The Cocoon

Kuppusamy is an average Indian guy aspiring to come to America to
realize the American dream. Let's pick up his story from his senior
year in college. Kuppu had envisioned a simple future for himself
with a clerical job, vanilla wife and typical kids in a remote part
of town. All his role models were doing great with the exact same
assets. Kuppu never dreamt, even in his wildest dreams, that the lord
almighty would alter his life to the magnitude that was beyond his
comprehension.

During his final days in college, one of Kuppu's friends brought him
an American university brochure and the pretty damsels on the cover
of the brochure stunned him. That was the life altering moment in the
otherwise passive Kuppu history. Kuppu was oblivious about the
degrees offered, research facilities, job possibilities and all that
jazz. He wanted to be the classmate of the dames he saw on the
brochure or at least be associated with them in some way. Kuppu
started plodding like a juggernaut and collected all the details
regarding the American university admission. After long and hard days
of toil, he got the admission, visa and air ticket confirmed. He
praised the man upstairs, offered him prayers, and visited his kith
and kin before packing his bags.


Kuppu's flight flew across the Atlantic carrying the naive dreamer to
his new abode. Kuppu was petrified to relinquish his seat, even for
nature's call, as it was his maiden flight. His only comfort was the
angelic beauties serving him aboard the plane. Kuppu managed to win
mysterious looks from them when he chose milk, over wine, for supper.
Kuppu landed in Austin, Texas and waited for hours before his
fraternity brothers came to pick him up. Before he could realize it,
Kuppu was going to school and had moved into a new home with 2
roomies. Kuppu's roomies Goindasamy and Palanisamy had inimitable
personalities quite different from that of Kuppu. Goinda's full time
mission was to ogle at the breath-taking beauties in his college and
Palani did that part-time along with his school assignments.


Goinda tried to gain the attention of the fairer sex by teaching
them about Hindu mythology in his broken English, offering them free
rides in his antiquated Mazda to the nearest H.E.B or Wal-Mart for
groceries and so on. Kuppu and Palani were comfortably resting in
their conservative culture cocoon and didn't make the slightest
attempt to follow suit with Goinda. Goinda enjoyed being a narcissist
and was competing confidently for the broads, way out of his league.

Days rolled by and the three musketeers graduated from college to
take up real jobs. On his job trips, Kuppu met many different
personalities - artful men, enchanting women and young prodigies.
When the dames offered to go on a date with him, Kuppu recoiled back
into his shell like a turtle. Kuppu felt commodious in the
conservative Indian way of life where arranged marriage was the
traditional path.

Goinda, on the other hand, was trying to concoct such chances.
Knowing him fully well, Goinda's parents were very anxious to get him
married. They charted out his horoscope and visited every great
astrologer on the southern face of the earth to find a suitable bride
for Goinda. Thus, while Goinda was romancing in America, some strange
planet reader was sealing his fate in India across the ocean and the
worst part was that he wasn't even aware of it. By this time, Kuppu
and Palani started pestering their parents to find suitable brides
for themselves. After several futile attempts to date alluring
international beauties, Goinda compassed that his potential fell
short of taking a liberal dame's hand in marriage and he too lined up
with his friends in requesting his parents to help him attain marital
bliss.


This was boom time for the American economy partly due to the jillion
phone calls to India by Kuppu, and his peers, requesting their
parents find matches for them. There was this one dialogue being
transmitted across the continents in all the 18 different Indian
languages and it was, "Ladiki mili?", "Did you find a bride?" "Ponnu
kidaichadha?". The Telecom giants AT&T, SWBell and others reported
more than expected earnings during that quarter, thanks to Kuppu and
company.

After lots of pandemonium and perseverance, all three friends got
married and settled in the same city. Their post marriage days turned
out to be strange. Goinda treated the junta as total strangers
because the junta knew his chequered history. If Goinda happened to
meet his friends on the road, he did a U-turn and took an alternate
route to avoid direct contact. Goinda moved to a new apartment, well
outside the city limits, got new phone number and erased all other
records of clubbing. Many phone calls made to Goinda's old phone
number went haywire. Goinda visited temple on weekends and watched
cartoons at home. Meanwhile, Kuppu got chided by his wife for having
an innocent chitchat with the Wal-Mart check out gal. So much for the
guy who refused to leave the cocoon.

Note: Although this story is based on facts, it is fiction, and in no
way reflects the real life incidents that happened in the author's
life.