura days...
Static-X was pretty impressive....dint like their image much but they were
pretty good on-stage....+ they kept soulfly's guitarist on-stage to keep
the crowd going with the 'soulfly high'
and that was pretty much the show....oh yeah, i got felt up by some random
female who clambered on top of me...odd experience, dint last though,
cause i had to go rescue Jill from being crushed again...
moshpits rule
gotta end this with soulflys famous lyrics [the point when they were
yelled out was what defined that concert]:
No horse-shit!
No Bull-shit!
*turns mike to the crowd...everyone yells in a unison of the souls*
'NO MUTHA_FUCKIN' HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH!'
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Taken from an E-mail:
Well friday was a great day for me.....last day of classes passed by
uneventfully....
Evening came about and I ended up studying after dinner till 9:30...worked
on exam stuff......and then went to the final russian suite party......got
there to find it deserted.....found Mike n all outside and heard that all
the parties had flopped and everyone had ended up at just one place called
Miller manor [occupied by college kids calling themselves The Anarchist
Army, or as I prefer, bunch of Punks].
It was a massive crowd of ppl all over the three story off-campus
house...Due to a lack of good parties, about 400 kids had managed to jam
themselves into one house....The booze was carried over [along with every
junkie, party-goer, drunk and hippie in sight] to the house from various
locations...You could hardly breathe due to the massive consumption of
oxygen and the insanely large amount of smoke [cigarette smoke, marijuana
smoke]....
In the basement about 150 ppl crowded together to mosh to the 5 punk bands
playing all night long......it was insane....everyone was drenched in
sweat......it was murky with smoke and red light...dingy, and as
underground as you can get........everyone tore off their clothes and went
crazy.......it was almost scary....one moment a sweaty mob stands in wait
for music...the next minute, the music kicks in and chaos takes
control...I was soon shirtless and being swayed by a force that no one in
the room had any control of......
That heightened state of awareness in a dangerous situation sprung
up......people got their noses broken....this one kid's tooth got knocked
out....bleeding heads, vomit......it was so scary [and exciting in a way]
to see absolutely normal college kids [including me] lose it like
that......its always fun to be a part of a crowd experience....The chicks
were digging it, the guys were digging it, everyone 'skanked together'....
The police showed up, security showed up but nothing could stop the
rock....till 3am when the wooster police finally handed the punks a $2500
ticket for numerous violations ranging from noise pollution to fire hazard
from having so many people in the house.....streams of naked, sweaty,
drugged out and cussing ppl stormed out of the house to wreak havoc
elsewhere....
I headed back to my room and fell asleep around 5am when the adrenalin
finally wore off.....enough revelry for one night...
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