It all started on 911. My life took a sudden turn. Peaceful existence at Feltham suddenly went for a toss and life became a cauldron of change after change, leaving me grappling with so many issues with no permanent address to turn to!
Before starting my cribs, let me start the story at the beginning…
In the beginning
My father had applied for a voluntary retirement and after a lot of politicking and other tactics, he was granted the retirement. This happened at the end of July. August went off in dad trying to get our house vacated in Mysore. The guy residing there kept saying he would vacate by September and parents were happy with the deadline.
In the meantime, my life in London took a sudden turn. Clients decided that they wanted to reduce money and send one of us back to India. Since I’d asked for a release, I was the chose one. This was clear. But, the clients and our management were just not able to make up the mind on when to send me back So, I was left in a sort of limbo as to what would happen next – and more importantly, where will I be returning – to Pune or to Mysore?
And then, it all happened at once. On September 9th, parents decided to send over the luggage to Mysore. September 11th, they departed from Pune to Mysore. When they were in transit, I was given the message that I was to return to India in a week’s time! So here I was with my parents going to Mysore, with no house to stay and to top it, I was returning *home* when I had no such thing left!
Back to India
I returned back to India on 19th September and stayed in my Aunt’s place for about 3 days “vacation”. I had a full 15 days of vacation to take and I could not utilize it simply because I had nowhere to stay. With the MBA submissions looming over the head, it was a hectic time, trying to balance studies with the rest of life and the changes happening all around. Focusing on studies was like a mammoth responsibility!
After that, I was back at office and in my favourite office of Hyderabad. It was supposed to be a great home-coming. Yet, this too did not feel the same. Almost all the people I knew and worked with were either working elsewhere or they had quit. The whole crowd appeared to be new and the huge populace of nameless, faceless entities seemed like a completely new place to me with nothing to anchor me to the office of the yore that I was familiar with. Suddenly, I was forced to confront yet another change – a change in the very people whom I knew and worked with and the new environment in the office.
The only solace during this period of time was the nice guest house provided by Cognizant. It took off some of worries and I could focus on work and studies. But, like they say, things always don’t last forever. Before I knew it, it was time for me to move out the guest house since my two weeks was coming to an end.
So, I went for house hunting trips to Madhapur, Miyapur, Kondapur and KPHB Colonies. The houses kept improving with the search. Maybe it was not really true or maybe it was due to the very low expectations that I started out with!
The first few houses were a complete fiasco. One house had a room without a room. (‘Saar, it will be cool saar!,’ was what the agent told me. How it was possible was left to air or lack of it) The next house had a bathroom where either a bucket could fit or a human could fit. Not both. I tried to visualize the daily ablution process and came up with a naught. The third place had a single room. It looked really old, worn and badly maintained. The agent said, ‘Saar, just pay us the money and this house will have false roofing, marble will be gleaming, kitchen will be shimmering..’ You get the drift. At least, the guy had good imagination. I probably did not.
The next few houses turned out to be okay but, were looking only for *family*. Oh yeah, and a 11 months bond. 11 months? I could not give that commitment to my own company – how did they expect it for a house? And so, I was literally locked out of house again! With nowhere to go, I shifted into a “Working Men’s Hostel”. That saga was another terrible one.
Hostel Horrendous
So, after a 4 year and 3 months, I was back in a hostel. It felt like the lowest point in life. It was almost like being thrown into a jail: the small room, the confined space, the inhumane service of food and the mercenary behaviour of the hostel owner. When I entered to have dinner in the common room on that day, I felt so completely alone and so very desolate. For some strange reason, I was almost on the verge of just getting up and screaming out and lashing out against everyone on why I was being treated in such a way. Without being able to eat any of the cold stuff, I just got up and left. That night I barely slept since I was pre-occupied with my desperate situation. I so wanted to just take a week off and go home. And I had not home…
Well, just when you think you’ve reached the bottom and the only way now is up, things happen and people dig a hole at the bottom. And so, entered our hero from engineering college, my room mate in the hostel. This guy had college from 9-3. He’d sleep in the evening and switch on the TV all night. With a fever and cough, I was already half mad. This was the last straw. I could take it no more. The next day, I went to HR and centre head and told about my predicament. This is when the situation started to improve.
Light at the end of the tunnel
After all the mess, I was finally asked to shift back to another guest house. I was also promised a transfer to Bangalore. The timeline was as soon as I was released from the project. Once done, I would be able to return to Bangalore. The plan was to get an idea of the centre and ask the parents to find a house and keep everything ready for me to shift in!
The new guest house is like a movie set – awesome 2 bedroom room for just me, a television, a huge table, wireless internet! The food is great and the luxury is truly something that I could get used to
So, now me waiting for the news on my final departure to Bangalore!
