Arun

The world lost a great man this weekend: Arun Pereira.

I lived with this wonderful man (the father of a very dear friend) who was so loving and full of life in 2004. He opened his Bolton, CT home to me as a member of his family. He and his wife Probhati made me feel completely comfortable despite feeling displaced in Connecticut. He made the most delicious South Asian food, including beef vindaloo from Heaven, which made me the desi food snob that I am today. He took so much pride in his food; I can't believe I will never enjoy those tastes again. He was a person who got so excited about the simple things in life - food, family, friends, parties, drinking, smoking, scheming and dreaming. What a scrappy and smart entrepreneur! Arun knew how to live. He had a magnetic way about him. We talked about all kinds of things, from law to casinos to family. He was an adventurer, moving to California in his last few years - and opening a restaurant in Davis. His philosophy, which he shared with my brother-in-law, was "we come into this world with empty hands and we die with empty hands." With his departure from this world, he leaves many hearts, including mine, feeling hollow.

When my friend Joe in South Africa was murdered I had a crazy apocalyptic dream. Specifically, I was driving around Minneapolis really late at night. The streets were quiet and a bell started to toll. Some kind of toxic gas had been dropped and we were dying of asphyxiation. The world was ending. I woke up from the dream sweating and gasping for air. I looked at the clock and went back to bed. I woke up, received an e-mail that Joe had been murdered.

Yesterday, at about 5 am, right around the time Arun passed away, I woke up from a similar dream. I was driving through a toll booth in Seattle, late at night, when all the sudden the whole city was under attack. The sky was red and there was no escape.