Wonderings of a 1BHK.

(Well now that Engineering has ended and I am currently jobless, I usually end up thinking about the place I spent my last 4 years in…and thanks to Ninad Jadhav for reminding me that I still had this blog…so I decided to write this piece…nothing too emotional or nostalgic…just a plain summary!...HP)

The Rock Garden during rains.

Hi, I am B-1, 604. I am a part of the Krishna Kamal society in Nerul, Navi Mumbai. Overlooking the picturesque Parsik hill and the newly constructed Rock garden along with its dazzling fountains and breathtaking greenery, I am one of the most desirable flats in all of Nerul. Narcissist…you might call me, but my rent price and testimony from my last tenants should be more than enough to dispel your pre-mature judgments. Everyone says “deewaro ke bhi kaan hote hain”. True. Very true. Ears AND eyes. And today through this page I got a voice too. So here goes...

Sun rising from behind the Parsik Hill.

Every flat grows up wondering what kind of occupant he will find when he is completed. A small loving family, an old couple (who are seldom visited by a small loving family), a bachelor working a 9-to-5 job, or the worst of all: college going students!!! Well I was recently hit with the last kind. I remember back in 2008, two ladies came to ‘check me out’…and then left saying that I would be perfect for the kids. I couldn’t make head or tail of what they were saying then…but in the evening when they came back with 2 full blown teenagers, revelation dawned upon me. Within a week, they were well settled in and I had not the slightest of inkling that the next 4 years would be legen...wait for it…DARY (I learnt this from them and their friends…no idea why they keep repeating it like idiots though. :P)

Anyways, the first year turned out to be pretty uninteresting except for a few of their friends from something called the “IEEE” (which by the way I kept on hearing for the most part of all the 4 years.). Indoor football seems to be something they were very passionate about. Broke a mirror, a pair of spectacles and made some nasty marks on my neatly painted walls. Music, movies, spending most of the time in college or someplace else was kind of their daily routine. There was an exam period in between where you would find both of them sitting at their respective places, one on the table-chair in my hall and the other on his bed inside. By the time their second set of exams for that year came to an end, I had come to the conclusion that these were two decent, innocent and sincere fellows and that I did not have much to worry about. But it was during the last exam of the 1^st year that I realized how wrong I was. The two had gone for the exam and I wasn’t expecting them back before the sun shone on my east wall. But half an hour before they were to arrive, the doors open and in walk, around 6-7 more teenagers. They happened to be the friends of those two and had come to celebrate the end of their 1^st year in college. Well the next three days were a blur…for them...not for me…I just stood there. But for the next three days these guys came in and went out, at the oddest of hours and in the worst of conditions. That’s when I realized the error in my judgment.

After that they left me for about 2 months and then returned for their next year. This session the real wild things began. Parties of a specific kind took place regularly and the number of visitors increased drastically. There were a few older boys who used to come in regularly (sometimes even when both the guys were not at home) and create a ruckus. Both the guys also got themselves a laptop each, which resulted in reduced time for indoor football! It was during this time I noticed that one of the boys would only stick to one place on his bed, day in and day out. His butt seemed to be nailed to that place for the whole of the 4 years. While the other one was regularly absent. He would leave for college in the morn and then reappear early next morning only to drop dead on his bed. And that was, more or less, the state of affairs here for the whole year and the next and the next. The next year, the older guys stopped coming (guess they were done with their coll and stuff), but they were replaced by an even larger bunch of kids, this one including girls. Now this group mainly came to me to celebrate someone’s birthday or plain hanging out purposes.

I have seen these kids through many things during the time they were with me. Laughing, crying, dancing, getting wasted, discussing philosophical/political/scientific matter while wasted, bitching about other people, discussing the politics of that IEEE thingy, etc. And during this time, I started to like these two kids. They were not innocent, but they were not wild either (except that one time…never mind), they were not decent, but they were not vulgar either (umm…no cant talk about that either). There were many memorable events and issues that took place here (some got sorted some didn’t).

• The one with the Tenant and the guy who always came on a Dio and with a pack of sticks (multiple issues).
• The one with the first friend in college who cried (one for each tenant).
• The one with the Truth and Dare.
• The one with the Tenant’s spoilt birthday surprise (twice).
• The one with the intoxicated physical exertion.
• The one with the FULL refrigerator.
• The one with the Scene 1, Scene 2, and Scene 3.
• The one with 2 guys and one whole Teacher(s).
• The one with the 5 hours.
• The one with the All-night Coding.
• The one with 14 chapters and 12 hours.
• The one with the knock on B-1, 401.
• The one with the lost bet and the slap.
• The one with all the seniors.
• The one with the Foosball Championship.
• The one with Dad’s surprise visit.
• The one with the stolen underwear.
• The one with the guy in flowery underwear.
• The one where they learnt that SHE is actually a BITCH (w.r.t. flowery underwear guy).
• The one with the Telugu movie and the broken chair.
• The one with Baba peeing after every game.
• The one with the establishment of VANSH.
• The one with the first Robot and the video.
• The Last Night.

I can go on and on…

During these times, they learnt various lessons; lessons on love, friendship, trust, sincerity. They realized the importance of friends and they realized WHO their friends were (many of them were just my friends…they came only because they needed a room). They helped people and people helped them back. They fought with people and then they patched up. Yes, the times they spend with me can be labeled nothing short of awesome. It’s not the wildness of the parties or how wasted they got here that makes it awesome, but it’s the lessons, the spirit and the friendships that do.

The last year with them would be the most memorable one, simply because of the fact that they had now matured. Even the last party that they had here with two of their closest friends was a mixture of craziness, fun, reminiscence, and solemnity. They have come a long way from where they had started and have left those innocent, decent, uncomplicated fellows behind. Now that I look back at these 4 years, I feel happy to have such tenants and at the awesome times spent together. Wondering how the next tenant would be. From what I hear, he too is a college student A few more years with another adolescent…*sigh*!!! ;-)

Anyways I gotta go now…people are here to repaint my walls. Apparently I am getting readied for another tenant. Another college going buffoon I hear (a dental student who specializing in face surgery…wtf???).

Locking out.