Dostoevsky, The Clairmont and Megadeth-the best roadtrip ever!!!
Part I
The most eventful roadtrip in my life happened last weekend. My colleague David Waddell aka the redneck from hell , his wife Linda and I set out on Saturday morning on a road trip to Atlanta; primary destination - The Masquerade Music park for the Gigantour concert on Sunday evening. I was a bit unhappy that my best friend Dilip couldn't join us as he had to go to India on a family emergency. His Mom is not doing so well and he had to advance his trip originally scheduled in May to April. I had an extra concert ticket and planned to sell it at the venue. David Waddell is a very strange character. I understood the Waddells and perceived them to be good people during our first venture together on a road trip last year in July for a Slayer concert. This time I bonded. Relationships mature in time.
Our first pitstop was Birmingham AL for lunch. We ate in Chilis. David is originally from that city and his cousin Dave worked in his hometown. That afternoon, Dave and his wife Vic were campaigning a Blood Donation camp with a few friends. Dave is white and Vic is black. This was unreal especially for a couple way down South in the US and especially in Alabama. Free spirits trigger an instant admiration in me. They needed one more person to meet their target of amount of blood collected for the weekend. I couldn't donate because LifeBlood refused to take mine last year, stating a reason that I had to be in the country for a continuous stint of 3 years. (India is among the list of countries which is malaria infected. So, if I flew back home the chance of getting the disease, though very low is still eminent. Blood donation camps are very antsy about this). Besides, the plan was to party all night in the Buckhead area in Atlanta. I didn't want to be a cheap drunk that night. Linda signed up to donate blood anyway. It was taking a long ass time. It was the slowest blood donation camp ever. There were 4 people before Linda signed up for blood donation but it was taking like 30 minutes for each of them to donate blood due to a bunch of documentation forms and thin staff. While I was waiting outside, David, Dave and Rob (a night club owner) who was also a volunteer at the camp were talking. I was the newbie in the group and trying to socialize. Rob then looked me in the eye and said, "How come you so silent? And aren't you giving blood?" I explained to him my situation with LifeBlood last year. He said, "Well, dont mention to them that you went home". I said, "Hey man, giving blood is an act of good faith. If I want to do it, I would rather do it the right way." Rob's attention completely diverted from the group and started talking to me about the Dalai Lama. The conversation then went on from India, Hinduism, Thoreau, Gandhi, my visit to Walden Pond last month, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Existentialism, Sarte, Hagel, Jim Morrison, The Doors, Nietzsche and Dostoevsky. Through our rapt conversation in philosophy at a blood donation camp, held outside Walmart in Birmingham AL, I discovered that Rob is an ex-convict. He had lived a badass life and was sentenced for 2 years due to drug trafficking. During his stint in the penitentiary, he started reading books which were untouched for ages in that jail and that became an intellectual awakening for our man. He educated himself with books of Newton, Einstien, Dostoevsky, Sarte, Kiekergaard, Nietzsche, Thoreau and all the greats of western philosophy and science. He also added an anecdote that a guard was harassing him in jail about reading all the 'crap'. Rob said, "well, did you know Isaac Newton said the discovery of genius is in its childhood?" The redneck guard was so alarmed by the statement that he suspected Rob to be on crack and insisted the head guard to arrange a drug test for Rob. Eventually Rob came out clean and earned the reputation in jail to be 'weird'. How cliche. He finished his sentence and became a nightclub owner in time. He has an IQ of 171 and the lowest he ever tested was 162. He has an A -ve personality which means high levels of post traumatic stress and hint towards the mental state of a serial killer. But his lifestyle, behavioral methods and way of life are a complete contrast. So, the psychological institute in Birmingham is using him as anonymous case study for his case/scenario. And all of these were narrated by the man himself. He was honest, open and sincere in whatever he spoke and had a gaze so sharp and straight that I could see he was no bullshitter. We talked about Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. I could sense his delight in the conversation as he said he just couldn't find people who understood what he read and the discovery of his intellectual portal. The Kamarazov Brothers was the next topic. I haven't read this book of Dostoevsky. This was apparently Rob's favorite and he explained his most favorite chapter in the book. He insisted that I read the book as soon as I can and if I didn't like it he would buy me lunch. But then, Rob pointed me to his beautiful blonde pregnant wife sitting on a chair, a few feet away from us on the pavement and said he had to drop her off and take care of other things. We exchanged phone numbers and Rob said he will text me some more names of writers he seemed to be heavily influenced by. I had a hint of uneasiness that I was sharing my cell number with a brand new friend whose past is questionable. But then I decided that in case something weird happens I can always block the call. However, the conversation was so deep and intuitive that I brushed aside my doubts and fears.
The camp was closing soon and Dave requested me to take a picture of all the volunteers. All of them lined up including Rob, his wife and Dave and Vic's adopted black kids. After I took a few pictures, most of them left while David and I waited for Linda to get finished inside the air conditioned bus where the blood donations were happening. We waited for about 15 minutes and I get a call from Rob. As I picked up, he wanted to know how long I would be around. I said about 10 minutes. He told me not to go anywhere. Then, soon enough I saw him get out of a red CRV with his wife waiting inside. He walked towards me and handed me over a brand new book of The Kamarazov Brothers by Dostoevsky. I was shocked and pleased by his gesture. I said, "Hey man, even though I am really moved by this gesture of yours, I can't accept this. I am a Hindu and strongly believe in Karma. If I accept this in any way, it means I am obligated to you as I hardly know you and this book is bought from your money". He said, "Well, consider this as a price for the conversation we had." I said, "oh you cant put a price on that! Our conversation was priceless!!" Rob responded, "well atleast a token of that price". I said, "No. I meant we cannot outweigh a conversation with money". But, he stepped back, raised his arms and said, "Read it and give me a call when you finish" and he was gone.
Linda finished her blood donation. We said our goodbyes to Dave and Vic and we headed to the car. As we started to drive away from Birmingham towards Atlanta, I narrated the whole experience of Rob with the Waddells. They said they knew Rob as a nice guy. But didn't know the specifics of his 2 year sentence and intellectual awakening.
We still hadn't seen the concert and the trip had already started eventfully. One of the most intellectual conversations I have ever had was with a white ex-convict with a highly questionable IQ and negative personality outside a Walmart in Birmingham AL during a blood donation camp which rewarded me with a book of Dostoevsky. Unreal.