We stretched it much, but it looked like it was the end of
the story for me in that house. The house - Asha’s house as it was called (the
landlady that I was!), where I lived close to 3 years and which brings memories
of the best times in Kabul.
Many movie nights, musical evenings and Bollywood bashes
were held in the house. The first and best friends I made in Kabul were there
to celebrate Diwali in the house in 2007, and we did a repeat in 2008. I
experienced the worst winters of 2006 and 2007 experimenting and
struggling with radiators, diesel and sawdust bukharis. I saw the power situation
get better. I was most times the housemate ‘in absentia’, spending more
time out than in the house. I was known as the non-resident
housemate! I lived through as housemates moved in and moved out, the house was
constantly in a state of transition. The turnover of housemates became quite
high at one point in time, until the fag end where the house started to feel
empty.
I miss Nagaraju being the perfect host as I hosted my parties,
Shakti at his Thursday evening best, Kalyani’s and Amit’s sharp wit, Sukumar’s
quiet self, laughing with HNJ over Bade Chote and his advice on how to make
sooji ka halwa (he taught me that I could make it with atta and still call it
‘sooji’ ka halwa) and Navin Talkies! Zulmai (or Z as he was fashionably
called), baba and khala too became part of the household. Z enjoyed cooking for the evening parties, and khala was always happy
getting a share of the dessert the next morning. Baba was a silent spectator,
never saying much. The only time I ever remember him passing a comment was when
he kept saying ‘nafar ke bolo asta bisyar chai kordum’ (meaning the person
upstairs drinks lots of tea). Baba was the most hardworking in the
house, never sitting idle for a moment. He reminded me of the story of the
genie who always kept demanding for work from his master!
For the most part of my stay in the house, I was the only woman. I enjoyed privileges and got away with my small circle of friends visiting the
place often. The times I spent the evenings at home, my friends were
always there. They were no longer guests. They came, chatted with the
housemates, cooked in the kitchen, and made themselves comfortable. The
culinary skills of my friends were commendable, and as a result, my culinary
sense improved. They goofed up sometimes making a mess of the kitchen, much to
my annoyance. They occasionally camped overnight, we made dhoodh patti chai at odd times, argued over which movie to watch, threw tantrums, discussed
holidays, shared pictures………and sometimes we just stayed glued
to our laptops - skyping, googling, facebooking. We gained and lost friends,
but the gains were far greater than the losses.
The only good side of moving out was relief from lease
renewal negotiations with our property owner, 'the man with the golden
tooth'! So the date was set, and I moved bag and baggage into the new house 3
lanes away on March 20. It was a repeat of August 2007, with me absolutely
hating it initially. The new house felt so cold and empty. It was a nice, compact
and cozy house, no doubt. But I hated the change. I welcomed the joining of Z,
albeit part time. I miss the old home and definitely the garden. The garden in
the new house is a bonsai version of the old one. And all I can see are depressing-looking hescos around.
It has been two weeks since the move, I still cannot find many
of my things. I am trying to settle in…
