UNDERSTANDING THE RIOTS / PART 3 : WITNESS TO RAGE : ‘My wife says, the restaurant is burned.’

I was not in this country when the verdict came. I had gone to see my mother in India and by the time I landed in London, and I was doing the London-Los Angeles leg of the journey, the captain announced that Los Angeles has been troubled by the riots due to the Rodney King verdict.

My manager was supposed to come and pick me up, at the airport, but I didn’t see him there. So I decided to call the restaurant and the number was engaged and I said, “Gee, you know, what’s happening?” At that point nothing went through my mind. I didn’t realize that that’s the reason was the restaurant had been burned.

I called my wife, and she says “It’s all over, the restaurant is burned.” And I said, “Don’t worry about anything. Everything will come out OK.” And she said, “Don’t come here because there’s a curfew in the city.” and I stayed in a hotel at the airport.

And next morning somebody came to pick me up and I said, I had, I met my family and right off we going to the restaurant, and that’s when I saw everything was burnt.