Paying Guest – Part I– Dedicated to ALL MY PG FRIENDS!!!

“Do you ever reminisce about the good old time spent with the friends who were not in your life a few days ago or a month ago before you got to know them?” I do. I had been lucky to get a taste of life, with the girls of diverse cultures, that was so different from what I had been brought up in. It’s like the widening of your horizons; challenging the ideas and beliefs that you hold in life and not to forget; eating the food which you think was not what you ever ate not in a good way, though.

I had this life-changing experience which started at an age; when I was not in a school, not even in a college, not even in a university but during my professional career. Being a small-town girl always jumping out of my dreams into reality; I was happy what I was doing but wanted to have an aim which could make me work extra hard and enjoy the process. As long as you are ready to change, change is ready to embrace you as well. It happened, and I got an assignment with a client based in Bangalore, but I had never been that far. I knew only two professional acquaintances cum friends(they became friends during this journey) and no one else there. And for me, living in my small city was good enough and not worth taking this risk.

Most of the times we do dream big but when it comes to doing it; we try to find reasons to believe it is difficult, and we do not want to step out of our comfort zone.

Seriously, this nostalgia is not at all about my professional venture; it is about the little stories; I was about to relate to in that place. It was the month of December that it began and this December I  recall the memories. I didn’t know any of the girls any time before stepping into their lives. When I look back; I cherish the old times spent with my stranger friends who were to some extent strangers but are still in touch with me and now as close as my old friends. I may not speak to them very often, but I care to keep track of their lives journeys.

On 21st December, slightly over a decade ago, I took a flight and reached Bangalore in the afternoon; where, I was welcomed by my two professional friends. They had been kind enough to be there to receive me.

Can you imagine someone coming to Bangalore without knowing, where she would stay? Within a few hours after reaching the city, I was on a mission to find such a place, with an employee of my friend. Well, I looked at several Girls’ Hostels but kept rejecting the first few accommodations, I visited, as they were not up to my expectations. As time was passing, my checklist was getting shorter. My mind said, “Damn it! You need a PG and not a hotel”; I had to make a compromise. I was told that in a Paying Guest, I have to see the following factors: cleanliness, kitchen, food and common area; bathroom and toilet facilities. Still, the list was big but I was tired and getting nowhere.

Now I was really wondering, where would I spend the night. Luckily I finally reached a PG which looked clean enough but my hard luck; there was no vacancy. What a waste I thought; I wanted this but it is not available. I looked around and there was something which said – I NEED to have this one desperately; this is where I will stay and nowhere else. Do you wonder what it was?

GANESHA TEMPLE!

It was a ritual for me, to start my day, with worshipping Lord Ganesha and I thought this is the place, I would live in Bangalore. Wow, what a reason to choose the PG.

I met the owner of the PG and was told there was no vacancy. She told me, which I already knew; everyone wants to make money, and she was no exception. So, she said,” though there is no vacancy, one bed is temporarily available. The girl had gone to her home after exams and you can stay for a week or so and then, can shift downstairs, after a bed in the room gets vacant.”

So, I got to know it is not, that a room gets vacant, it is the bed. I said, “Yes, works for me.” Finally, I gave the deposit and reached the hostel.  When I entered the room on the first floor, I saw three beds in one room and the size of the room was the three-fourth of my current bedroom. I imagined two other people living for the whole day in MY bedroom; the only space that belonged to me would be the walking space around the bed and one side of the wardrobe shared by all three girls. Now, this is called Sharing is Caring! And then you need to have your  bucket for using in the shared bathroom. Not difficult… but impossible, it seemed for me. Should I go back to where I came from? No, the answer was plain and simple. This is the life which I should experience.

It was the beginning of a strange night; I was sitting on someone’s bed, who was at her home. And I got to know it was this girl’s birthday, the day I was occupying her bed – ‘Happy Birthday Girl,’ I said. My life was still in my suitcase, which was on one side of the bed, and I just sat there on the bed smiling at the girls who came to see me; it was a hostel menagerie. Where are you from? Your name and what you do? I kept smiling and replying to their questions. And in turn, replicating the questions and throwing back at them to make a conversation.

I settled into my new bedroom, sorry someone’s bed but mine for the moment and thought of calling my parents to tell them, it is a wonderful place and I like it so far. Where is the phone? I could not see it and looked into my pocket; my handbag; my bed; my wardrobe (my suitcase I mean); everywhere but could not find it. I then rushed to the girl on the adjacent bed (how could one rush, she was at arm’s length); I requested her to dial my number; the phone didn’t ring, it was switched off. Really? Congrats, I realized… I just… had lost my phone at my new place. What a way to begin my stay!!!

Now, how would you take this, when you have just lost the phone? I began to suspect; almost everyone in the hostel and nearly everyone in Bangalore. After all, who would take my phone away? I remember bringing the phone to my room but after that, I do not know where it went; it was a mobile but not that mobile that it can just walk away from me, because, I had brought it from a small city to a metro;It was, I, who was out of my comfort zone and not my phone. But I had to accept; it is gone and there is nothing, I can do about it. I remembered the lines from Gita,  “What did you bring with you that you have lost“? The answer is simple, I had brought a mobile with me that I have lost.

Welcome to the most wonderful journey, I was about to embark.

Copyright -Rekha K -09-12-2018