Home sweet home...

Shifting houses isn’t easy. I can say that with some authority. In the past 25 years I must have moved to a dozen houses. Some of them were homes in the sense we know homes to be; others weren’t quite as such. Now that I’ve finally moved to what can be called a permanent home (no, am not talking about an old-age home, or even something beyond that), I can breathe a sigh of relief. 

However, shifting even to a permanent home isn’t easy. There are workers all over the place. There is dust and grime. And sound. Terrible sound when the carpenters are at work. The generator doesn’t work, not as yet. The clotheslines haven’t been strung up on the terrace yet. Space for car parking has been allotted but in the midst of all the ‘action; who really cares! So, even if you have been allotted one, you can’t do a damn if you find six two-wheelers taking up ‘your’ space. You can’t call out  to the manager in-charge because he hardly cares, now that you have paid all your dues, including that darned ‘service tax’ that billowed into more than Rs 60000, and started ‘living’ on one of the floors built with sweat and toil. 

Then of course there are other earthly creatures such as mosquitoes who care two hoots about your well-being. They say you find many more of these daredevil winged creatures in and around construction sites. Protecting yourself with a net up on the third floor is really not my idea of ‘living’ and man-made concoctions such as Advanced Good Knight are no match for what God in his wisdom had fathomed and created. 

Overall, it’s a sort of losing battle. It’s been so at least until now. Without BSNL and broadband and Wi-fi, what are you left with anyway! A dongle that just hasn’t learnt how to behave? That’s exactly what I’m stuck with at the moment, actually. In the midst of all my frustration I’m slowly learning to be patient (oh my!) and at some crazy moments, even patting some BSNL staff or the other on the back. Fibre-optic cables is what I’ll get, they say.  And for sure, there is a waiting period – only thing is, even they can’t tell how long it will take. So much for efficiency and matching the Chinese! 

Today, I picked up a mobile phone (dual SIM) for our cook – she’s such a darling, she deserves one. The guy at the counter showed me a Chinese mobile with a triple-SIM facility. What’s Micromax India (the so-called 12th largest handset manufacturer in the world) up to? It’s some of these hardy phones that sell, not the A27s and the A35s or the Canvas 2. 

Whatever it is, one thing is certain. It’s difficult not being able to communicate. My mother is waiting patiently for the landline to be installed. I am waiting for broadband and Wi-fi. There are two generations that divide us. But there is still the waiting and the desperation sometimes, to want to connect to people you care for and  love – in her case, this love connotes something else (siblings and the like), and in mine, well, less said the better!

Anyway, it's good to be back (blogging) after two months.