A Nostalgic Revelry

Nostalgia is one of my favorite emotions. I often go into trance and relive my pleasant memories of the past like my early school days, time spent with my childhood friends, games played and other such sundry activities and brood over them and sometimes even remembering certainevents laugh at myself in solitudeIt’s a sort of daydreaming and it has both good and ugly side effects. The good part is you can spend pleasant time with yourself far removed from the present reality and develop a transitory sense of blissful mood.  And the ugly part is you sometime struggle to cope with the hard realities of the life and find it difficult to concentrate on the job on hand.

The nostalgic emotions that pass through and impress upon my mind sometime occur as a dream in my sleep. I have had one such interesting dream yester night that of my primary school days spent in a place called Naryanpur. Before delineating a dream, I wish to brief on the settings that have the bearing on the event.

Narayanpur was a township created for the people who were part of building a UKP project and is now known as Naryanpur Dam Site Area. The township was a fine laid out colony with row houses that were of different size and structures and were categorized as D Type, F Type in one side and G Type on the other.

The first two rows of F type were bungalows with a large compound area with green neighborhood and mostly senior engineers and officers occupied these bungalows, and we can classify them as elite class of the colony. After the first two rows there would be one main road after that another row of houses wherein junior officials were housed. Likewise the whole colony was organized in a manner of geometrical precision. 

Opposing the colony ran one main road and on the other side of this main road there was Post office, Government offices, clubhouse, Tennis and Volleyball courts and at some distance there was a cricket ground. And the whole colony was surrounded with Gulmohor trees cover and their typical orange mixed white flowers added luster and color and made the colony a picture perfect.

As a young schoolboy, in my primary years, I was very much impressed by a fellow student Megha (Name changed) and she was classmate of mine from the second standard to the fifth standard. A tall, slim and fair and quite dignified in her disposition but soft and tender in her dealings.  She was very meticulous and systematic in her homework and class work. She used to carry silver colored flat tin bookcase that was the very privileged possession in those days. Of course, she was the class topper and the most pampered by teachers.

Megha’s class work notebooks were to be of well written and teachers used to show her notebooks to all other students as a model to follow. I was mostly backbencher but one of my fellow students Subhash Murgod was bright among the boys lot. We boys used to project him as our leader to take on girls in competitions particularly in examinations.

It was a forgone conclusion that Girls always outwit boys in any examination and numero uno would be Megha. But we boys once stormed into the female bastion in the mid-term examination and in one of the subjects our fellow student stood first to the class and on that occasion our joy knew no bounds since the boy who scored highest numbers in Social Studies was Subhash and he had become messiah for we boys and we all rallied around him for weeks with bloated ego since for the first time we could be able to establish our supremacy over girls.

This one fluke incident had become proud moment for all boys for many days and there are many such incidents of my primary school days that have left a lasting impression on my mind and continue to haunt even to this day and could be the chief cause of my dream on a person whose personality has had profound impact on my young and impressionable mind.

The dream unfolds with my having the knowledge of an event that is being held near to the place of my residence wherein my primary schoolmate is part of it but I was not an invitee to the same but I was all pumped up somehow to go to the event and visit my friend. In such an event my sentiments always overpower my reasoning and I gathered enough courage to go and see Megha whom I had seen the last, thirty years ago, and this has made me more anxious to visit the venue and see her.

I have had adored and admired her for her scholastic excellence and it was really a dream come true for me and felt is an providential co-incidence. I had never imagined that I would meet one day a person with whom I studied my primary classes.

The event was in progress in a typical setting that of a large open to air patio fully covered with walls on all the four sides with one main entrance leading to patio. It was  hazy enough to be distinguished clearly but there was an assemblage of relatives and friends and their special sartorial of different colors added luster to the event. 

Megha and her mother were in the center stage engrossed in the happenings around them amid the small but dense crowd spread all over the patio. I have somehow sneaked into the Patio area holding along a hand of my son; he was looking at the event with wonder filled eyes.

As we entered the main patio area, many eyes in the gathering turned towards us, as we were the unfamiliar faces. Someone in the crowd informed about strangers entrance into the patio to Megha’s mother and she was surprised to see new faces and in the meantime I had informed some member in the crowd that I am a primary schoolmate of Megha and had come to see her and the message conveyed to Megha’s mom and she then looked towards us with a sort of an approval and at the same time instructed her daughter that someone has come to see her. 

Megha raised her head with her gleaming eyes looked toward us with subtle smile on her face but that neither gave an approval nor denied our identity.  A stare and a long silence raised several questions in my head and was repenting my act of venturing into the unknown territory. No amount of reasoning gave a soothing touch to the hurt ego.

I felt discomforted by the fact that I simply gatecrashed into the function without knowing the consequences of it. I cursed my lot by being more sentimental and imprudent than being practical and reasoned. Grumbling that I staked my honor by yielding to my heart’s diktat over my head’s reasoning. I was walking back with shattered ego with holding my son’s hand and was deeply pensive and never answering my son’s many inquisitive questions and with the ambivalent feelings, I was heading back….

In a momentary flash, suddenly I woke-up and I was on my bed, the day was broke, birds were chirping, another day had begun only to realize that all that happened was surreal  A sense of relief oozed out to know that it was just a dream to cherish

Myriad Realtors

   

For a decade, living in one of the prominent areas of Bangalore in a small block of a fine apartment that offered all the conveniences of an apartment luxury with very little price in the bargain was the courtesy of a kind and benevolent land lord. Like me there are other middle class families have made their home in this tranquil abode.

As change is the changeless charm of life; one fine morning owner came and informed all of us (tenants) that we have to vacate the house within the period of four months. He felt very hard to convey the message since his long association and bonding with the tenants but he was bound by the circumstances. The message sent the ripples of shock waves among the tenants and took a couple of days for all to come to terms with the unpalatable message and all had to accept the decision whether or not they liked it.

Couple of weeks gone by, each tenant has started calling every resource in his reserve to find a suitable accommodation within the purview of the locality. In a month’s time, the hunting spree began and each one ran helter-skelter to find the accommodation. It has become curious to know for tenants to each other’s situation like asking in Kannada ‘Mane Sikta’, what is the area, rent and advance, neighbors, proximity of the location to the child’s school etc. And each one came up with one or the other alternative to rescue them selves within the deadline.

I was nervous and keeping my fingers crossed as to how to solve the problem on hand.  Someone guided me to approach the real-estate agents so that I can find the accommodation of my choice. After giving some thought, I yielded and started approaching the agents in the locality.

The first agent I met received me with courtesy and asked me about my preferences and budget constraints and he took me to show the house on offer for rent and I saw it and told that there is ventilation problem. And after a few days we met again to see the second one and it was bit far and I told it is far for my son’s school and he reluctantly accepted my comments but for the third one for the nice apartment he had shown when I told I will inform him in a few hours time then he told ok. When I approached him after a couple of hours to convey my interest, he was waiting for an opportunity to pounce on me and told, sir, you will never get a house in your life in this area, if you continue to act in the manner. You are not a decision maker, and it seems you have not taken any decision quickly in your life and in the same tone he was going on but I left the place murmuring with a decision never to meet him again   

The second one I met was a young chap appearing to be in his thirties and told me his background and his legitimacy as a realtor, his office address and number of years in the business without ever asking by me.  One Sunday Morning I received a call from him and we went together to see one nice apartment. And he whispered me in the ear to tell that I am an official if owner asked about my profession since she is not interested to rent a house to a businessman. It was a very big apartment and was nice but the rent was beyond my means. But the agent was very curious to know about my decision and coxed and cajoled me to make a quick decision indicating how difficult it is to find a good house in the area and should not loose an opportunity. I did not budge a single inch to his repeated inducements and finally he told me, he would find a smaller portion for my requirement and when such one comes to his knowledge he would inform and from then on there is no communication whatsoever from him.

The third one I have met has been a very sweet talker and you feel instantly connected with him. He got my likings and disliking, budget within which I am looking for and the preferred area and accommodation. Then he told me, I would not get a fancy house within my budget but can get an ordinary house with red oxide flooring. For all reasons, if any such opportunity comes, he would call me and show me the house. A fortnight’s time has gone by, so far there is no call from him and whenever I call him, he receives my call gleefully and talks with his usual enticing manner and tells me to meet at a certain time and when I go at the time appointed, he would not be there. My hopes with him as a provider of succor in an hour of need getting bleaker but still his sweet tongue and mannerisms kept me in positive frame…

My never say die attitude finally brought me in contact with one gray haired, very patient, well mannered man. He has a small office and received and heard me with composer and has given me an assurance that he would find a suitable accommodation and his assurance has warmed the cockles of my heart and made me breathe a sigh of relief for the time being.

My short experience with the tribe brought to bear some interesting aspects of their common traits and mannerisms that symbolize and distinguish them from ordinary mortals. In general, they are god fearing and start their day with visiting temples and sport a thick vermilion on their forehead. Mostly well built with don’t care attitude and most o them wear thick gold bracelets and finger rings and their necks adorn weighty gold chains. Within the locality they connect each other well and with a ferocious look, like lions they hunt in pairs and share the spoils of the day in equitable and just manner. 

In the mean time, I have escaped a dangling sword of owner’s wrath for he is out on American jaunt. One nearby house owner is tantalizing me with his vacant house and raising some hopes of me relieving from the clutches of myriad realtors.