That's my house ...

I came to this house a decade back and it’s located in the most congested areas of Chennai. This is a complex where there are 30 different families living in all the 5 floors. I being single, I did not want a house with a kitchen or a hall, all I need is a room and a bathroom with tap and water connection. I was given a common place which is accessible by all the 30 tenants. It’s a pretty small 6 by 6 room and I cannot ask much more than that, as my situation is like that. I being a good observer, but I never advice or suggest anything to anyone, I would love to be a listener in most of the times...

Ravi is an "educated fool" as far as I know. He struggled a lot to get a job, at one time he used to sit idle all the time at home and will come to my room only to talk to himself, since my room is more like a closed enclosure, he will come in and bolt the door and will abuse his dad, mom, sister and all the other tenants, but it’s understandable, he has to vent his anger out at some point, and my room was very convenient for him to do so, as usually I will be a good listener and will never utter a word back. Ravi managed to get a job as a sales representative with a detergent company, you should have seen him after that, he demanded attention of all his family members, his dad used to clean his cycle before he starts to office, his mom used to iron his shirts and pants and his sister used to clean and polish his shoes, he actually conducted a drill in the morning to all his family members. Ravi does not know how to respect his parents, and all he earns is a mere Rs 1500 per month.

Sailaja thinks that she is the most beautiful girl in that house; she tries hard to keep her beautiful, you cannot see Sailaja without her make-up kit and her handbag, even if she comes down to collect the morning milk. I don’t interact with her whatsoever, but I notice her, she too comes to my place at times and will apply those make-up powders in front of me, she would have thought that I am looking at her, but for GOD sake I did not do that even once. Her mom is a divorcee and she thinks that her daughter's beauty will invite a "Prince" to marry her and afterwards all their poverty will be off and they all will be moving into a palace. Thunder struck her one fine morning when Sailaja came to the house with a garland on her neck and a guy on her right. She fell in love with an auto driver who has a stand opposite to our house, all her mom's dream of moving into a palace came down crashing. But for that auto driver who was homeless till date, is moving into a palace, anyways I am happy that somebody got a palace.

I should be honest in saying that I was scared to be in the ground floor for one reason, which is because of that little devil "Anusha", she is doing her first standard and is naughty to the core. Whenever she sees me, she used to twist my ears and pour water on me, throw all dirty clothes on me, if she refuses to eat, I am gone, her mom will place her on my shoulder and she will sit there till she finishes eating. It’s because I am much taller than her and she cannot jump off from my shoulder that easily. Many times I was showered with her "Nature call" elements, but what to do, you cannot scold a kid. I liked her for her activeness and she is so cute and bubbly, she used to give me her school uniforms and then ask me to wash it for her, I was more than happy to do that. Now Anusha is a big girl, she never disturbs me, she goes to her high school and you cannot see her out of the house moment she comes back from school.

One particular scene in that entire house will be fun to watch, that is the actions of Varadhu Kutty. If Varadhu Kutty is going to office, it means fun time for most of the tenants. We have nick named him "Mr. Memory", he is famous for his "absent mindedness". There is one funny incident which the entire house could never forget, it was very hilarious too. It was a rainy day in Chennai and Varadhu Kutty was already late to office, he too knew that he is very absent minded and hence he will double check everything before he goes out of the house. That day he was neatly dressed and came out of the house, checked his watch, his purse, house keys, umbrella's and made sure that he did not miss anything, he locked the house and stepped out, and realized that he did not wear his shoes, so he came back and wore his shoes and then checked all his stuffs and again locked the door and this time he realized that he has forgot to wear his spectacle, likewise he kept repeating things and all the tenants were ROTFL. He bit his teeth and then yelled at all of us "What is there to laugh ?? Am I dancing Nude here ?? I am only going to office, you stupid’s", then came a voice from the 4th floor saying "Varudhu, you did everything right, but unfortunately today is SUNDAY"

I enjoyed this atmosphere a lot and never thought of vacating that place even if it’s not that comfortable to be in the verandah of that house. Kichu maama, is a retired post office employee and one of the most educated person in that complex, though he cannot prove that, he feel that his 1960s BA (English) is equivalent to an IAS, IPS, BE, MCA, or MBBS of this current period. Though he had high ambitions in life, fate made him to work in a post office for 35 years, he joined as a gumastha and retired as a gumastha. He has his wife who is suffering from a serious "speaker damage", i.e. she is completely deaf. He is also like me, he hardly speaks and even if he speaks he will be very low toned, I used to think that he saves all his energy to talk to his wife, you won't believe, his house has developed more cracks than the rest of the houses, just for the simple reason that he talks loud to his wife. Our street end iron wala does not have a clock or a watch, he closes his shop sharp at 8:00 PM, coz Kichu maama will tell his wife "Hey Bhaamaa, SUN News has started, come here and watch" as if she can hear it, that will be quite audible till the street end and our Iron wala packs off.

This couple is famous for their fights, both of them are working and hence they don’t have time to take care of their kids. Our entire complex gets up in the morning by hearing them fighting. One day the fight got worsened and it became like a mini WAR. He screamed "Hey nooo, no no, put it down" and followed by "banging of few ever silver vessels", but their good practice is, they will never open their doors, all the fights will be within those four walls. Making their kids get ready to go to school is a sight which will be as equivalent to a "jail torture". He will take care of the 1st child and she will take care of the 2nd child, since we have a common toilet which is just in front of my room, they bring their kids there. Not even a single day I have seen those kids taking bath without getting a harsh slap on their back, slap on the back with water and soap on top of it will be extremely painful I say!!. If someone comes to them and ask them "Why are you showing your anger on those young kids", they will get a fitting reply like "Ahhn, Is this your kid ? Or am I beating your kid ? Or is he a kid born between you and my husband ?, just shut up and get lost", will someone even dare to talk to them after such reply ?

Vasanthi is a very puzzling character, no one knows what her background is. That lead to a series of speculation inside the complex, some said that she is a widow, some said that she is a divorcee, some said that she is a girl of "that" kind and some said that her husband is in abroad and some even passed comments while she is crossing my room like "See this female, a shameless creature, roaming with loafers" as if they have seen her roaming with loafers. She never reacts or responds to such comments, I somehow developed some pity for her, though I too wanted to know who she is and what is she doing here, but I would remain silent, as I am a good observer. One fine day she walked into the house complex with a guy and that sparked the other tenants, similarly she came to the house with a new guy every day and she goes into her house and then locks the door. All the other tenants protested her behavior and then demanded her to vacate that house, she without speaking a word accepted to vacate the house and on the day she vacated she told everyone that she is a "Nun" and people visit her house for "Confession".

I should tell you about my heartthrob, she is my favorite girl, who has stolen my little heart, I go mad and my head starts to spin whenever she comes near me. I have developed some kind of attraction towards her but I could not tell her directly, If I get a chance to marry, I will surely marry her, but I know it’s not going to be possible even in the wildest of my dreams, her status is way ahead than mine, I should not aim for such things in life. I was totally attracted by her sheer beauty and I just could not take my eyes off when she is in the verandah. I too know that she is also noticing the fact that I am staring at her, but I am helpless and I could not avoid doing that, while saying all these to you I saw her coming to the verandah, suddenly she started walking towards my room and my heart skipped a beat, she came and poured a bucket of chill water on me and I was shocked, also she twisted my ears and dumped all her dirty clothes inside me and plugged me into the power, as usually I helped her washing her clothes, what do you expect a Washing Machine to do ?? but I still love her …

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