A heaven numbered 407

Two years back sitting in my pg room Meetha and I were deciding about moving to another place, deciding on whom all we should approach to move along with us, being quiet apprehensive about the people we were planning to choose (except for Sayu). Then one fine day we geared up our energy to hunt for an apartment. We spoke every person possible on earth. Rickshaw drivers, who used to drop us to the apartment we asked him to, watchmen of every apartment possible, who used to say “ yes there is 1 flat I guess but then it is not furnished” or it used to be “ we have a flat empty here but we don’t take students”, laundry men, who gave us the number of brokers, broker whose commission was too high for us “ you will have to pay me ten months rent as commission, which will come up to 80000 ”, %$#@&@#, huh. I don’t even remember to whom all i gave my number and the amount of times I had to change my name from Thashika to Sonia, Jivitha, Raksha and what not. Phew.

We almost gave up the idea of shifting to a flat thought we would find another pg , untill one of my friend told me that “there is this apartment and I guess you might find a flat there” , I rushed back to the pg and told about this to Meetha. The next day I bunked one of my college hours and went to this place without much expectations, took a friend also with me for a second opinion. I reached this apartment, god!!! the sight of it itself depressed me, an old building, I found the watchman sitting near the gate so like always, I went and spoke to the watchman, but this guy had some sense to direct me to this old couple . We spoke to this aunt about are requirements, she said she has a flat which is kind of furnished but then she would provide us the things we need. It was a treat to my ears when she said that. She then took us to this flat, it was a 3BHK, with the two balcony, one out of which overlooks the sea. The flat looked quite impressive but for the fact that it was dirty. Eventually, each of saw the place (Meeti, Sayu), after few days we found out that three more gals (Rakshitha, Vani ad Divya) from the pg also are joining us there.

We shifted to this place sometime in June. Dad looked at the place and was so angry with the fact that it was dirty; he did not want me to stay there even for a minute. I had a hard time convincing him that it would be cleaned. Actually it was quite depressing to see the flat so dirty. And for parents like mine, whoa it was not less than a gutter. Eventually all of us settled. Wow, it was my first ‘home’, ya ‘home’ is what I call it, a heaven of six little angels.

We were like a family. We did everything from cooking chocolates sausages to cleaning bathroom, from dancing to getting drunk and watching Sayu and Divya act crazy, screaming away to glory, sneaking people in, Man those were the days. We laughed, cried, cursed aunty Nancy, planned on gifting sexy lacy lingerie to aunty Nancy( gals this is still pending), plotted against boyfriends, got clawed by eagles, complained about leaking water tank and our room being flooded, did everything but most of it all we loved it. It was no less than our own house. Getting back to 407 after college felt like being back in mom’s arms.

When I sit in my hostel room, I feel there is something missing, the feelings of being home, that feeling you won’t feel in any other place than 407.

Now I’m just a visitor to that place, every time I go there I have to enter my name in the visitors’ book. How depressing can that feeling be of being a visitor to the place you feel your own. Except for the six of us nobody would know what this feeling is, for none of you have stayed there nor where you stay is not a heaven numbered 407.....