A Silver Lining?
Anonymous
What is this life – its full of care
We have no time to stand and stare....
Saturday afternoon opposite the Citibank in Jackson Heights,
a small group stands and stares — “like sheep and
cows”. The hot Kashmiri of Shireen Mahal on a hot summer
day and yet another on a cold winter day — the Bhaiya there
lets you hold onto the non-biodegradable styrofoam cup for as
long as you wish. Walls mirror faces — faces holding styrofoam.
Faces multiply in the garishly mirrored room, cackling, smiles
and excitement fill the air. Outside the skies darken, faces diminish,
gaudy chandeliers stare back at you from the mirrors. A busboy
with dishcloth slowly cleans up after the crowds leave —
it is going to be some time — another week before these
faces reappear on these mirrors.
Tseten picked up his backpack, a sling bag it is called. Twenty
full dollars he had spent for it at the Gap — something
he feels was a good deal. It was the end of the season SALE and
the bag that had been hanging on the back of the faceless mannequin
was marked down from the original price — the exorbitant
amount of fifty dollars — the amount Tseten made in a day
then working at the crummy Chinese restaurant downtown as the
dishwasher.
He had come here three years ago — an uncle in Nepal knew
someone in New York who picked him up at the airport. Someone
who had taken a day off from work to help him out the same kind
soul who let him stay at his apartment for the night and early
next morn dropped him off at the Chinaman’s employment agency.
He had wanted to be rid of Tseten as soon as he had arrived-so
that he could get back to the construction site and work the remaining
days of the season. The last year had been hard for him. He had
worked for a small time contractor who had taken off with the
last two weeks of his hard earned salary. Added to that —
the winter had been harsh and most small construction companies
had closed shop for most of the period. There was no work and
no money.
Seventy-five bucks lighter in his purse and the promise of a
busboy job, a jet-lagged Tseten had reached the takeout food stall
in some faraway mall. He stood behind a line of others before
him. There was no job. The Chinaman’s agency had disappeared
in a matter of hours along with the 75 bucks of many. Tired, hungry,
sleepy and light in the pockets, he had returned back to the apartment
— a good night's sleep was all he could think of. The bed
of the previous night was occupied. Its rightful owner after five
days at his live in job had returned to spend two nights in this
small cramped basement. The musty sofa in the corner would be
his solace for that night and many nights to follow.
That was three years ago. Working in numerous jobs, busboys,
dishwashers, and construction helpers — he was now a construction
worker. A few months ago, he had met a girl- a nice girl from
his hometown and he was in love. She was a small town, simple
girl and the lights of New York had never failed to dazzle her.
Her friends were a bunch of young kids who had just begun to hit
the club scene seemed at that point to party like getting to 21
was the herald of the end of their lives. She was mesmerized.
Sangmo was this small energy bar. Whoever said that the smallest
chilies were the hottest-must has spoken of her. She had had a
high school degree in India in one of those convent schools in
the Himalayas. Her first months in the US had been in a university
setting. After a semester of missing the home food, her kind of
people and the whole different education system — she had
packed her bags and gotten herself a transfer. She had moved to
New York.
It was the Losar party at the Armenian church where Tseten had
seen her first. He was on the steps which led into the basement
talking with a bunch of friends when — down she walked with
a bunch of girls. Their eyes had met for a short moment. Tseten
had felt it: love-at-first-sight, he called it. Sangmo, the energy
bar just walked on — her eyes in the excitement of her first
party skimmed over to “check out the crowd”. For Tseten
— in his two years in New York he had never seen anyone
quite like Sangmo. She began visiting him in his dreams and Tseten
was determined to find out more about her.
Sangmo’s first months in New York had been a flurry —
parties, the chaat at Jackson Heights, and the Indian movies-
but as the excitement stopped and money became scarce she had
begun to look around for a job. With her limited skills —
the interviews never happened, the bills began to mount and she
got depressed. One of her friends was leaving for a month and
asked if she wanted to temp for her — a nanny. Sangmo had
always loved children and having three younger siblings helped
in giving the employer some confidence. She was determined to
survive. Falling in love was not in her list of priorities. She
had so much to achieve.
Sangmo’s life took a twist. An acquaintance of her roomies
would keep bumping into her- at the laundromat, the teashop, on
Saturday nights at Sidetrack — the local dance club and
the grocery store too. Short meetings became more frequent and
longer, a cup of coffee at the local deli, the Dunkin Donuts extended
to dinner — she began to look forward to meeting him. It
was too late. She was falling in love but Tashi- the object of
her affections was married.
Sangmo let go of and Tashi was infatuated. It was a strange love
exciting and forbidden. Days turned into months and months to
a year. However such love cannot be concealed for long in this
small community — a young girl just turned 23 and a young
married man with two children. Tongues would start wagging and
the winds took the noise all the way to ears of Tashi’s
wife back in the village. She grew restless and before long was
on her way to New York with her children in tow.
Tashi went back to his wife and Sangmo’s first love was
gone. Nursing a broken heart was hard especially as the company
she kept had all split and her room mates had moved on to live
with their boyfriends. The ones that remained were soon planning
to leave. Sangmo was going to be alone.
With her roommates leaving and her tight cash condition, Sangmo
needed a roomie — someone that would foot half the bill
— pay for the cable and by Joe if that someone didn’t
live too much in that apartment- that would be great. This was
about the time Tseten was ready to move out from the overcrowded
apartment that he still shared with his friends. Someone had mentioned
Sangmo’s living condition and Tseten didn’t know whether
he should take it. It was the only option that was available at
that moment and Tseten wanted so badly to move out. Sangmo did
not know how he had felt about her and she took him on. Theirs
was an ideal living condition. Tseten would use the apartment
on weekends and on week days were at the live in job he had and
Sangmo’s employer had requested her to work on weekends
taking days off in the week.
Her job kept her busy and her tryst with love left a bad taste
killing all instinct to continue. They had only holidays when
they spent time together in the apartment- very short moments.
Moments where Sangmo got to see Tseten and appreciate small things
in him. She began to look forward to seeing him — began
to trust in people. Tseten would go partying and clubbing and
always he would ask her to join. She never relented. She was too
afraid of being hurt once again. Tseten saw in her — this
young girl, fragile and hurt and always wanted to reach out to
her- wanting her to live again- wanting her to know that he cared
for her, that he loved her... had always loved her. Months passed
and her fragile heart seemed to heal. She began to open up with
Tseten and life took on a different meaning for both of them.
They had found friends in the Big Apple. Last week Tseten reached
out to her and asked her out to the Valentines party — and
she had relented. Tseten was overjoyed. Today was the Saturday
and Valentines Day party was at Kasturi. They were going together
for a party for the first time. The skies had changed their color
and Tseten slung his sling bag back on his shoulders and wrapped
up his conversation with his friends. He was going back to the
apartment — Sangmo would be home soon.
To be continued in the next
issue..
