Bangalore-Was that the hard Way?

While collecting the boarding pass at domestic airport,New Delhi, the first and last things in my mind were air hostesses of Jet airways….it was my first ever flight and I along with Prakash was join Symbol Technologies,Bangalore...on June the 2nd 2005.

We both were new to this city and totally incognizant of surprises Bangalore was going to throw in coming days...We were excited and ready to learn life the hard way…with no parents to look you after..….no place which you can call home..…no hostel...…no mess hall…..no cell phones!!!....nobody close whom you knew except few seniors which we decided that we are NOT going to call them unless under paramount situation.

I had two bags with one full of books…...all kinds of books, the only treasure which I brought from Varanasi.It almost covered 20 Kgs …it was a strenuous job from me even to carry the bag on that broiling day in Delhi.. and smaller one had few Jeans and Shirts brought from Monastery(Every Delhi University student knows what a Monastery is!!) and some older ones.I love my clothes.I really do. So ई don’t try to replace them as frequently as anybody else would do and this meant that I won’t be buying any clothes in Bangalore for next three months…and Monastery clothes are the one’s which I am wearing till today.

So with these two assets of mine,I landed on the airport of Bangalore at around 2AM only to bump into gust of cool wind…..it was a tremendous change ....…two and half hours ago,we were facing the heat …..Welcome to Bangalore

More surprises were yet to come out of Pandora’s box…We had been provided accommodation in Admirality Square…it was a ritzy apartment but only worry we had was who will be there to recognize us…..after formalities at security,we had been told to go straight to flat no 208…..and then…..

Ding dong…ding dong……..I lost count how many times we rung it
Coming baba……....It was a lady

I thought she would be the owner of our flat who had the keys….and then after the door opened…it was a female of our age

Welcome to Bangalore…you guys are coming from Bombay??
No..from Delhi…can you give me the keys of our flat
What flat???this is your flat…commo’n in..
And haan, that is your room..this is ours

We didn’t show any emotions in front of her but… I can tell ya…it was a shocker for guys coming from small towns when we came to know that we will be staying with four females in the same flat for the next fifteen days!! Moreover, we had to share the resources …..

After a day or two, we became very comfortable with them and had good times after coming back from office. The girls working for ICICI call center were full of life and talked almost about every thing. But frankly, I used to fear from Cherry most…she was the one who always used to take the breath out of me by pretending to be scary …..horror movies …distorted faces were my biggest weakness and she realized it soon when I ran away from the TV screen when horror movie was broadcasted!!

One day my uncle called, I was in office…and Cherry picked the phone… Later when uncle again called…

Who was the girl who picked the phone?
Oh!!..woh caretaker thi….(She was caretaker)kaam karke chali jaati hai
But angrezi achcha bol rahee thi aur well mannered bhi thee
Bangalore mein aisa hi hota hai!!

That was a close save…..when I told this to Cherry,we laughed on that day like anything…

Amidst our laughter and discussions, soon we realized that our tenure at Admirality square is over and since we slept consistently on weekends, it was real trouble to find a new house. Hurriedly, we took one 2 BHK in BTM layout…without thinking much and from heaven of Admirality square….it was like “Welcome to hell".
Madhu joined us to stay in this hell along with Pranav.So now we 4 were staying together.

This house was closed…closed for sunlight…for air ….it was surrounded by a flour mill, a wood godown and a shop from three side…. Only one filthy rest room to share with.

Unfortunately, the room I and Madhu shared was worst striken.You could listen to Dhakh Dhakh of flour mill anytime…chats of worker of shop after 11PM and smoke of their bidi coming from the small common passage…sound of customers….the smell of filth coming from common toilet…..even during the day time, you had to study in light as no sunlight could reach there and only air we breathed out was the recycled one of our own.. …..as there was no place for ventilation…it was a nazi concentration camp for me. The situation became worst when Pranav started smoking.

I am one of those guys for whom it’s a must to switch off the lights in order to sleep. Even a single speck of light on my eyes disturbs. Moreover, I am very sensitive for sounds too…even if I could hear slightest of sound coming from 500 meters away, I can never sleep ..During nights when everybody slept, I tried hard but in vain. Many times I shrieked on the workers of shop who used to chat after 12…and my roommates thought I was talking in my dreams…..I felt like running out of the house….and was desperate to make a change.

On the other hand, Madhu was having problems from cigarette smokes and trauma of being a test engineer and staying within a pool of self proclaimed genius . You could easily tell…..He was frustrated and annoyed from his job and roommates who always took a shot on him. I always use to suggest him either ignore them or try for a new job…with his college friend Lucky joining him,he chose the first option….. And ultimately in few days….he left me alone. I was learning Bangalore…the hard way.

Only silver lining amidst all these bizarre circumstances was my FM radio bought from Marthahalli grey market in lieu of rupees 150 .We didn’t had TV by then and radio city 91 FM was only medium of entertainment and that too when few guys were not around as it was disturbing for them to listen Hindi songs! Even these days, I listen to it after 12 PM….

Fed up from living in the hell for three long months, one fine day all of us woke up and decided to make a change and soon we landed up in an apartment which offered everything…sunlight, air, larger rest rooms and three balconies where I can get wet in the rain or can read and write as well. Missing is one vital component…Madhu..but life is like that….full of compromises

After one year stay in Bangalore,I don’t feel it was tough to get my feet in…what I got in one year…ok….here I go:
now I have a place which I call my home…few good friends(If I mention more they will feel bad)… FM radio….a room of my own.. a computer to write.......internet connectivity…....lots of rain and freedom to get wet sometimes..express sometimes when people permit me to write on them!

Was that difficult readers?