Chapter 9: Jeevan Deep Co-Operative housing Society.

It was a second life to me, beginning from scratch, new locality, new school and new subjects.

The building was great; as a matter of fact great would be an understatement. Agreed that it was a chawl, and chawls in Mumbai are considered to be hideouts of notorious criminals, this was unique, we had eight rooms in a row and of eight five were occupied by ppl speaking different languages.

I was brought up amidst Bhaiyyas from UP, Gujrathis, Maharashtrians, Malayalis and Mohammedans. So it was a communal harmony in a sense and we ended up celebrating every single festival from Ramzan, Chhat puja, Dandiya, Makar sankrant and Onam.

My dad never used to mix with people and kept his distance, that was his upbringing, but I never missed out a chance to enjoy shirkurma or for that matter karonji and puttu, my dad used to object at my sociability, but my mom would always pacify him.

Holi was one festival that I never got a chance to enjoy until I started working and was free from my dads supervision. This was one festival where he took his stand, and never let me get my face colored. As for the rationale behind it I never really knew, but just that he used to be amused with the people throwing colors on each other at the same time marinating a clean stand.

My mother used to tutor the kids in our building for one third the fees that was demanded by the qualified teachers, agreed that my mother was not qualified enough to teach higher class students, but she did start off on the kindergarten up to the fifth standard and was revered by the others in the building. For the only reason I am still given a royal treatment when ever I grace my presence to the building.

My dad was feared by others and he did derive a kick out of frightening children if they don’t study and the likes, overall, the people at the building considered him as a sergeant, strict to the core when needed and friendly otherwise. Much to the ire of my mother and me, My dad also used to derive his own kicks by pouring ice cold water on a winters day over the society dog… he used to be amused at the way it used to bark. He is one Sagittarian who seldom shows love to animals. (He has toned down now, but I know that he would never miss a chance to frighten a cat, or stone a dog).

Another amusing (amusing for the people but the dog involved did not find it funny) incident that happened during my stay at Chembur was that my neighbor got some petrol out from his bike and poured it on Moti’s (the society dog) nuts. It irritated the dog so much that it spent the entire day scratching its nuts on tarred pavements. Don’t believe me, try it out on your dog if you own one and let me know its reactions. The neighbor became my dads best friend, we actually sold our flat at a 10 % discount to the same guy before we vacated the place.

Yes there is one more move, but in the near future…

Would like to shift the focus on my academics next….