“The song is ended but the melody lingers on.” — Irving Berlin
I met Lynda in 1972 in Malton, a neighbourhood in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
I had visited Toronto in the summer of 1968 when I was living in Chicago. It was a brief visit but the observations that I had made were very impressive and inspiring.
I learned that Canada was relatively small country from a population point of view but it was the world’s second-largest country by total area. From an economy perspective, Canada indeed was a very prosperous. Their GDP (Gross Domestic Product) must be thriving and their dollar was worth more than the US dollar as I had to pay three cents more for each dollar that converted from American to Canadian. The crime rate in Canada must have been negligible as people on the radio were still talking about a murder which took place two weeks back in Montreal. Pierre Elliott Trudeau was elected in June 1968 as a Prime Minister of Canada and there was so much optimism in the air. I thought wouldn’t that be nice if I get to live in this great country?
It was a dream come true when I came to Toronto from Chicago on June 30, 1972 with a plan to apply for immigration. I didn’t know that the next day, July 1st, was the National Day of Canada, observed as a statutory holiday in Canada. It’s a celebration of the anniversary of the formation of the union of the British North America provinces in a federation under the name of Canada.
The next working day, I went to the Immigration Office on University Avenue in Toronto. It only took 35 minutes to go through the interview and most of the time we discussed computer languages as the immigration officer who was interviewing me had recently enrolled in a basic computer course and he wanted to know what does it take to get into learning computer languages. At the end of the interview, I got my Permanent Residency card which allowed me to live and work in Canada with the provision that I would be allowed to apply for the Canadian citizenship after living five years in Canada.
Because of my computer background, it took me less than a week to find a reasonable job at Playtex in Malton, Ontario.
Malton had an interesting history. Malton was purchased from the Mississauga Indians for 8,500 British Pounds in 1818. This purchase was the second such purchase from Mississauga Indians and also included other parts of Peel (Caledon and Chiguacousy portion of Brampton), the Town of Gore, and parts of what is now Toronto, including Albion/Rexdale. The first settlers to Malton arrived in 1819 and had roots from England.
I took over immediately the Computer Night Operations for Playtex and started working from 5.00PM to 12.00AM. Playtex is an American brand name for undergarments, baby products, gloves, feminine hygiene products and sunscreens.
Playtex had a different IBM computer system than the system I was working on in Chicago before I came to Canada; it was relatively a smaller operation. I was grateful that I was given a lot of flexibility to work the night shift.
My next project was to find a place to live nearby where I was working. The good news was that I didn’t have too many problems in finding a place to live in somebody’s basement for a reasonable rent. Nevertheless, I became bored in a week or two as I knew nobody around where I was living and there was nothing there for me to do during the day to keep myself occupied. Hence, I decided to try to find a part time job in some other fields than computers. I lucked out and ended up working in a men’s wear section of a department store in a mall called Westwood Square, which was very close to where I was living.
Westwood Square was opened in December 1968, one of Mississauga’s earliest enclosed malls. The intention was to build a small area for residents to shop, however, as time went on, the mall started to renovate and expand.
I remember it like yesterday how and where I met Lynda for the first time.
It was a Saturday; I had just finished working in the store at my part time job, and didn’t feel like rushing to my basement apartment where nobody was waiting for me. There was a small pub in Malton where I decided to go just to kill some time, not necessarily to meet anybody. I was still trying to get used to living in a small place like Malton. I was sipping my ginger ale while keeping an eye on the TV mounted on the wall. I was also glancing at a bunch of folks who were sitting not too far from my table who appeared to be having a nice time.
All of a sudden a vibrant woman around 25 with self-confidence came to my table and asked what I was drinking. First of all I was surprised with her accent as I had never met anybody in Canada who spoke to me with that kind of accent but I knew that she was British. Instead of answering her question, I remember saying, I love your accent, love.
She said where did you learn to speak like that. I said aren’t you forgetting something? She said, so you’re one of those geezers who answers questions with questions, am I right?
I said I just thought I should remind you of the time when you folks left India after almost two hundred years (From 1757 to 1947), the only good thing you had left behind was your language. Not to mention the railway system.
So, she said, let me understand this. You are blaming me for the things that my ancestors did to you humble and innocent people in India centuries ago. Am I correct? She said let me ask you another question – if you were so sentimental about your beloved country, what are you doing here in Canada?
I said you got me. I deserved that scolding. In my defense, I wasn’t blaming anybody; I was just stating the fact.
She said, while I appreciate your fact-finding skills immensely, I had only asked you one simple question – what were you drinking.
I said I am so sorry that I got carried away. I am drinking ginger ale, if you must know. She said I cannot believe it. You came to the pub to drink just ginger ale?
I said is there any law in Canada that I should know about that prohibits non-alcoholics to come to the pub?
She said did anybody tell you that you’re an annoying argumentative sod?
I said – WOW, I was called all kind of names before but nobody ever called me a “Sod”. I said by the way in Canada “Sod” means something else, too. She said you think I don’t know that. Need I remind you that Canada used to be one of our colonies and we used to know about our colonies more than you can imagine. I said, I am so sorry for my ignorance, my lady. She said now you’re being cheeky. I said I cannot win with you, can I? She said I didn’t realize that I was in some kind of competition here with you.
I said I am sorry; can we start it over again? She said my name’s Lynda with a “Y”. I said and my name is Mir.
Somebody shouted from the group to Lynda – what’s going on. She said I will be there in a minute.
So Mir, she said I understood from your license plate that you came from Illinois. I said yes, I used to live in Chicago and I am going to change my license plate soon. By the way, I am assuming that you’re not the sheriff of the town, are you Lynda with a “Y”? She said, no, but it’s not that difficult to keep an eye on things as we are a small town and we don’t like “Riff-Raffs” living here. I said WOW, I wonder how you classify me in your mind either as a Riff or Raff? She said you never give up, do you Mir?
She said by the way I like your car. It looks nice and expensive from a distance. I said thank you. The interior of the car’s also nice and comfortable but not necessarily expensive from a closer look and if I am not being impulsive or headlong, can I take you for a spin sometime when you have time. She said if I didn’t know better, I would have thought that you were hitting on me. I said I was just bragging about my car and how that could be misinterpreted to be a hit on you. Furthermore, aren’t you getting a little bit ahead of yourself? She said I don’t think so as I have noticed you were watching me keenly while nursing your ginger ale.
She continued to interrogate me and said I also understand that you just started working part-time for Savette Department store where I work, too.
She said you must be doing something else. You just can’t come to Canada from Chicago to sell suits in a department store on a part time basis. I said I work full time for Playtex. She smiled and said – Don’t tell me that you make bras in the factory for them. I said No. She said then what do you do for them, Mir. I said I do little bit of this and little bit of that. She said if you only do little bit of this and little bit of that how can you afford an expensive car you drive and classy suits you wear. I said I drive a hard bargain. She said I have no doubts about that but I am getting a little dizzy going around and around here with you. She said you are not going to tell me what you do for a living, are you? Mir. I said maybe the next time we meet.
She said, are you asking me for a date? I said not necessarily a date but I find you fascinating as well as challenging and I don’t mind having some ginger ale with you sometimes when you are not so busy with your life. She said, we will see about that and she left me hanging with my ginger ale.
Lynda used to work for the same department store but in the household section. She was young, robust, peppy, and energetic. Even though she used to work part time, she was a top salesperson in her section. Lynda was known in the department store as a person who can sell snow to Eskimos. She was well respected and she appeared to be very broadminded. There was an English lady working with me at the time, Lynda knew her and she used to pop in our section to chat with her. From time to time I used to get to say hello to Lynda and she used to call me Mr. Ali. She never gave me the impression that we met before and I never had enough courage to remind her.
I knew how to buy suits as I always like dressing up but I had no clue about how to sell suits. I had no experience whatsoever working in a store either but I was extremely keen to learn every aspect of the salesmanship. The section manager was very impressed with my educational background and appreciated my enthusiasm which was the only relevant asset that I had brought to the job. He was a very smart guy and he was in the suit selling business all his life. He taught me how to start a conversation with a potential customer, how to gauge their sizes, and how to draw their attention to the colours and styles of the suits that are available on the rack. He was a good teacher and it didn’t take too long for me to start selling suits on a consistent basis.
The next thing I knew the Store Manager popped in our section to tell me that he was reasonably impressed with my progress and he also told me that he had put my name on the list to page me for verifying the identity of the customers, if they were writing a cheque to pay. In all honesty, I was surprised as I was only working there part-time for a short period of time but I wasn’t going to be ungracious. Besides, I liked to hear my name on the PA system whenever they used to page me. I only used to get a limited number of calls on my shift.
On one weekend there was a Sidewalk Sale in the mall where all stores were allowed to display their selected reduced or discounted merchandise outside their store on the sidewalk. Employees used to dress up funny and play loud music just to get customers’ attention. I noticed that Lynda had a beautiful bright dress and a funny hat on and she was jiggling to the music. I don’t know how I managed to ask her if she would like to go for a coffee on her coffee break. She said I will meet you there.
I wasn’t sure if Lynda would show up as we didn’t know each other except to say hello now and then but I was wrong.
Nepean, Ontario, Canada 08 February 2023