Deepika House(Hosa manee, Halee manee, Jayanagar manee): Letter to our landlord on the last day of our 6 year sojourn in Jayanagar 4th T Block!

Hello Aunty,

Now that the day has finally arrived, wanted to tell a few things about our beloved Deepika house. Just wanted to let you know that it was such an emotional moment for me yesterday. I was not able to accept the fact that I was really going to close this door on the second floor, with the heavy long keys, finally, for the one last time. I was almost in tears. Just a few minutes handing over the keys over to KanthaRaju, I felt so bad that I literally opened the door once again and went back in, and walked in all rooms once again like before, opened the back door for a moment and stared at Jayanagar and its lovely trees and greenery. I opened and stood near all the windows one by one and stood for sometime staring outside one last time with cool breeze on my gazing face. The house(welcoming as it has been always) fully welcomed me once again, and I didn't feel like leaving at all. It is so hard sometimes ... life is ruthless and it becomes so hard sometimes to accept the reality,

When we came here, me and my wife with our toddler, searching for a home near school, we found in this house the magic that we were looking for. We fell in love with it the moment we saw, and the warm and welcoming elderly couple made our decision much easy. A beautiful journey began from there, and for the next few years, really, a lot of beautiful things happened there, so many memories to cherish, so many wonderful times spent together and today, at this point... this house has become a part of my personal history. The impressions of Jayanagar and Deepika house will remain with us forever. Whenever we will pass by this part of the city, I will surely make it a point to pass by 28th main 35th B cross and slow down my car in front of this beautiful abode of coconut and sampige trees, with the memories of Uncle and you, my parents, kids and family showered all over it. Houses give a lot to us, so generously, and I don't know howmuch we can ever give it back to them.

Having left my hometown and moved to many places, I have realized and developed a great love for old houses. Our own ancestral house is close to 150 years old and its a testament to how many families and lives it has sheltered, nourished and nurtured, how many kids might have played in its front yard, and grown up in the house, how many festivals and get togethers people might have celebrated, how much of love and laughter might have echoed between those walls from time to time, and the innumerable wings these old houses might have given to people who have reached places in life today. Old houses besides the heritage value, I feel, connect me to our roots. Luckily for me, this Deepika house, with its spacious and retro personality, always struck a chord deep within me and reminded me of my roots and many a times helped me stay grounded

This house has given a lot to me. It is in this beautiful house that my little toddler grew up to become a little boy... running around carefree.. We felt so much at home, the locality, the space and the awesome owners we found in you and Uncle; This house was the best thing to happen to a young couple at that stage of life. This house was the safest haven during COVID and also this is where my daughter Bhoomi spent the very first 1.5 years of her life calling it home

There was never a glitch, never even a disagreement... and the warmth of your elderly company, it was more than a comfortable time for us. . I cannot forget our beloved uncle, for being such a kind person too. I missed him too yesterday. I found a lot of Water bills handwritten by him while cleaning the cupboard, few copies of which I have taken with me for memory, and few I have left them back in the cupboard. We will miss those beautiful days when he used to come and give the water bill without fail every month, and the small talk he used to have with our little Krishna. This much of warmth and kindness, was more than we asked for,

When we came to Jayanagar, first time to meet you... I remember you and Uncle sitting in first floor house smiling and you gave some toys for play to Krishna. Who every knew that just in a few years all this will pass away... Today when we were leaving, there was neither uncle, nor you, nor the little kid with whom we came to see you the first time. Krishna has grown up now and Bhoomi has arrived. In the meantime, COVID came, went, we stopped going to office, online schools started, uncle was no more, and eventually even you moved to a different place... But all the while, the only one who was with us throughout, always with us, supporting us siletly, without any complaints was this Deepika house. Even after COVID, we still stayed there for a couple of years and never imagined we will be leaving soon, and today the time has come that even we are moving out of the house.

As I am fully juggling my time between the interior teams and the challenge of setting-up my new house... I didn't really get time to even notice what an awesome place I was leaving behind.

I regret that we get so busy sometimes that we don't even have the time to stand and stare at the things we pass by in our journey, things which have played a huge huge part in what we have become now.

But, yesterday's last goodbye triggered these thoughts in me and it was a moment which touched deeply.

So many awesome moments lived here, so many memories, so much of peace and rejuvenation. For the last 6 years, this house was our nest, which gave us so much! Me, my wife, Krishna... we all felt so sad. So many memories ran in front of my eyes, and the attachment we developed with this house over time made it too difficult for me yesterday.

I wish you and your family all the best Aunty, and please stay in touch. We have moved to our new house in a hurry as the schools reopened and have still not done an proper house warming, so I will be inviting you for the same once the interior and other work is done. The last few days with Jagadish uncle were also very enjoyable. Do convey my regards to him as well when you meet him. Please stay in touch and take out some time to pay us a visit. Thank you again for being such a awesome. Such experiences make life worth living.

I wish you all the best!

-Sushant and Family .

Games Indians Play

WHY ARE WE THE WAY WE ARE?

A Manipuri girl's throat was slit allegedly by an insane man at the Gateway of India on Saturday evening. Tourist Nga Kuimi Raleng (23) died on the spot. The crowd there watched in silence as the chopper-wielding killer attacked the tourist's friend Leisha Choan (20) ...

Express New Service, 14 August 2005

NOT WHO BUT WHY?

'Who am I?' is not a question that occupies me much. I have neither the intellectual curiosity nor the intellectual endowment to ask or answer that question. But, off and on, like when I have just returned from a visit abroad (by 'abroad' I mean not only countries like the USA and the UAE, but also those like the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, or Botswana, Burkina Faso and Burundi), I find myself asking some philosophical questions. For example:

Why is my sense of Public Hygiene so porcine? Why do I throw my garbage around with the gay abandon of an inebriated uncle flinging 500-rupee notes at a Punjabi wedding? Why do I spit with a free-will, as if without that one right I would be a citizen of a lesser democracy? Why do I tear off a page from a library book, or write my name on the Taj Mahal? Why do I light a match to a football stadium, a city bus or any other handy public property, or toot my horn in a residential locality at 3 am? Why do I leave a public toilet smelling even though I would like to find it squeaky clean as I enter it? Why don't I contribute in any way to help maintain a beautiful public park? Why is my concern for quality in whatever I do rather Lilliputian? Why is my ambition  or satisfaction threshold at the level of a centipede's belly button? Why do I run the tap full blast while shaving even when I know of the acute water shortage in the city? Why don't I stop or slow down my car to allow a senior citizen or a child to cross the road? Why do I routinely jump out of my seat in the mad rush for the overhead baggage even before the aircraft comes to a halt? despite the repeated entreaties of the cabin crew? Why do I routinely disregard an airline's announcement to board in orderly groups in accordance with seat numbers? Why does it not hurt my national pride that in international terminals abroad extra staff is appointed at gates from which flights to India are to depart? Why don't I vote? Why don't I stand up or retaliate against social ills? Why is it that everytime the government announces a well-intended measure like a higher rate of interest for senior citizens I am not averse to borrowing my ageing parents' names, or the old family maid's for that matter, to save my money? Why is it that, every time the government announces no tax deduction at source for small depositors, I split my bank-account into fifteen different accounts, with the active connivance of the bank manager? Why do I jump red lights with the alacrity of a jackrabbit leaping ahead of a buckshot? Why do I drive at night in the city with the high beam on? Why do I jump queues with the zest of an Olympic heptathlon gold hopeful?


- starting lines of the book - Games Indians Play