Friday, August 12, 2011

Ode To A Housemate

I decided to try to live with a another nationality, I chose to share a two-room apartment with a Sri Lankan nurse. It was like at first sight, he was nice, accommodating and funny at that. He likes to talk about his day to day activity in full facial expression, voice modulation, action and laughter. He always make me laugh out loud.
We've been together more than a month now, and I've learned that he was a bit OC when it comes to cleanliness. Our bathroom is sparklingly clean and heavenly disinfected, you can sleep on it even! He loves to cook and most of the time I will find myself just sitting down and eating with him. One thing though as a Sri Lankan I noticed they are fond of coconut milk, spicy chilis and mustard seeds. All his concoctions are never without these three ingredients, from vegetables to meat meals, it was always spicy and creamy. I am not a "hot" meal person, I am very sensitive to spicy foods, and I've already ate while sniffing and teary eyed from the food he prepares everyday. After that he would wash every pot and pan, plates and glasses, wipe the cooking range, wipe the table and the wash basin and leave the kitchen as it nothing had ever happened in it.
He doesn't like me washing as he told me that my hands would get rough, he always ask me for permission to anything he does at home, even when using the washing machine. He calls me "princess" because he said I am like one which made me laugh again.
He spoils me everytime by bringing home four tetra packs of juice everyday, as in everyday! My personal refrigerator are almost full of it, as I cannot cope with drinking and the supply I get from him everyday. One of the things we have in common too is our love of smoothies. I would wake up everyday with a freshly made smoothie in my large mug ready for drinking, although we have different tastes as I like mine creamy and his juicy. So he will reserve half of the creamy mixture for me and mix again his with an additional water.
He was all these maybe because through our conversations, as he laid out on me his life, his family and experiences, his being a Buddhist made all the difference. These people of Buddha are known to be kind, honest, service-oriented, down-to-earth and peaceful. He is all these also, coming from a lowly life in Sri Lanka, his father a farmer who tried hard to send them all (5 of them) to school, finish college and give then as much comfort he can afford, his mother from a wealthy family who were disowned when she ran away with the man she loved. They live happy and simple lives, his father would till the soil everyday without complain with only the love of his wife and future of their children as his inspiration. His mother turned her back to her rich background and lovingly built a home with love, kindness and happiness abound. I can see and feel that with my housemate, he would often quote either his father or mother whenever we talk about good things, like how his father told them that "it is always better to ask than to take what is not yours," or his mother would tell them, "when you don't have you ask, but whenever you have you always share."
He dreamt of entering the monastery after Saudi (which I think is soon), it was his childhood wish, to be a Buddhist monk. He enthusiastically tells me how he already had a teacher who will guide him when he decided to really come. He even invited me to join him, which come to think of it is not a bad idea.
I once browsed in the net about Buddhism and its doctrines and I found it interesting and personally engaging. They say Buddism is either a religion or a way of life, for they are much into self enlightenment, meditation, social work, peace and love of humanity.
I am learning from him a lot, from my past experiences, there are limitations when it comes to living with people you don't know really who they are but eventually find out and then things get a little complicated. There are times when you saw it coming but you still engage in it cause you always "thought" it would be ok but it won't. Whilst with Dissa, his name, I don't feel that tension, limitation and pretention. He is what he is, and I can be me when I am with him. I don't feel I need to adjust with him, but rather let loose myself and just be me and there is this respect and treatment that he shows me everyday that is so precious, I feel humbled and ashamed at times when my behavior is not apt to his philosophies in life.
Like what I said before it's just more than a month, but I feel we I already known him all my life. Don't get me wrong, this is not a romantic issue, rather something deeper. They say there is always a reason for everything, and they believe in reincarnation and karma, maybe this connection has something to do with that. Maybe.

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