My First and Only Roommate Shashikant Phatak
Durgadas and Shashikant, Pittsburgh, early 70s
When I showed up at the Physics Department at the University of Pittsburgh on Monday, September 1, 1969, I was handed an exam, a pad and, and a pen. I think I did good. After the exam I met the other 5 new Indians who had arrived earlier. I think I met the couple Amit and Shyamali Sur first. The first question they asked me was where I was staying. I told them, the Downtown YMCA, $6 a day. They immediately found Shashikant, who was looking for a roommate and introduced us. We found an apartment and moved in. Later in the week, he took me to the apartment of his cousin Kishore Saralkar (he was one year senior to us) and I enjoyed home-made Indian food made by Chhaya, Kishore's wife.
We must have changed apartments and houses 5 or 6 times, we may have had other people as roommates, but we were always together!
We divided our chores, he cooked, I cleaned; we cut each others hair (hair cut in a shop was expensive!); I bought a BW TV and a camera (Yashica Minister D), he bought a used car.
We took a tour of the US Southwest, going all the way to the Grand Canyon. Lots of great memories, watch this space.
Recently he had a medical emergency and wrote about it. Sadly he did not make it and passed away on Oct 6, 2024.
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