Where I Live - Just a Glance

In today's blog, let me tell you something about where I live currently. Let's start with my room by that, I mean the room for which I pay half the rent. It's your standard white marbled room with a kitchen counter to the side, two separated beds, a mini fridge that we do not use, a desk and two chairs with an attached bathroom. There's a window that overlooks the fields nearby. It is quite beautiful (see the picture). Add in all the basic amenities and, you have my room. Nothing special. I spend very less time here though. I spend most of my time at my friends place, a little further away from the madness of this town. 

An individual house. Hard to come by here. An upward slope leads upto a small grey gate that opens into a tiny cemented courtyard where the shoes are strewn about. There's a flight of stairs that lead upto the terrace on the left. Another netted door grants you entry into the building and you step into a corridor- the same place where we saw a snake slither about around two months back. To the left of this corridor is our first room. The set up inside is the same as my room, only the beds are not separated and the room itself is much larger. At the end of the corridor sits a fat room, poorly ventilated with two beds put close together, 2 desks, a pair of chair, an almirah and a 1-star refrigerator the colour of ash. The room more rectangular than square, has the doorway set into one of the lengthier walls and the opposite wall holds three doors- one into the loo cum bathroom; second to a tiled room with a drainage hole and a pipe and no roof; third into the dingy, tiny kitchen with an L-shaped counter. 

Is this the standard for 4 and a half university student's (4 and a half because I come and go) residence? Depends. In the west, probably not. But in India this is a luxury that quarter of our population can not afford. Occasionally the money spent on electricity exceeds the rent of the room itself. The reason being given is how the government do not provide electricity for residential purpose in this area and hence being forced to rely on commercial purpose electricity which is priced much higher. I suspect the lack of involvement from government is due to the fact that they do not have a vote bank here. The system is rigged and there's not much anyone can do about it. A smaller but more powerful section of the population benefit from this broken system and hence the ones in charge will sit in silence. Those who refuse to keep silent will be silenced - cheap threats, talks over lassis, bribes. Still not ready to keep mum? Well, then a killing or two won't hurt. 

This little not so little student's town named 'Law Gate', makes lakhs of rupees in profit everyday. Yet, the streets remain guttered, garbage littered everywhere pollutes every sq. cm of this blessed once fertile soil and theft of all sorts remain the norm. You wouldn't find a single book or a stationary store in this town but will find e-cigarette shops, beverages and shops that sell junk foods in excess. Little kids with nothing to eat begs for food or some money, running behind able-bodied, twenty-somethings. At the same time thousands worth fireworks go off at midnight, marking the arrival of a new day and also someone's birthday, the said someone's face plastered with half a kg of a ridiculously priced cake bought at some cheap convenience store. To top it all of little bits of plastic from party poppers decorate the creamy face. 

Let's play "You name it- We have it"

Alcohol? An obvious yes. What would a student's town be without it. Drugs? Though technically illegal you find it running rampant in the streets and also in some of your mate's guts. Prostitution? Yes. You find people of all races in this business. Food? Quality of said food is questionable but you do get food of all sorts except, obviously "beef". 

For some reason this song- 'Rise' from 'Into the Wild' is blaring loudly in my head. 

         Such is the way of the world.

         You can never know.

Let me stop my rambling, and go listen to it. Until next time.

Peace ✌️