Paying Guests

This ones going to be long. So impatient ones stay away. But it’s a mind gripping one too. So I would say read on! First we look into the back ground settings before plunging into the story. Back ground setting – I work in a city away from home. And hence stay in a PG. Its the abbreviation for paying guest. Essentially its just a ladies hostel. I have been undergoing some very acute sleeping disorders. Being catapulted from the night shift to the morning shift, my over strained biological clock doesn’t seem to be working. I am alert as a hawk through out the night. While I am drowsy all day long , sleeping through trainings, meetings, exams ,work and anything that happens in broad daylight. The day is Monday. Me and my roomie, Lavan have our weekly off. And hence are in our PG . My motive- not to sleep during the day, so that I can sleep at night. Lavan`s motive- not to let me sleep during the day, so that I don’t crib about not sleeping at night. I have a value addition in my room. My new roommate. She will be referred to as K from now on. She just shifted into our even otherwise tiny room. Now for the INCIDENT K comes running to our room. Takes lavan along with her. I am not invited, neither do I volunteer. I am planning to sleep once Lavan`s out of the room. I am deep in sleep when a visibly shaken Lavan emerges back and wakes me up. Conversation “A girl in the next room is unconscious. She has cut off her hair and its all over the room. Not sure if she has taken anything poisonous. We are taking her to the hospital. You coming? ” I knew that if I tagged along, I can be sure of one thing. I would keep myself awake and hence I grabbed my purse and went out with Lavan to the hospital. Characters – introducing GIRL- [will be referred to from now on as the VICTIM]. Is petite and fair . She has indiscriminately cut her hair from both sides. Whats left of it gives me an idea that her tresses should have been her crowning glory. She is staring blankly into nowhere. And is unable to stand straight without external help. I scratch my brain trying to remember if I have seen her before, but with no luck. VICTIM`S ROOMIE-[will be referred to as T from now on]: Extremely attractive girl. She finds it unfair that she has been thrust into all this trauma, just cause she shared a room with the victim. Its quite evident , she is just a roommate and not a friend. She is still in shock having had a first hand look at the semi conscious girl and her hair flying all over the place. So currently people taking the victim to the hospital are K, T, Lavan and of course me. The doc in the emergency ward reassures us that she hasn’t taken poison. That was the nagging worry all of us had. He suggested taking an appointment with the in house psychiatrist,though. K starts filling me up with details of why the unfortunate victim had to resort to such measures. Straining off all the masala she inadvertenly adds. I figured out her boyfriend has broken up with her. [Boyfriend is going to be referred to as VILLAIN from now on]. Another realization that followed shortly is that , the victim doesn’t have anyone in this alien city , other than the villain BF and his family. And he is not answering his telephone. I didn’t expect anything better anyway. The victim happens to be from one of the north Eastern states of India. And that to me sounded like far-far away ,so far away from Bangalore. Nevertheless we somehow got hold of her home number and decided to inform her family . What shocks us is that neither her mom or her dad rings us back or responds or even subtly hints that they are sending someone down here. Again K fills me up on some “the-family-has-disowned-her due to blah blah blah ”. Lavan is taken aback by the family`s response. She talks about “how can they!!” it’s their own flesh-blood theory. I nod equally in dismay. KAHAANI MEIN TWIST Villain’s [her boyfriend for those people who haven’t been reading whole heartedly ] uncle enter. He narrates some filmy story and tries to put the blame on the girl. I watch enough and more movies and I am not interested in listening , when something unexpected happens. K who has figured out all`s the victims fault, wants to “Take a walk”. I ponder over the grammatical correctness over her phrase. At the same time noting it down in my memory that , if ever I am in deep trouble [God forbid!] I am not dialing K`s number. She gives me and Lavan ideas of how we should lie to get ourselves out of there. [K doesn’t have the link to my blog page and would never read this]. As gullible and naïve as I am the villains uncle seems to me to be the most cunning knaw I have ever met. God sends a bolt of lightening from above, and I put myself in the victims shoes . following which me and Lavan decide to stay . T too stays. K leaves. There was an impending danger of a complaint lodging, police interference and such stuff. But whatever be it I was not ready to leave her with the villains uncle who among all his blabbering kept on saying NIMHANS every now and then. NIMHANS is mental hospital and they wanted to admit her there. [electric shock, wrongly diagnosed as mentally unstable!!]. I decided I was not letting her go with this uncle anyway. Villain`s MOM enter . I am beyond words to explain the villianity which oozed from her persona. If spotted by Subhash Ghai she would have be swished away to act in every treacherous role written for female kind. Lavan says she looks like Tamil actress Vadivakarasi [Tamil readers you know how she looks. The rest please Google it] Villians mom tries to talk to the victim. She still hasn’t uttered a word and is staring blankly . I cant take my eyes of the mom and am sitting right next to her. And she exclaims “Victim told me she wants to go to NIMHANS”. This when she hasn’t opened her mouth nor uttered a word. I mentally slapped the lady ten times for the ugly statement. We decided to take her back to our PG. People warn us about the million possibilities. What if she slashes her wrists at night? What if she attempts suicide? What if we get in trouble? I am positive since I don’t sleep at night I will be able to have an eye on her. So trusting my sleeping disorder we decide to take her back . I donno if it was the sternness with which we said we are taking her to the Pg and no where else or just the relief in leaving the trauma area, The villain’s family left. We met the psychiatrist, who managed to get her talking. She laughed. We reached back , she had her prescribed sedatives and all ends well. Now for the PSYCHO analysis I cant help thinking What if I was in her place? [ Chances of me being in her position are close to nil. Reasons I already have short hair so there is no point in cutting it off again. Secondly, I would probably be spit upon by KC and Lavan before thinking of doing anything stupid for any guy. Thirdly, cause I am luckily single]. But yet, what if I am? How many of my innumerable friends would stand by me? Not fearing the police complaints, overlooking the fact that the fault could be mine. How many would not let a semi conscious me into the hands of untrustworthy people? Lessons learnt: Never make your significant other the center of your universe. Significant others come and go. Family and friends are for life. [reiteration from last blog]. I thank God for not making me run away from the place. For making us stay and make all the right decisions. And by the way, I slept peacefully at night. I seem to have got my biological clock back on track. P.S: My friend asked me not to blog about this. Sorry I couldn’t help. And the stress relievers were, Lavan in her fury had come to the hospital wearing her blue colored bathroom slippers. It cracked me up every time I glanced at her feet. And I can SMS even in the most adverse circumstance and for me it’s a stress reliever. As much as it seems an impersonal account. I was totally rattled by the incident. Ask some unfortunate people who had to listen to my quivering voice at the time.