My roommate.
Typically, Biharis are known for their different attitudes and aggressiveness. Personally, linguistically or politically, I do not have anything against them. I love to learn languages, especially when two of my friends speak their common mother-tongue with each other - this is why I do not have anything against speakers of any languages and Biharis are no exception.
I had this room mate of mine in the Engineering hostel. Initially we were friendly with each other. I could not sleep if the light was switched on in the room and he could not sleep if the fan was switched off. There started the fight. Ofcourse, I got it sorted out after some time.
Whenever he used to go to his hometown, he used to bring some sweets and other eatables. He never used to give me as there was some kind of cold war between us. He used to save it for other friends of his. This coaxed me into steeling those eatables! He used to get confused but never asked me. Initially I felt guilty as he never even suspected me, but then I thought that everything is fair in love and cold wars ;-)
Once, our hostel rooms were getting washed and cleaned by the workers. Instead of being in the room, he ordered me saying "Ram, mere palang ke neeche bhee saaf kara yaar, main jara baahar hoke aaoonga". (Ask them to clear under my bed also, I am going out and will be back later). I was boiling with jealousy but could not help. When the cleaning was over, I asked the worker if he has a good blanket, especially because it is very cold in Bangalore. He said he does not have one and I donated my room mate's blanket to him.
Eventually, things became a little worse and we both started to do things each other did not like. Once, he switched on the light at a late hour in the night - not for reading some genuine stuff but to read some stupid magazine. I told him that it is disturbing for me and that he can read the magazine on the next day as well. But he did not agree - obviously, his idea was to trouble me. Then, I went and switched off the fan. He said that he could not be in the room. Then I told him that during the night times, the fan will be switched on only if the light is switched off - this will be the new rule from then!
He had a walkman. I did not have one. One day, I asked him if I could borrow it for some time and he declined saying that he planned to listen to music after some time. I felt bad because I knew that he was not intending to listen but he did not want to give it to me. After some time, a neighboring room guy came and asked for the walkman and he immediately got it. It is his walkman and he has full rights to decide whom to give and whom not to give. But my brain was not ready to accept this logic and emotional feelings were dominating any logic at that time. Again, once when he was not in the room, I ripped open his walkman, cut off as many wires in that box as I could; fixed it with the screws and kept it back in its own place. As usual, he got confused as to why it was not working.
One fine night, intentionally he kept fan in the full rotating speed. I was not very comfortable with the Bangalore's biting December cold even without the fan and this guy is putting it in full speed. The very next day, when he was not in the room, I opened the ceiling fan regulator and connected all the speed connections (5,4,3 and 2) to the speed of 1. This makes it to run with a speed of 1 irrespective of what speed you try to keep. He tried a lot of times to increase the fan speed but never got the idea that some one could have tampered the connections inside the regulator.
I did not put up with this guy for long - not because I could not bear him or he could not bear with me. I wanted to shift out of the hostel. I told good bye to this guy and went out of the hostel. We met each other quite often on the college campus after ; we used to exchanged friendly gestures. Sometimes, I even felt nostalgic with this room mate of mine. I still remember how he used to start his sentences in Hindi "hum kehrahe hainaa..."!!
It has been my experience that if I fight with some one, eventually we become very good friends. But this has not happened in our case. I still communicate to this friend err.... room mate of mine, but we did not become best friends.
I had this room mate of mine in the Engineering hostel. Initially we were friendly with each other. I could not sleep if the light was switched on in the room and he could not sleep if the fan was switched off. There started the fight. Ofcourse, I got it sorted out after some time.
Whenever he used to go to his hometown, he used to bring some sweets and other eatables. He never used to give me as there was some kind of cold war between us. He used to save it for other friends of his. This coaxed me into steeling those eatables! He used to get confused but never asked me. Initially I felt guilty as he never even suspected me, but then I thought that everything is fair in love and cold wars ;-)
Once, our hostel rooms were getting washed and cleaned by the workers. Instead of being in the room, he ordered me saying "Ram, mere palang ke neeche bhee saaf kara yaar, main jara baahar hoke aaoonga". (Ask them to clear under my bed also, I am going out and will be back later). I was boiling with jealousy but could not help. When the cleaning was over, I asked the worker if he has a good blanket, especially because it is very cold in Bangalore. He said he does not have one and I donated my room mate's blanket to him.
Eventually, things became a little worse and we both started to do things each other did not like. Once, he switched on the light at a late hour in the night - not for reading some genuine stuff but to read some stupid magazine. I told him that it is disturbing for me and that he can read the magazine on the next day as well. But he did not agree - obviously, his idea was to trouble me. Then, I went and switched off the fan. He said that he could not be in the room. Then I told him that during the night times, the fan will be switched on only if the light is switched off - this will be the new rule from then!
He had a walkman. I did not have one. One day, I asked him if I could borrow it for some time and he declined saying that he planned to listen to music after some time. I felt bad because I knew that he was not intending to listen but he did not want to give it to me. After some time, a neighboring room guy came and asked for the walkman and he immediately got it. It is his walkman and he has full rights to decide whom to give and whom not to give. But my brain was not ready to accept this logic and emotional feelings were dominating any logic at that time. Again, once when he was not in the room, I ripped open his walkman, cut off as many wires in that box as I could; fixed it with the screws and kept it back in its own place. As usual, he got confused as to why it was not working.
One fine night, intentionally he kept fan in the full rotating speed. I was not very comfortable with the Bangalore's biting December cold even without the fan and this guy is putting it in full speed. The very next day, when he was not in the room, I opened the ceiling fan regulator and connected all the speed connections (5,4,3 and 2) to the speed of 1. This makes it to run with a speed of 1 irrespective of what speed you try to keep. He tried a lot of times to increase the fan speed but never got the idea that some one could have tampered the connections inside the regulator.
I did not put up with this guy for long - not because I could not bear him or he could not bear with me. I wanted to shift out of the hostel. I told good bye to this guy and went out of the hostel. We met each other quite often on the college campus after ; we used to exchanged friendly gestures. Sometimes, I even felt nostalgic with this room mate of mine. I still remember how he used to start his sentences in Hindi "hum kehrahe hainaa..."!!
It has been my experience that if I fight with some one, eventually we become very good friends. But this has not happened in our case. I still communicate to this friend err.... room mate of mine, but we did not become best friends.
posted by Ramchander at 6:10 AM
1 Comments:
Hey Man...I never knew that you did like this when u were in hostel. After reading this I recalled some of my experiences with my roommate who was from North India...and had more bitter experiences than this.
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