Winter 1978 - Pay Rise!
Professor Peterson is on sabbatical. I am working with Dr. Alex Anas,the Assistant Professor.
Alex Anas as he looks now
Alex is in his early 30s. He is an Armenian-Turk. He and Gokman converse with each other in Turkish.
My coursework is over. Now it remains for me to complete my report towards my MS. Alex wants me to go full time and is ready to pay me for it! I am interviewed by a young lady in the University Administration. Even without my asking, she said "as you already have a masters (I have M. Tech from IIT, Kharagpur) I will fix you at $1100 per month."
That is a big jump from $350 a month! Now I am able to pay my rent and eat three meals a day at the residence hall cafeteria!
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The Saudis apparently are High School graduates, in the Traffic Police wing in Saudi. They are here to get trained in Traffic Control. They are in their early to late 20s. They are noisy with loud music playing in their rooms all the time.
One day when I go to the rest room, I find a girl washing dishes, with the tub full of food wastes!
The residents are not supposed to cook for fear of fire hazard. I do not feel comfortable to stay there with these happy-go-lucky Saudi trainees.
Now that I am a full-time employee, I thought it wise to get away from there so that I can do full justice to my work.
So I move back to 2000 Sherman. This time I did not move to the attic. I stayed in the basement and I give my house cleaning jobs to another newly arrived graduate student from India.
I set my clock radio to WLSChicago, the local radio station with 24-hour light music. Though I cannot catch the words of the lyrics, I like the music. I also set my alarm to wake me to music at 6 am. In the basement, it is always dark and there is no way to wake up without the alarm! Added to that, there is no sun until very late in the morning, though the days are getting longer.
WLS Chicagoe images
Description
WLS is a commercial AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Cumulus Media, through licensee Radio License Holdings LLC, the station airs a talk radio format. WLS has its radio studios in the NBC Tower on North Columbus Drive in the city's Streeterville neighborhood. Wikipedia
Frequency: 890 kHz Click to listen to: A Sample (audio) Clip
This winter is even worse than the last one, being the second coldest since 1873! Last winter (the third coldest), though it was the first winter for me in this country, I was in Loder Hall and the top floor of a centrally heated residence. So, I was well protected from the outside weather when I am in bed. Now, I am in the basement of an old building. It is freezing even inside with my thermal wear and sweater on! I buy an electric blanket. I request a space heater from my landlord to keep by my head side to keep my head warm, as I am not used to sleeping with my head and face covered. This heater has a built-in thermostat. It goes off when the temperature has reached the pre-set level and starts again with a hum when the room temperature falls below a pre-set low.
Electric blanket: An electric blanket is a blanket that contains integrated electrical heating wires.
Chicago weather - January 1978
Source:
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Anantha Sundaram's Observation in Facebook:
ReplyDeleteA spare retelling of what are clearly very difficult times, the harshest of which is not the certainty of the winter in Chicago, but the gnawing uncertainty of lives in India? How does one live through it? Pray, Sleep, Wake-with-Alarm is one way to do it. You underscore well, the abject irony that your promotion leads to a demotion to the cold basement. Minimal, honest and bittersweet - thank you for sharing them.