by Apala Kundu
YOU cannot possibly know how to survive the cold winter
here in Pennsylvania
you’ve only been here a year
and last winter wasn’t really winter
and since you’re at CMU and UPitt
you must be good students
and in five years, you should be going back to develop whichever area you came from, of course
but you cannot possibly know how to survive the cold winter.
Do not fear.
Straight from the mouth of the cool dad
who knows students well
-my daughters’ friends are always turning me out on the couch –
you have advice that will tide you over.
You must be vegetarians
for all Indians are vegetarians
I know all Indians are vegetarians
[My roommate and I congratulate ourselves from behind our masks
for introducing to him a new specimen of ‘Indian student’
we feel accomplished]
Okay, minor adjustment: you are non-vegetarians
who must only eat chicken
for I know Indians do not eat beef or pork
[Umm, what about goats, or ducks, or… we dare not ask?]
You are usually tolerant people, you Indians
[My roommate and I stare mutely at each other, eyebrows raised
our social media feeds about India are lies?
we nod at each other, we concur, sir]
You have arranged marriages
I know Indians have arranged marriages
you live with people you do not love for a lifetime
for you Indians, you do not divorce.
so you will survive the cold winter of Pennsylvania this time around too
[We who survive a lifetime without love]
Destination’s almost here
survival tip alert!
you need only hoard
stock up on those greens as much as you can
nodding, we bid him a good evening, then disembark
observe a moment’s silence right there on the sidewalk
then releasing her breath,
My roommate turns to me
“Let’s head to Sultan Bey first.
Haven’t had mutton in soooo long!”
Apala is an international migrant, queer, female of colour graduate student, earning a PhD in English Literature from the University of Pittsburgh in the US. Hailing from India, and from a family of immigrants, Kundu works with postcolonial migration literatures of the Indian Ocean. Besides being an aspiring scholar and an amateur poet of sorts, she is also proud fangirl and fujoshi who loves Indian summers, chai, and mangoes.
