It was difficult to find a place to stay, or rather a good place to stay, in Kanpur. There are posh areas which are difficult to afford and there are some affordable areas which aren’t posh enough. I was looking for a place which had a good locality and is within my budget. The worst Kanpurians do is to lease out portions of their flats to people. That means one house belongs to more than one family or person. This was never the way in Delhi, the place I belong to and therefore I was fooled into such a portion in August and it was House No. 873.

This house was one of the most beautiful bungalows in Kanpur and no one who wouldn’t have experienced it would have ever denied staying in there. The broker I went through was quite desperate to get me an accommodation and so was I as I had been staying in a hotel for more than 7 days then and it was getting too expensive for me to afford Rs. 1500 every day. Also, I had to eat food in the Hotel’s restaurant or the expensive restaurants around as it had no inexpensive eating outlets nearby. The third trouble was that it was quite far from my college (where I taught) and therefore the day I missed my bus, I had to spend a fortune on the taxi fare. This is how I landed up in 873, which was good to look at, was near to the college and had wardrobes, electric bulbs and fans installed. So it was only about buying myself a bed and start living.

As I entered the place with the broker, the huge bungalow had some old workers sitting and others sleeping on the floor in a corner. I couldn’t have thought that they stayed there as they couldn’t have been able to afford the rent. I asked the broker and he said he will ask Mr. A (the landlord; his second name started with A.). Mr. A took us to the third floor where there was an office and he asked a little about my job and the time span I wanted to be there for. I got a little agitated on the second question and answered: “till the time I have this job.”The first meeting with the landlord was quite appealing as the man was quite keen on giving the house on rent. Also, he was quite keen on getting the full payment in advance. He said he will be leaving for a trip in a few days so he won’t accept even a penny less. He wanted me to get the whole amount and pay it all in advance, even before I shifted there. It seemed he hadn’t seen money for long or he was worried that I might run away if I get to know about the place. I trusted and made the full payment in advance.

The day I visited the place again to get the bed installed, I realized that the old workers I saw when I came to visit the house, stayed in the room at the rear of the house. The room they were in and the verandah with it was clearly visible from my bedroom. There was a window connecting the two “PORTIONS.” I realized I didn’t have the pleasure of owning the whole floor as a very small part of it was already with two girls and their old parents and relatives (who looked like workers). I felt looted and it was pinching me inside as I cannot take even a pin dropping when I am sleeping or studying and these people didn’t look like they would maintain a pin-drop silence. Had I made the other room my bedroom, its window was close to their entrance and that was the place where I saw them sleeping when I came for the first time. So the other room would have had more disturbance.

The bed was installed and I started staying there. I didn’t have the key for the main gate yet so I had to rely on the landlord to get the gate opened. If he ever locked it by 7.30 in the evening, I was locked inside that day. I thought the day I have the key to the main gate, it will all be sorted. In a few days, I got my car and bike to Kanpur and the house was huge enough to accommodate my car. It was to be parked right behind my landlord’s car and this is where the problems started.

One fine morning as I woke up at 6.00, I saw 3 missed calls from my landlord. I called him back but he didn’t answer. He had called me at 4.00 am and I have always been in this habit of keeping my mobile on silent mode. I take calls when I am free and not when the other person is free. That is when I call people back to ask if there was something urgent. I was standing at my main door and I saw him coming with a suitcase. Without thinking much he started, “Why didn’t you take my call, I called you so many times. Your car was right behind mine and I had to bring your Aunty (his wife) from the railway station. My driver kept on banging your door but you didn’t open.”

I was wondering that how would I have known who is there at the main door when I was sleeping in my room with two doors bolted in between. Also, I was tired after the whole day, slept at 1.30 A.M. after completing my work and this oldie expected that I would wake up. Oldie looked angry. By the way, Mr. A was 65 years old so he is the oldie goldie I am talking about. Goldie because his hair was still black. He was regular with coloring his hair, although he claimed that he forgot things quite often. Coming back to the narration, Oldie was angry and was grumbling that I should be more alert at night and should not keep my phone on silent ever. None of it made sense to me. The best he could have done was to tell me the previous evening that he would leave early so I could have made him park his car behind mine. Oldie was acting dumb and smart at the same time.

The evenings were never silent as the girls in the other portion would be loud with washing their utensils and that too in the verandah right behind my bedroom. The next day I felt compelled to say that to the oldie that I have to bring my family and if things remain this loud during the day or in the evening, my daughter, who is very young would be bothered. She sleeps at awkward times and such a disturbance was the last thing that I expected. Oldie promised that he would talk about it to the girls. However, it remained the same the next evening as well. I complained again and nothing seemed to be working.

 To be Continued….