Having lived all my childhood and youth in rented accommodation, the first thing that I wanted to possess soon after I started earning a secure income was a permanent shelter over my head, which I could call my own. But man proposes and God disposes. It took almost two decades in service to own not a dream house but a flat which had me writ all over its façade and interiors. My sense of achievement and self esteem knew no bounds once I settled down in my new flat. The euphoria lasted just a year and a few more months until the flat adjacent to mine was taken over by a new owner – a family who were old Block residents but chose to become my next door neighbours since they were worshippers of the Sun God just like me. In short, they wanted a sun facing flat like mine.
From the very beginning, our Zodiac signs clashed. On purchasing the flat, they embarked on immediate renovation which I soon found was equivalent to encroachment. A bitter argument ensued. Surprisingly, they had majority support we had none. It was easy to decipher why. Since most were sinners who had committed similar sin that is most residents had encroached upon some portion of land fronting their flat which legally did not belong to them, they found strength in unity. The debate became angrier and louder. At its crescendo, the heads of the Resident Welfare Association barged in to sort out the issue. After prolonged discussion, an amicable solution was reached and a rider was placed on my “unfriendly” neighbours to ensure that their construction did not obstruct air and light to my flat.
However, the first impression is always the last impression. The ugly rift that was created between the two families in the initial phases of acquaintance could not be bridged so fast although the desire for peaceful coexistence was quite fervent on both sides. We maintained a stony silence with each other, a veiled disregard for each other and a (dis) respectful distance from each other. It was quite obvious to others that there was no love lost between us.
Time could have healed wounds and normalcy in relationship could have been invoked had not providence thrown fresh surprises which were at the same time unnerving as well as embarrassing (at least for me - I cannot be sure of the insurgents on the other side of the LOC). It was in the middle of one night that I was rudely woken up by shrieks and shouts as though the commotion was happening near about. Unable to make out the exact location from where the noise emanated I came out in the open to look around but finding calm and quiet sea lapping the harbour I receded back to my bedroom. But the disturbance persisted giving hints of domestic violence as now the cacophony was intermittently interspersed with thuds and thumps, the aggrieved screaming protest and the torturer becoming more and more aggressive in the face of resistance. This went on for sometime till peace was at last restored.
It was perhaps the next or the next (I actually do not remember the exact juncture) time when the realization dawned on me that the source of disquiet was from the next door. In fact, my bedroom was separated from theirs by a single wall. During the time of whitewashing, my thoughtful neighbours had watered this wall with such fervour that it had caused seepage in my bedroom. This incident was also an eye opener to the fact how the Capital’s Housing Authorities malfunctioned and mis or rather underutilized resources. Our Block belongs to DDA (Delhi Development Authority is known for corruption).
It was these transparent walls which now allowed convenient peeps into each other’s privacy. Had it been a malicious, tongue-wagging-gossiper in my place, enough fodder for leisurely, delightful conversation would have been supplied by these incidents. But the first thought that leapt to my mind, on acquiring the knowledge of trespass, was that the same might be seeping through the walls when conversation at this end touched higher decibels or perhaps when my pet barked at unearthly hours or howled throughout the night during a particular season, the furore must be equally disturbing to my neighbours.
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