A Strange Friendship
I met him because he wanted a tutor for his son, a task both S. And E., my colleagues, declined, due to his being a high-school student. So I offered to tutor him and the fun begun.
He is an interesting man. He worked with the LAPD (or the Police Department of another County), worked as a private investigator photographying all the houses with illegal cable connection in some of the toughest areas in LA, as consultant and other jobs. He was a retired man, but soon started working again, because sitting at home was something he could not tolerate for long.
The differnces between him and mine are absolute and tell-tale. A reasonably rich man with a series of apartment complexes to rent out in LA, he has a swimming pool at home, plays golf during weekends and both his wife and he drive BMW, one of the expensive cars anywhere in the world. He bought the third BMW for the family, the moment his son got his driver's license. On the other hand, I do a low-paid job, live in a pigeonhole, do not possess any modenr amenities and live on the edge. (It's not that I cannot afford some of the modern things, but constantly living out of suitacases and always being on move from one place to another, I have developed the habit of living with the bare minimum. I do not even feel the necessity for most of the things that other people consider basic to their life.)
And yet, somehow he developed a liking for me. Perhaps, the high regard he has for education and educated people, and the fact that my nonchalant, self-deprecating and very casual tutoring (rarely, if ever, a kid gets the chance to think that the guy tutoring him is as stupid as he is, or perhaps even more, someone who did not even know if the pics taken using a digital camera could be deleted or one needs constanly to keep buying new memory cards, for example!) made his son overcome his extreme fear for his textbook, and do reasonably well in a subject he loathed, made him develop some affection towards me.
And then our sojourn began. Each time his wife was out of town, he used to call me and ask me to join his for dinner. He, sometimes accompained by his son, took me to some of the very good places in LA to eat. He never let me pay; each time I offered to pay, his logic was simple and final: You pay when you get a real job. He once gave me a detailed tour of the South Central LA, the toughest part of the city, and another time, he took me to Wild Goose, a topless bar near LAX airport. After we got out of his car, and was at the door of the bar, he asked me if my religion prohibited going to such places. I replied in negative (what I did not tell was that perhaps my Gods would be rather pleased that I was having a good time). Once inside, he knew everyone, from the bouncer (the huge guy who would kick you out if you misbehaved) to the woman poring the drink at the counter. (He would later told me that he once dated a woman working there and so used to visit that place frequently). He encounraged me to go for lapdance if I felt like, and even offered to cover the cost. I politely declined.
It took me time to realize what he liked my company. The fact was that many of his friends, while being affluent, were people he could not discuss serious topics with. He wanted to talk, which was not possible with his highly business-oriented wife (as he would tell me) and his rebel-without-a-cause 15-year old son.
The differnces between him and mine are absolute and tell-tale. A reasonably rich man with a series of apartment complexes to rent out in LA, he has a swimming pool at home, plays golf during weekends and both his wife and he drive BMW, one of the expensive cars anywhere in the world. He bought the third BMW for the family, the moment his son got his driver's license. On the other hand, I do a low-paid job, live in a pigeonhole, do not possess any modenr amenities and live on the edge. (It's not that I cannot afford some of the modern things, but constantly living out of suitacases and always being on move from one place to another, I have developed the habit of living with the bare minimum. I do not even feel the necessity for most of the things that other people consider basic to their life.)
And yet, somehow he developed a liking for me. Perhaps, the high regard he has for education and educated people, and the fact that my nonchalant, self-deprecating and very casual tutoring (rarely, if ever, a kid gets the chance to think that the guy tutoring him is as stupid as he is, or perhaps even more, someone who did not even know if the pics taken using a digital camera could be deleted or one needs constanly to keep buying new memory cards, for example!) made his son overcome his extreme fear for his textbook, and do reasonably well in a subject he loathed, made him develop some affection towards me.
And then our sojourn began. Each time his wife was out of town, he used to call me and ask me to join his for dinner. He, sometimes accompained by his son, took me to some of the very good places in LA to eat. He never let me pay; each time I offered to pay, his logic was simple and final: You pay when you get a real job. He once gave me a detailed tour of the South Central LA, the toughest part of the city, and another time, he took me to Wild Goose, a topless bar near LAX airport. After we got out of his car, and was at the door of the bar, he asked me if my religion prohibited going to such places. I replied in negative (what I did not tell was that perhaps my Gods would be rather pleased that I was having a good time). Once inside, he knew everyone, from the bouncer (the huge guy who would kick you out if you misbehaved) to the woman poring the drink at the counter. (He would later told me that he once dated a woman working there and so used to visit that place frequently). He encounraged me to go for lapdance if I felt like, and even offered to cover the cost. I politely declined.
It took me time to realize what he liked my company. The fact was that many of his friends, while being affluent, were people he could not discuss serious topics with. He wanted to talk, which was not possible with his highly business-oriented wife (as he would tell me) and his rebel-without-a-cause 15-year old son.
His views are interesting. He was a lifelong Democrat, but he supports President Bush, because according to him, Bush went after Iraq to make America a safer place. All my arguments that Saddam had nothing to do with Bin Laden was not accepted. The same problem arose when I told him that Bin Laden was not a Maulvi in some Masque, but rather trained as an Enginner. The regard he has for educated people won't let him digest the fact someone as barbaric as bin Laden could be an educated man!
He took me to atend his son's Tae-Kwan-Do competition, and even when he was planning to buy an apartment in Palm Springs. Each such trip was eventually followed by a sumptuous dinner in a good restaurant.
He also has some simple solutions for some major problems. For example, his antidote for the high crime rate in LA was to round up all the guys who commit the crimes, put them in a ship and put them in some faraway isolated island. "Let them live there, study there, do jobs there, do what they like and rob one another."
He was generous towards me. Once when he invited me to dinner, and I forgot that the time set was 5-30 PM, but rather took it to be 6-30 PM instead, and went to meet a friend, he arrived on time, and waited in his car for as few minutes. When I joined him, he asked me if he caused me trouble by arriving. I told him about the mistake with the time of appointment I made, due to which I came to meet her and then had to excuse myself when he arrived. He simply told me, "You did not have to stop the conversation abruptly for me. You should have just invited her to join us. We could have had dinner together and talked."
He took me to atend his son's Tae-Kwan-Do competition, and even when he was planning to buy an apartment in Palm Springs. Each such trip was eventually followed by a sumptuous dinner in a good restaurant.
He also has some simple solutions for some major problems. For example, his antidote for the high crime rate in LA was to round up all the guys who commit the crimes, put them in a ship and put them in some faraway isolated island. "Let them live there, study there, do jobs there, do what they like and rob one another."
He was generous towards me. Once when he invited me to dinner, and I forgot that the time set was 5-30 PM, but rather took it to be 6-30 PM instead, and went to meet a friend, he arrived on time, and waited in his car for as few minutes. When I joined him, he asked me if he caused me trouble by arriving. I told him about the mistake with the time of appointment I made, due to which I came to meet her and then had to excuse myself when he arrived. He simply told me, "You did not have to stop the conversation abruptly for me. You should have just invited her to join us. We could have had dinner together and talked."
The funniest part of the whole affair, of course, is the wine. He has diabetes and so he believes he should not drink red wine. Each time we ate at a restaurant, he opted for Martini instead! It seems that his wife has ownership/membership in some wineries, and she often gets free samples of wine. And after he met me, he started giving away part of that wine to me. Some of the wine are really good, but some others are horribly bad. I never complain, but it's fun to think how he would feel if he knew that some of the wines he gave me are below any humanly standard. But I am not a man to screw up a friendship for a bottle of wine, that too soemthing given to me as a gift, and so I keep my mouth shut.
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