Oberlin College - Hi-O-Hi Yearbook (Oberlin, OH)

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c 1)1 iIk ' 1957 Hi-O-lli, U(lin. ; lh;il vcaibooks li.i i ' htcouu ' loo slyli cil, have aticm])lcil a iifw a])])i()aili in our presentation ol ()l)cilin. On the lollouing lhiit)-lvvo pages we have recoided a semi-lit lionali ed version ol some of the impressions received by a stmleni Iroiii some mispecilieil (oiniliy in the Orient. Aecompanying the narrative are pidmes ])orlraying vaiioiis as])e(ts ol Oherlin. These piclmes are not meant as illustrations ol the narrative, hut the reader may note throughout the story many references to events shown pictorially. The char- acters are nti partictilar peo|)le. hut they are reminiscent of the friends and ac- (juaintanies of oiu ' lollege years. The author of the narrative is V. K. Saha, a graduate siiuient honi India. —Ilin editor fSr:

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7957 Mi-O-Mi PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF OBERLIN COLLEGE, OBERLIN, OHIO.

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Fftt ' is. dm} WiUiatns. Ed Weldon, Sandy Louis, and Clyde Green. Oberlm It urns ill the clieiiiistry liibotiilovy . iis lie stood there u ' ntchnig the thuk red liijiud {tike tomato June) siiiiiiieriii ' in the fhisk. that the other possibility suddenly occined to him. He had gone tliere to see Dick, and on his way out had lingered for a moment before Tom and f line ' s table to watch their experiment. Strange, lie thought as he wa lked on. Ihul it should not hiwe struck linn all these days, .-iiid the more lie imisidered it. like Dick holding that (lystiil against the light, turning it slowly between his fingers to i iew it from all possible angles, the more sense it seemed to make. His first impulse was to look for a telephone, but almost immediately he saw the absurdity of the idea. You couldn ' t talk alioiit a thing like that over the telephone . . . Ciood Lord, this iriis going to be really awk-ward nine. He wondeied whether he ought to forget about it and leai ' e things as they -were. But for lienx ' en ' s sake, he told himself, he had to find out, axrkward or not. He would find out immediately after the bluebook urns oi ' er. As he lualked down toward the Secretary ' s office to buy a bluebook, that is, an official exercise book for zvriting ansioers in an examination, his thoughts moved mound in lime in a rather desultory iiiaiiner. He plucked a biiiiih of faded memories (iiid raised it lo his face, trying to inhale the faint fragrance that still clung In il. But where did it all begin! ' That party for foreign students. Xo. before that, at that reception held by the President for newcomers. U came back to him -i ' li ' idly. that evening with its initial uneasiness (a being in a new college, or ratliei in a new (oiiiilry) dissolx ' ing in an eddy of conversation and friendly laughter in bright teacups. He had stood there thinking how he liked the atmos- phere of American parties, or at least parties in Oberlin. hi so many other places parties were often nothing but depressing get-togethers where practically evei-yone liiiiig mound the most impiiiliiiit person in the room, blatantly tn ' ing to fau ' ii oil him all the time. Here they formed little groups which noic ami then ex- changed members in an easy informal manner. This loay you had several centers of interest, and at the same time people could mix more uniformly. Di one corner of the room, ii young— Hallo. a deep stentorian vince sounded iii front of linn. He looked up. Il iCd.s II tall young boy. probably a frcshmmi. -walking down the opposite way. Hallo. lie wished back, smiling, as they crossed each other. For the life of him. he lould not remember who it was. He -vaguely remembered then meeting somewhere, but the name and the plai e had slipped his mind completely. That liappene l so often. He met neic people sometimes at the rate of more than a dozen a day. and while he (ould not remember them all. they all remembered him. not fo) any speiial quality he had. but just because he -was a foreigner and looked different. And they ivoe all so Iriendly that later whenever they pa.ssed him, they said something in greeting. Sol only people he had been introduced to, even total strangers, realizing that he was a foreigner, often smiled at him warmly.