Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Home exchange, anyone?


Wonder what the post is about..but hey before I get to that I must tell you the last ten days has been pathetic. Why? I had tenants downstairs who called me and ringed my door bell for the tiniest possible thing. Irking me of course. So, I took this nice little break from them after showing bouts of anger (the patient me lost it). Shomita came home after a blissful three weeks in Arunachal's Eagle Nest Wildlife Sanctuary. I quickly get ready on a Sunday morning, grinding the sambar masala and putting the rice in the cooker to make her an awesome lunch. I head to the airport, lazily and then excitedly. I wore my latest John Players 'Miss Players' I got from Bangalore, was so much in love with it..Off I go to the airport and give Shoms a big hug and ask her what cats she saw in the jungle. (she is a small cats expert) We come home, watch a silly hindi movie and laugh, we talk about relationships, family, food and what we will do for my birthday. Get drunk, get sloshed (I really want to do it someday, never done it before), or do what..just freak out as usual..After a nice meal that Shoms ate without any complaints, I set off to sleep after many sleepless nights. I needed a break, what better than Shom's home? Sunday evening we head home and I am surprised to see Sheeba..We all had a nice time, went to naturals and had a nice hair spa (heaven after all the messy week). All the heaven turned hell when on a fine monday morning, I got a terrible cold and a running nose. As awful as it sounds, I sit back and sleep, cancelling all my appointments for the day. The next morning at 7 am, the crazy call of tenant came! There I go..Shoms, I gotta go. Maddening morning I tell you! When I went home, I realised that things were normal and I had to come back for absolutely stupid reason. Last few days, after banging my head against the wall, I called it quits. Can you please find another house, if you can't be self dependent? Well, I don't like constant door bells rings, no 7 am calls or questions on if I am single or my brother was married (what the hell man), why should I answer where I am going, when will I be back. And not to you oh newcomer. Bah!! Gosh, even my folks don't do it! Ok, I am ranting, but hey this is something I gotta tell! I spend the day taking medicines, pushing myself to cook something to fill my hungry stomach, trying to read and nothing works! I still sob and my BP is shooting up (this is so unlike me). Today, I go for a meeting and look at my phone. 15 missed calls from my so called tenant waiting to ask me when the plumber and electrician will come. Come on, give me a break. I gave a quick call and told them this is not done and they cannot think they can call me like 15 times and I will just shut up and not say anything. I dialled the panic button-mom. She did not take my call. I dialled the next obvious number- brother. Hey, are you in a meeting, need five minutes..Go ahead, he says..Then I go nonstop for ten minutes and then breathe. My brother said one thing-ignore and that's exactly what I did. I was tired when I came home and just when I thought I needed a cat nap, door bell rings. Oh, no, hope not the tenant again. It was the electrician. I have repaired and sorted. And he looked at me and my face said, now what? Money, he said as she shrugged. Well, it was the problem of electricity board, why should I pay, I shrugged, the typical journalist in me, and questions shot out. No, we actually don't get money, blah blah. My mind was running fast, nooooooooooo, no sob story now! I have enough. I took out a note and gave it to me. I did not sleep after that. Made myself a nice cup of ginger tea, slowly sipping it and went out for a walk. A familiar face smiled at me, "Hi". I was so happy. I parked myself at friend's place and let out my sob story and she and her parents totally empathised with me. So, I come back home, after a nice dinner and do a channel swap on my tv. I stopped at Zee Studio- The Holiday. Perfect. The holiday even sounds good. The movie was fantabulously fantastic. Two women who break up with their respective boyfriends, wanting their time alone, go home swapping. One goes from LA to London and vice versa and what happens next..watch the movie.. So, here it is..You swap your house with another person. Go and live in a nice house and experience a change, and come back with a fresh mind. Now, this crazy idea has already crept into my mind. I want to do house swapping. So, I go to homeexchange.com and see what's in store. It is amazing! So, I can advertise about the beautiful birds that come to my trees, the breeze and the kind of solitude you get here. I want to probably do this in an Asian country to start off with. And of late, my dream place is Pakistan. Ask me why. I did a wikitravel search and Pakistan is really out of this world. My father and grandfather lived there before partition. I want to feel the place. So, I am going to check that out. Sorry for the long post. May peace prevail. Thanks for the patience! Last but the best, my brother called to tell me that he ordered an exclusive collection of calvin and hobbes for me and its coming home tomorrow! Love you brother, for this and more gifts in the years to come. This is the best and only pre birthday gift of my life.. Signing off