28 Jun 2011

'Moving in' with transformation



The first day at my flat was the most memorable day of my life there. Yes, we - 5 girls working in the same company - moved in, with all saaman, and decided as to who stays in which room. I and Bhagya were to share the first bedroom, and Mitra and Sandy took the other one. Mitra’s friend and my college mate Lima, who had just landed in Hyd chose to stay alone in the living room.


The flat was unfurnished, which meant we won’t be given a single piece of furniture. However, the landlord left a few chairs and a table for us, which were already there in the house, as he didn’t have another place to dump them. While I unpacked and was busy setting up the new place of stay, Sandy and Mitra had gone out house-shopping. They returned with mattresses, pillows, buckets, cleaning liquids, brooms, a few utensils, hot plate to cook food, rice-vegetables-masala packets, and a mat for me to sleep on.


“I don’t understand how you’d sleep on a mat… Bhagya exclaimed” I have lived and slept in enough hostel rooms… pat came my reply, laced with a smile. “So have I, but won’t you feel cold?” She was concerned. “No, I’ll be OK” and so was I, all the years that I spent in Hyd. I still have the memory-laden mat with me (Now don’t get wrong ideas! I just did most of the stuff like eating, sleeping, reading, praying, chatting, working, etc all those years placing myself comfortably on this mat, and that’s it!)


We all plunged into a ‘clean-the-house’ mode, and saw ourselves running around with brooms, buckets and dust pans. The amused Lima even took time out of it to capture the whole naatak – the only daughter of a too-rich couple, she had never stayed in a hostel, or travelled much in a bus, not to mention cleaning a ganda flat! But just as Sid enjoyed helping Ayesha set up her house, Lima just loved and captured the historic event.


Once the cleaning was all done, we sat down to eat. Just then, I saw paper plates, spoons, aerated drinks, etc etc etc jumping out of a plastic cover beside Lima… “You guys bought these too? I feel like I’m eating in office!


Let me not forget to mention this part about our office – I should actually include an episode on it as well – we just had every single thing required, available in the office. Starting from Kinley bottles , snacks of all varieties, food from all over the world, fruits of all kinds… other requirements like sanitary pads, tea bags, spoons, plates, and what not! We had it all in office. Office was like this all-free supermarket, from which people even freely take things away – though that wasn’t encouraged, much. Hey wait! Where did those stuff from Lima’s plastic bag come?


The wicked smiles on the faces of all nautankies answered my thoughts. The other 4 thought I’d never be partner in such brilliant crimes, and did not want to include me in the operation. When I said, “  Arrre! Why didn’t you tell me of this? I too could have done my share of flickings! We all bursted out laughing. “ Oh man, I guess we’re all so freaking similar in such important things… Mitra exclaimed” I too laughed my heart out, at this discovery. Hehe, who knew there were more discoveries to make before making such biiig conclusions?


Done with cleaning, done with eating, and here we were ready to bless the house. Sandy had thoughtfully bought some holy water with her, so that she’d start living in her new house, warding off any devils there if any.


Prayerfully and dutifully, the task was done, and I saw a naughty smile dawning on the rest of the four faces… “whats up guys?” I was wondering… and Lima duly answered it by taking out a funky bottle from a black plastic bag. “Err… what’s it?” The very innocent me asked. “Vodkaaa hahaha “ came the reply as a thunder from all the four. “Let’s celebrate!”


Fast forwarding 3 years from then, I know now that it isn’t a big deal. Not that I learnt to drink, but I learnt to accept people who drink and got rid of the unconscious hatred I had towards drinkers, smokers, flirts and the rest – whoever. Thanks to the folks I had around me in Hyd, I learnt that just because someone drinks or smokes, they can’t be bad, and at times can be lot better that those who don’t. But back then in my ‘fresher’ days, the sight of the girls going crazy over the evil-looking bottle was something new.


Within me, I just couldn’t believe my eyes and ears, but outside, I managed to say “Oh… you guys enjoy then”. Bhagya couldn’t believe what I said, and she inquired…” Don’t Christians drink for Christmas and all? You should be used to it, come on!” My face saved me though my mind was wonderstruck – I smiled , “ Yeah generally yes, but no one drinks in my family, you guys can go ahead” They asked me again once or something, but was OK with me staying away from it.


Our body is wonderful and weird – I have experienced it forsaking me when I’m mentally ok and confident, and saving my face when I’m internally clueless. I can’t forget a competition where my leg just kept on trembling though I was mentally so very well… and now, my face came to my rescue brilliantly masking the shit going on inside! Hehehe, hope I’m normal.


I went inside my room, unsure of how to behave when a drinks party is on. I should say I was half-smiles, though my mind refused to fully understand the females. “This is new man… wow, this happens?”
The hours ensued saw me gently closing the door of my room and the windows so that the noise of drunken happiness does not go out. Mitra had an epic-full of stories of her drunken adventures, and so had Lima. Sandy and Bhagya seemed to be occasional drinkers, but were fitting in to the company very well. I felt like a clueless, illiterate, ignorant villager on learning about a lot of it, but believe me, I did not feel inferior though.


Enjoying my own company is a skill that I developed back in school, and I am happy I did. Many times in life, you feel that no one can understand you, no one can cry with you, no one can feel the way you feel, and no one can be your best friend, but yourself. Believe me, these are not statements or facts which leads you to being gloomy. In my life, I’d say, learning to be happy with myself is the best gift I ever gave myself. And this ofcourse backed me in the new house too. We all had registered impressions about each other in our minds. Not that we cared to think a lot or analyze them much, but the knowledge that I'm is different, was quite obvious. And no body really bothered.


The 'moving-in' episode brought with it a hand full of lessons - I look back at it with a smile on my face... so many times in life I've experienced life getting geared up to bring in that flood of changes in me... I could hear life whispering in my mind that this, was one of them....

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