Fast and Fear

ALL CHARACTERS AND INCIDENTS IN THIS POST ARE REAL AND NON FICTITIOUS.

It was on the evening of Shiva Ratri , after long day of fasting and tiredness due to college work I took a small nap after coming home. After sometime Varun called me, but i did not pick up his call intentionally. But somehow i woke up due to continuous calls from some others and disturbances. Few minutes later Varun called me again , this time I took his call. He asked me whether we can go to temple or not. I felt this is the best way to end the day after fasting and said OK. I informed him that i will be starting in 20 minutes. My roommates Sirish and Manohar were also interested to join me. So we started getting ready and were done in 20minutes. I asked them to lock the room and i went out to start the car and bring it near the door. I got into the car and started. Then a van(DODGE) stopped beside my car. I moved my car from the parking place, so that the van can be parked at my place. I moved my car back near the door and was waiting for Sirish and Manohar to get in. Meanwhile same color van came and stopped behind the first van and after few seconds both of them moved away from that place. Our street is one way road with parallel parking on both sides. So atmost one car fits in the space. Sirish and Manohar got into the car and we started.

Just when I started the car and moved a few feet the van which stopped beside me was coming in the opposite direction in the wrong way. He again stopped beside my car and I was unable to go forward as I was almost blocked. I thought the van driver might be a new guy to the area so he came in a wrong way. So I signaled him to move forward. To my shock the guy who is driving the van showed me a gun aiming at me and shot at me . I just lost my mind and was terrified. Without any second thought i accelerated my car and  drove forward , then the second van came in front of me and started to block my way and somehow i drove the car on to the curb and escaped from the second one. I reached the end of the lane and took a left which was a mistake. The two vans took a U turn and started following. The road was a two lane road and very narrow. I was driving at a speed of 40mph and they were also driving fast. After driving some distance one of the van was trying to overtake us and driving parallel to me in  the wrong lane. I accelerated further but he was driving with equivalent speed. Manoahr felt that they wouldn't shoot us and was sitting idle watching the vans and sirish was in fear and was unable to call the police. I yelled at them to call police and somehow Sirish got the call right. I was driving and Sirish was managing the call to direct the police to us. The lane in which the van was driving will be ending at a few distance , as there is a curb and the lane will move left towards Main Street. So the van driving parallel to me passed over and came into my lane. We both missed hitting each other by inches. We were driving with vans both at front and back. Then I just realized there will be police at gas station. So I took a sudden left at 60mph(which I mentioned before about the lane which was used by the van) at the curb without hitting the pole  or the curb and drove towards Main Street. The two vans moved forward without taking the wrong turn and following lanes. So we escaped them and then I immediately took a right turn onto the Main Street even though the signal was red(luckily no vehicle was coming). Both of the vans took a U turn to follow us but by the time they did that  I was on the Main Street and they stopped following us. I quickly drove into the gas station, left the car in front of the door and ran inside the store leaving the engine on and all things inside.

After few minutes I went outside to park my car in the parking area as it was blocking. An old man saw me and felt something was wrong with me. He asked me about what happened. I told him about the incident in brief and by that time the police reached us. We narrated the entire incident to the police and they told us that they also received complaints regarding these people. We requested them to come with us till  our home which they accepted. Two police cars came with us till we reached home. I parked the car and ran into our house. I went into our balcony and sat alone for half an hour. Then my friend Varun and his friends came to visit us after knowing the incident. I was acting to be cool by cracking some jokes and with a smile on my face while chatting with my parents on Skype. Somehow i was completely uncomfortable as my memory was completely filled with the scenes. But somewhere I felt proud about my driving when Sirish said that the two turns i took were amazing and almost some Hollywood stunts and also about the idea to go to the gas station which saved two lives along with me .  I am not sure he was kidding or was genuine but somehow felt good. Because if I haven't taken that left turn (wrong turn) it would have been so bad. After the incident I was afraid while driving the car ,  whenever i saw a car behind me i used to panic and constantly watch it go by. I was afraid waiting at the signals with cars around me. Constantly watching the cars that are moving on our street. But I made my mind to be strong and not to panic much. After few days i started going alone in the car and to college.

Its been exactly two weeks that the incident has happened, now i am good enough and strong with things being normal and cool. I recovered FAST from the incident with a little FEAR.

My journey in Kansas.

Before starting about my journey in Kansas let me brief out some situations which led me here which includes my desire for money, ego , to be on top of everyone in terms of knowledge, my interest to find what is that special about USA and what makes them the top and of course one  failure(nothing much to do with it but still counts).

It all started on December 30th when I took my flight to Boston from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at 05:00 AM. I could see tears in my sisters eyes, perplexed emotions in my mothers face and expression less faces of my friends especially Sridhar Reddy. Could have find some expression in his face if the entire airport is a smoking zone. So it all started well getting a seat in club world , pretty girl sitting side by me. Thought of having a discussion with her but she immediately went into a nap(typical hodophobia observed in girls). It all went well till January 1st. Then started my New Year bonanza with "Polar Vertex" in entire USA. Where ever I go there was snow all around which made me feel like i am in mortuary with freezing temperature, silence, people covered with clothes from top to bottom and sanitizers all over.

On January 2nd after talking with raghav i called to my friends in Kansas City with whom i am gonna stay temporarily. They answered patiently to all my questions and when i was about to end the call they stopped me and said  "You cant stay in our house, please go with the accommodation provided by the UMKC ISA". I have no words to express and just ended the call. I never told this to my uncle with whom i stayed in Boston and not even to my parents I just wanted to carry on.

January 4th: My uncle left me at Logan International Airport at Boston for my flight to Kansas. It was a 3 hours journey so I had lots of time to think about the things that gonna happen in Kansas. Initially some of my friends told me that the accommodation provided by ISA would be something like all will be staying at one place both boys and girls, can hang out with each other prior to school and you will picked by some of the students in a car. Thinking about all these i was confident and eager to arrive at Kansas and some dreams during the journey about the accommodation and animating some of the girls faces whose names i noted prior coming to UMKC. The flight arrived on time and i got down at Kansas airport. While i was waiting to collect my luggage some one came from my back and mentioned that he was the one who came to pick me up.After few seconds, another guy came in and asked about my luggage, just to potray him he seemed like a porter who comes to pick up luggage in railway station. I collected my luggage and came out with those two guys and was looking up and down the road to see in which car they gonna take me. I was looking at the parking area so as to find the car, but instead a car stopped in front of me and that was the one in which i need to go. I never saw such a car in my life, dirty green in color, three four bullet marks, patches all over the car which made it look like half dirty green and half  brown(rust color). I loaded my luggage in the car trunk and sat in the back seat of the car. Through out my journey i was looking back so as to make sure my luggage never fell down. I was least intrested to talk with the people in the car, after listening to their discussion about having one beer in the night. But one talk between them took my attention, that is about the car condition. They said " the car shakes if it goes beyond 50mph and the steering some times never turn". But whatever may be condition the happiest part of it is the door beside me never closes, so i need not worry about anything. So after 40 mins of journey i arrived at Oasis Homes where my temporary accommodation was setup. There was nothing much to describe about the city in my journey as i was completely staring back at my luggage.

I unloaded my luggage from the car and started walking towards apartments, no idea what made them to take me from back gate of the apartments. As i was walking it started giving me a Desi feeling like i was walking on the roads of Singareni Colony in Hyderabad. I reached to the main door of apartments and as the apartments is just three floors there was no lift and need to take stairs. The stairs were made of iron and dust all over. I never dream that i would see such kind of stairs in USA. I entered into the room with my luggage sorry first i entered and then dragged my luggage as i couldn't get in with luggage at a time. The room was filled with dust bins, one table without chairs, two portable televisions which were not working, shoes all around and a guy cooking some delicious food. I have kept my luggage at one of the vacant corners in the room and had my lunch. Looking at the situations i was completely lost and my mind stopped working and I forgot it was Saturday and ate non-veg. I was sitting alone in the living room on a chair till evening and was wondering what should i do now. I took a walk in the evening to the nearby shopping area and came back home. After having my dinner i sat back on the same chair on looking around. The seniors who are staying in the room were busy in their discussions and were planning something. Now there comes another twist, the people in the room asked me to vacate the room and move to another room where all the new students were staying which is in the basement. Before going further i want to introduce  a guy in the room "Sumanth". The simple way i can portray him is, he is just like Kota Srinivas Rao in Aha Naa Pellanta with a pig like face(same to same). So he asked me to move immediately in the night and asked me to put some clothes outside so that they gonna lock my main luggage in one room. So i took two pairs of clothes and kept in my cabin bag and moved to the new room.

They were already 8 people staying in that room and i am the ninth one. Seniors took all our luggage and kept it in one bedroom and closed it. And since there were bugs all around in the second bedroom, they have lifted up the mattress and asked not to sleep on the floor as there will be more bugs on the carpet than on mattress. So the conclusion is all nine of us should sleep and move in the single living room. Since i was new to room i am not aware of anyone and just couldnt talk with them immediately. They started arranging their comforter side ways and were about to sleep. I was wondering where should i sleep. looking at my face they understood my problem and gave me one the bed sheets(cotton) to sleep. So i spread the bedsheets at one of the vacant places in the living room and was about to sleep. My sleeping place was just 1-2 feet away from dust bin which is completely filled with garbage from my head and my feet were just 1 feet away from the exit door which never closes completely. My room mates have switched off the light and went to sleep and with no other option i too slept. Since it was polar vertex at that time there was lot of cold air coming from the open spaces in the exit door and i was completely shivering and in addition to that smell from the dust bin and small cockroaches around it made that night a nightmare for me. Next day i woke up at 8 AM and waited almost for 40minutes to get intot he wash room, as they were already 2 friends int he queue.

Meanwhile i called to my friends(Varun batchmates) in kansas with whom i was suppsoed to stay and asked them when can i meet them and when can they take me to search for rooms. They gave a simple reply that they can meet me or take em out only after 8 PM from Mon-Fri and sometime in weekends. Listening to that i ended the call and thought which rental office in USA will be open during weekends. So after 40minutes i went into the wash room. I started looking at my face in the mirror and noticed tears from my eyes after a long time with disappointment and fear. After crying for 10minutes i finished my shower and came out. Since there was an alert in the Kansas for heavy snow fall nobody moved out so was I. I kept glaring at the clock in my laptop to see it was 10:00 PM so that i can a have a skype call with my parents home or talk with any of my friends online.

Due to the disappointment i was never hungry and my only aim was to shift to a new house. Since i was supposed to get into my  friends room i never made friends with anyone to stay together in Kansas. Now i have no other option except to find some roommates and get into new house as quickly as possible. But i found it was too late. Some of my friends which i have contacted in India have already booked a house and were filled. So now one more task is in front of me i.e. not only to find a new house but also to find new people to share the accommodation with me. So after all this friends search it was evening and i skipped my lunch on that day and had my dinner in the evening and spoke with my parents in the night.

The same story continued on Monday too and on tuesday morning I made a check in the college and came back home. There was nothing much to describe about the college as it was entirely covered with snow.Its been two days that i have arrived in the room so Anudeep, one of my roommate asked me to cook food. I never cooked food in my entire life , I dont even know how to make maggi also. So the only thing i know is for one cup of rice add two cups of water, that is the only thing i know. Since there are no utensils in the house i was supposed to do that in a big pan. I took same measurements and kept it on the stove and went back to my work. After sometime i went back to check rice, which to my surprise turned complete black and got fried. Some of my friends ate rice which was kept in pressure cooker. I was too much shy to eat that good one, so as one of my friends indirectly suggested me to eat the spoiled rice, I had no other option except to eat that for two days with a pickle. That is when I realized hunger is the most dreadful pain you can have. One of my roommates Praveen who does not even cook or do anything used to criticize me when i used to eat or when i was trying to cook food. I was really uncomfortable eating food. Our cooking problems continued as we lack grocery to make food sometimes we approached others for some. Some people used to be liberal in giving us groceries, but here comes the naughty boy sumanth again who used to give us a pinch of salt for the entire stay in a hand towel, not day its stay. There was also a period of time where we used eat rice with pickles or tamarind paste for four continuous days due to lack of groceries.

Meanwhile i continued to search for houses, somehow i found  a broker Jessie . She suggested me a house which was two miles away from my room. Since i did not have a smart phone i memorized the route in laptop and started to the house. When i was about to reach the vacant apartment in 2 minutes , Jessie called me and said the room was booked. The temperature was -15 C with gusty winds, I walked till the house just to know it was booked. While coming back home i took another route and called some of the apartments which has lease. LUCKILY i got a call from one of the rentals office broker Jennifer. I was happy to get an apartment. Now when i thought everything was cool , to my shock the members which i formed to get in to a apartment turned back and said no. I alone cannot get into the house so i postponed the leasing formalities and started searching roommates again. As all my luggage and clothes were locked in a room, i ran out of the clothes as i felt dirty to wear the same t-shirt for ten days. There was no one to help me with laundry so I called my uncle  and asked him to stay in a hotel in Kansas so that i can wash clothes. I was unable to tell all the problems to my uncle as I felt all this may reach to my family back in India. Meanwhile my course registration started . Due to lack of seats i was unable to register any of the courses. I went to consult my academic adviser but she shut down the door on my face as she got irritated with the  students who visited her before me. So by the end of January third week I was left with no food, no accommodation, no courses. I was going mad and used to dance in the nights madly in frustration and also to uplift myself. This also made me to think about going back to India but somehow i was hoping for some good.

Next week on Tuesday somehow i managed to get some courses with some request and recommendations  and got enrolled in the courses that everyone insisted not to take but I still took it to show there is no need to follow a pattern. In a few days i also found two other friends Prateek and Deepak as my roommates and somehow i got the lease for the apartment which Jennifer suggested  and was ready to get in. But still i need a fourth member in my room to balance the  expenditure. One of my classmate said he would be coming but later just before end of month he turned back as he found a new room. Now i had a problem financially as i was suppsoed to pay high amounts of rent for February as we were just three. So i posted an ad in UMKC ISA for roomates, through which i found Goutham. But he was reluctant to come in immediately but suggested us a new guy who was working in Kansas. So Raj Bhayya came into our room just on Feb 1st and we are done. He had a car and a very helpful person who guided us and help us in transportation and all.I learned cooking from him and became best in it.

So till January third week i felt everything went wrong but now i feel everything went right. If my friends did not turn back i could not have get such good roommates, whatever may be the reason. Just because I had no food and skipped meals multiple time, it made me to learn cooking which i love to do now, and I became the best in the entire city( at least i feel so). When i was unable to register courses which were suggested by the seniors, even that turned out great as I got some of the best courses which helped me to learn and love my work. And i became the dependable source for coding and finishing projects in the campus. I never listened to the seniors and even that helped me in getting a job on campus and the only one to get. I am really feeling happy, proud writing this paragraph because everything i was mentioning had only me and no one else. No relatives, friends or anyone, just myself in finding the way and satisfying my ego :). 

Thats it , my initial journey in Kansas and some moments which i remember all my life :).