Deaf in DC: A Memoir

26. Other Adventures

103 26 Other Adventures EACH YEAR, I TRAVELED WITH ONE OR MORE FRIENDS OR even alone. The travels continued after Nirmala, my wife, arrived from India and later, after our children were born. I was able to visit all the states except for Alaska. Notable among those trips were a three-week jaunt with my friend Fred Orr, a Christmas trip to Florida with Dan and Gene, and several family vacations. However, narrating those trips would require a whole book, so I will share some anecdotes from those trips. During the Christmas break of 1969, our friend Gene invited Dan and I to visit Miami for a few days. Gene’s mother stayed there for the winter. We decided that Gene and I would ride the train to Miami and Dan, who had a car, would first go to visit his family in Indiana and then drive down to Miami to meet us and later we all would ride in his car back to Gallaudet. This was my first ride in an American train. In India, trains are the main mode of travel. Only the very rich people traveled by air. When I was growing up in India, I traveled by trains, buses, oxcarts, and foot, but never by air. America is a country of cars and airplanes, I noticed. I loved trains, and the idea of riding a train for a thousand miles was exhilarating. I told Gene I would ride third class because I didn’t have enough money. He laughed and told me that, unlike India, there was no class system in American trains. Those who wanted a comfortable ride could rent a roomette. But the price for a roomette, Gene told me, was several times higher than the seat alone. “Does it mean that I have to pay the same as someone who makes ten times more money than me?” I was puzzled. “Yes and rub shoulders with those who make ten times more money 104 d e a f i n d c than you.” Gene thought it was a good thing. I would have preferred paying less and riding in a crowded compartment. The American train I rode was so very different from the trains I had ridden in India. The seats were like those in airplanes, only larger and more comfortable. They were reserved for us. In India, except for in first class during those days, it was first come, first served. If you went to the bathroom, someone might stake claim for your seat. I looked forward to riding in comfort but wished there was a sleeper class, which is common in India. “Forget sleeper class,” admonished Gene. “That will cost three or four times more than this seat.” So much for lack of class system in American trains, I thought. We never really used our seats. There was a lounge with a snack bar where Gene and I spent the next fifteen hours. We drank coffee and beer and talked about world politics and made qualitative comments about passengers who passed us. One passenger especially got our attention. A tall, lanky, and disheveled man, he held a beer bottle and his gait showed he had a few already. He would pass us and stop and shake hands with us each time he staggered by. After his third round, Gene began to take the initiative and would stand up whenever he saw him reel in and go forward and give him a special handshake. This handshake was elaborate. First you raise your hand at your side with the palm down, up to the head level, and then, after bending your knees like you were going to jump up, bring the hand down full force to meet the other guy’s hand. Gene had to demonstrate it to the drunk guy first, with me as his partner. He was game and copied us, albeit awkwardly. I had no choice but to follow this charade. I tried to dissuade Gene, but he was having too much fun to stop that. I wasn’t ready for the warm weather in Miami. I knew it was warmer than Washington, DC, but I couldn’t believe people were wearing shorts and golf shirts in December. The next morning, we saw women wearing bikinis sunning themselves. What a big change of weather in the same country. Dan joined us the next day. Gene stayed with his mother and Dan and I took a room in the same building...