The Apartment

I am in my apartment right now, typing away on my laptop. While I am here, I thought I'd write about where I live. You might be wondering about whats so interesting about somebody's living quarters? Well, read on...

When I arrived here, I was left at the door of the apartment by the driver of the taxi, and he said, "Go on in". I bid him goodbye, and then walked to the door. It was a wood-panelled glass double-door, something where after you open one door, there is another one inside right after which you open to get into the lobby. And it was then that I discovered that the first door was locked --- woops! The only other thing you could see there was a steel board on the wall beside with loads of smooth circular buttons that had numbers marked 11 through 48, and a little wire-mesh on top covering a speaker. Hmm... so this was just like in the movies: you press a button, and you can talk directly to the person in the apartment whose number you pressed. Now the question was, who do I talk to? I noticed that number 17 said 'RECEPTION' beside it; thats the one! I pressed the button, and within sometime a lady's voice came from the speakers, "Hellow" (yeah, there was the 'w' after the 'hello'). I introduced myself into the speaker there, and she said, "Welcome in", and the door-lock opened automatically. [Well, not automatically --- you press a button from inside the apartment and the front door of the building just unlocks itself]. Welcome to technology, I told myself.

I went in to meet a very 'nice' receptionist, and after filling in a form with my details, I was given the keys to my apartment, number 34. I got into the lift with cool sliding steel doors and little buttons that glow up when pressed. Soon, I opened the door to my flat and entered. What met me inside was a clean and crispy flat fully carpeted. If you have done some deal of house-hunting at some time, you'll know what a furnished flat is. Well, this one was as furnished as you could possibly do to a flat. Remember the days when as a kid you would wake up on a Puja day and just run through all the presents you got, just opening them eagerly and feeling happier? That was just what the first fifteen minutes were like... I virtually zoomed through the apartment. There was this living room with a TV and a set-top box and two remotes, with a full sofa set along with a small dining table and four wooden chairs; and it also had two pearly lamp-shades at the corners of the room set on little wooden tables. The bedroom had a semi-double bed with a reading lamp and a bed-switch on either side. The sponge mattress and the sponge pillows were so cool --- you just sank into them. Then there was the kitchen with so many different items: a microwave, an oven, so many drawers full of a mind-numbing deal of crockery. And the ultimate thing was the bathroom; a complete one with everything right from a bathtub with a curtain and telephone shower inside, to the sink, a swanky mirror, hot and cold water, you name it, and it was there.

Ok, now after the initial euphoria, I dropped my bags, unpacked and changed a bit, and then set out to explore things in detail. Let me tell you about the kitchen. I should call it a room of cabinets. As I opened up all of them one by one, I found a fridge, a washing machine, an oven... all built into different parts of the kitchen, fitting the spaces between the cabinets exactly. Now I went on to the drawers -- a full set of knives, forks, spoons, of different sizes grouped accordingly were there: enough for a family dinner, I'd say. And then there were glass dishes of various sizes, wine glasses, normal glasses, big mug-type porcelain cups, the smaller cups... woops! Besides, there were steel sauce pans, tea-makers, four ovens, cookers... and an incredible number of apparatus that looked like they might be useful to a person who knows how to use them. I felt so much like a country bumpkin in that kitchen right then and there. What and how do you use them? And why do you need so many of them? Even the dish-washer stand with a liquid soap dispenser and scrubber-and-sponge cleaner looked so alien to me!

I explored the other places in detail. I had two telephone sets: one was in the room from where you could make all sorts of calls even to international numbers. And the other set was just beside the door, to converse with somebody who has pressed the button of your apartment at the entrance to the building. Ahh... so that is where you get to blabber into the speaker there. The bedroom wardrobe actually had a full sliding mirror for a door... and inside there were neatly arranged hangers and an iron board and a sleek steam iron. As I stood before the clean mirror, I saw myself in the full suit with tie and everything. And I could have clapped my hands in delight right then, just plain glad, happy and delighted to have the place for myself!

I tried out the bathtub that day. Opened the hot and cold knobs, and covered the drainage of the tub while I lied down into the tub. It felt wonderful, to have the warm water gradually rising on the sides while you just sit back and relax after coming in from the freezing cold outside. I just rested there... in heavenly peace for some time while the feeling of numbing peace settled in. But then, duty reckoned: I had to report to office that day for at least an hour. I just dragged myself out of that warmth and prepared for the real purpose of the visit. Never mind, I still had 2 months to enjoy myself.

Now, I had reached there on Thursday, and my friends (colleagues) were coming over on Saturday night. So I was kind-of expecting someone else to be housed with me in the same flat. Imagine my surprise when I came to know that they will all be given similar flats of their own to stay, and I had the entire place to myself! I secretly clapped my hands in delight... oh I was so happy. "WAS" --- ??!! Hell! Why am I talking in the past sense? The apartment, the bedroom, the sofa, the kitchen, the bathtub --- they are still here, and I am here!! :) And guess what? I am typing this while I sit on the spongy bed with the pillows cusioning every muscle of my body. And it is past midnight; the room-heaters have made the ambience of the room just perfect. I feel a warm mushy feeling grabbing me while the reading lamp with its serene light makes my eyelids heavy. Ahh... sinking into sleep... sleep sweet sleep... ...