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Breathing - Room

In 1973, Rishi Kapoor sang this for Dimple Kapadia...

Bahar se koi andar naa aa sake...
Andar se koi bahar naa jaa sake...
Socho kabhi aisa hoto kya ho..
Socho kabhi aisa hoto kya ho..

Hum tum ek kamare mein band ho....

And there ends the similarity between one of the most romantic melodies of all time and the situation K and I find ourselves in. 4 weeks into the Home Improvement project and we are almost at a point of feeling claustrophobic. With carpentry at the finish line, the painters have started their relay. And we stay confined to the smallest room in the house, with a massive bean bag (unopened), 42" LED (wrapped), a computer table (with all the junk from the remaining rooms), a ward-robe that once opened could allow us to shoot an episode of Hoarders (no really, it is a fact), a diwan that does the duty of computer chair by day/afternoon and sleeping companion (for one) at night and 2 massive suitcases that remain stuffed with K's US returned items.

Yours truly gets to squeeze into a charpai that barely fits my burgeoning frame.

To top it all, the ceiling fan in the room decided to breathe its last or so we think, even though it does rotate - as we call it in India - naam ke waaste just giving us the hope that it might spring to life one day and put to rest rumors of its impending demise (janewale ko kaun rok sakta hai). The day the fan stopped functioning was the same day the painters decided to make our lives miserable by taping up the fans in the living room and the carpenters hogging up the bedroom with an unfinished bed.

And it gets better (for all those hearts filled with sarcasm) - it hasn't rained in a week and the mercury is soaring. No wind, no respite. So on Friday night, K and I decided on a stunt (Parental Advisory: Do not try this at home). We decide to open the bedroom door, crank up the AC (covered in saw dust to make our breathing just a little more comfortable) and sleep in the passage right next to the fridge. What an Idea, Sirji!! Golden. One of the best sleeping experiences we have ever had. I am just not ready to try that again.

The next day, we get a table fan from my father's place and at this point that is the only sahara we get from the blistering heat. Unfortunately, the table fan can appease just one customer at a time. So K and I take turns for you know - hawa khane.

But as all hindi movies get a happy ending, we too are excited for what is in store. We are about 60% through with the project with stuff getting ready and the house getting a facelift and just like how it poured on all of Champaner after Bhuvan's heroics and a magnificent victory over the British in Lagaan, we too got an unexpected and hearty welcome, a good ol' fashioned downpour today followed by the coolest breeze in a very long time, totally erasing the sweaty memories of the past few days. Good times, indeed.

Comments

Atreya rocks said…
Well written...i guess some of these experiences are what we cherish closer to our heart, for years to come!

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