Why Timmy wouldn't get you a Bangalore sim

'Um....I don't think i have my liscence with me.'That was me with the usual sheepish smile on my face when i kinda forget or lose things.

My parents didnt seem to be quite amused with that statement of mine.After the wonderful experience of getting a cupboard at Marianville,(described in detail here) we were going back to my cousin Jimmy and Timmy's place .I was supposed to get a new sim for myself so that i won't make my dad poorer than he should be.

After the usual talk on how careless I am, blah,blah blah and repeating it in front of Bobby Vellyappan, Maries Velliamma ,Jimmy and Timmy, a magical solution was found for this apocalyptic problem- get one of my cousins to get a sim for me.And the lucky person was Timmy.

He's my age,a nice sweet person,recently graduated as an engineer and who is ,by my standards, quiet. I've never seen him violent or angry. Ever.His final year exams were approaching and he was supposed to stay indoors ar all hours and learn.Now dear cousin Timmy went out and got me a new sim.

Which resulted in-

7 Am:"Get up! it's 7 already! you have to reach your office by 9:30!'

(I know Amma. I have this thingy called an 'alarm' in my phone which I have set so that I can get up when I want.)

9:15AM:"have you started walking to the office? Is there a lot of traffic? Do you remember the way? are there people walking ?Are you about to reach? Are you sure you are on the right way?"

(No, I'm still thinking if i should stay and reply to your questions or get to the office on the first day before time and create an impression. )

1:00 PM: 'Is it your lunch break?What have you got for lunch?Did you buy a pickle bottle yet?Don't go out of the office,just stay there even if the break is long,Okay?'

(yeah,yeah,right.I'll surely stay put when there's a pani puri ,pink guava and lots of other things beckoning my tastebuds to wash away the hostel food)

5:30PM:'Is it over?No? It will get over soon, right? I mean before it is dark?'

(Sure.The main concern of everybody at Draft FCB+Ulka,Bangalore is to ensure that I reach back at Marian Ville before dark.)

6:30PM:'How much longer would you have to stay there? Tell them that your hostel is strict and won't let you in after 7.'

(Ofcourse.That is exactly what i would do on my first day-ask them to leave me early. )

8:00PM:'Are you back? No? It must be really dark ,right? You sure you are on the right road? There are people on the road ,na?Like, don't walk through deserted alleys, Okay?'

(Fine.Fine! And I can cross the road if you would just stop eating my ears.)

9:00PM'Did you have dinner? What was there?"

(Amma.I.Am.Just.Too.Tired.)

11:00PM:'Sleep early, na? You have to wake up tomorrow at 7! Want me to call you?'

(No.But you are not going to 'Not call' ,are you?)

Since my phone connected me with the rest of the world, i had to fight the urge of flushing it down the toilet. But thankfully the no. of calls per day drastically reduced after i lost my temper once and said i won't pick up if there's more than ONE or a maximum of TWO calls a day.

A couple of days later ,i was happily working away on my comp at the office when the phone rang.

'Hello?'

'Hello.May I speak to Mr Rohit?'

Rohit? Oh Timmy! For a fraction of a second i was lost coz i had forgotten Timmy's real name.

'I'm sorry,he's not available right now.Who is this?'

'This is from Airtel, Ma'am. We are calling for the verification process of this number.This is Mr Rohit's number,right?'

'Yes,Yes.I am his sister.'

'What is your address,Ma'am?

well...Jimmy and Timmy lived at Horamavu....

'Horamavu'

'The complete address please.'

'I....I just moved into Bangalore recently...I dont...'

'Ma'am can you tell me your father's name?'

That was easy.

'Bobby'

'Full name please'

Gulp. What was his full name? I call him Bobby Velliappan.Lemme guess...

'um....Bobby Emmatty?'

'Ma'am, I'm sorry,but we have to cancel the connection to this-'

'No, Bobby J Emmatty!'

'Sorry, Ma'am, we'll have to cancel the connection. Kindly contact the customer care.'

'Bobby James Emmatty?'

'Ma'am I have to hang up now.Please contact the customer care.'

Darn. Why the hell did i pick up. And what a great call that was- claiming to be Rohit Bobby's sister without knowing Bobby's full name? Well done, Resh.

Timmy wasn't picking up his phone, but Jimmy was online then and i explained how my mom would die of heart attack if she wouldnt be able to talk to me.Jimmy said that Timmy should be in some class or learning something. After a while, i got through to Timmy.

The poor chap had to leave his books go to the Airtel customer care and fix things for me when he should have been earnestly learning.

My internship was over and I was enjoying the last weekend at Bangalore with an assortment of friends- Shibu,his junior ,Jo and cousin Nitin.While coming back from Amoeba,I just looked around my camera bag for my phone and I couldnt feel it. No amount of frantic search in/out that place could find it and i sadly realized that my phone has also entered the long list of things I'd lost recently,including 4 umbrellas and one sim.(the stars hadn't revealed yet that one more umbrella would be lost and that i would jump into a swimming pool with the new phone i was going to buy).

The sad news had to be broken to my folks who'd be coming to B'lore the next day.So i called up Amma from Nitin's phone.

'You lost your phone now????What were you thinking?How could you lose your phone???Now how will i get to meet and everything else? Silly Idiot!'

Nitin had to part with his phone for the night so that my mom could sleep peacefully during her busride to Bangalore.

Now dear Timmy, who was supposed to learn for his exams, who was not permitted to wander around with Nitin and me because of the exam, had to take away a few hours of his precious time trying to cancel the number-

'What was the last call made from this number?'

'I don't know...It was with my sister'

'What was the duration of your last call?'

'@#$%%^6^77'

From what i've heard, Timmy lost his cool completely and swore that he would not offer to buy a sim for any living soul on this planet.And though i caused him to lose out on many many hours,he's finally an engineer now :)

Reshma Emmatty,Cupboard at the end of the hall, Marian Ville

‘ee ucha nerathu vannu ingane bell adikkunnathu sheriyano? Ningalkku ithu veruthey kuthiyal mathi . Hmph!’ (Translation: Do you think it's okay to come in and ring the door bell at noon ,like this? All you think is of your need. Hmph!)

A short grumpy looking lady in a white and blue print saree came out of the door leading into the hostel corridor. Me, Dad, Mom, Kuttan and Dad’s friend Unnis was taken aback.

We were in Bangalore, hostel hunting for my summer internship there. The hostel Unnis uncle had searched was called Brigittine hostel, where the lights go out at 10, and which had 4 seater rooms. And u had 2 be in by 7 coz supper is at 7:30. And if u are late u have to tell the nuns here why. And where. And with whom. And all the other answers too.

No way I was gonna stay there. So I went to Brigittine’s and found more reasons for not staying there.

‘Appa, there’s no plug point there.’

‘So?’

‘So? How do I do work if I have to use my laptop? How do I charge my mobile?’

Unnis uncle: ‘it’s just for six weeks, child, don’t worry.’

Yeah. And I’m gonna be living here. I had lots of things to do here and that needed a longer curfew. For starters, I’d told Jo that we’d go to pubs and stuff so 7 pm and work wouldn’t work.

So after showing me the room, Sr Francesca asked my parents if I would be moving in right then.

‘Yes Sister. Rajetta, pay the fees.’ That was mom.

My face was ….i dunno, the nun herself knew something was wrong and asked me

‘I think you don’t like it here. Try Marian Ville. It’s nearby. In museum road’

And so we came to Marian Ville and rang the bell. And out came the lady in the permanent grumpy mood.

She walked pompously to the office room and we followed her. We were expecting the nun to come and occupy the seat in the office when she sat there. Okay. So she is the nun. Why is she in a printed saree?

‘Sister, we need a room….’said dad.

‘Yes. We have rooms here. So?’

‘She is here for doing her summer internship…at MG road. This is the closest hostel….’

‘Do you have single rooms?’ I interrupted the tense conversation.

‘No.’ came the angry reply.

Back to dad. You take care of this one!

‘When do you want to move in?’

“Tomorrow?’ in a soft pleading voice, my dad asked.

‘3800 for the room. It’s a double room, but no one else is there. So she’ll be alone.’

Yay!

‘Does it have a plug point?’ I had to know that.

‘Yes’

‘Can I see the room please?’

‘Yeah, when u come tomorrow’

Um…I need to see the place I’d stay for the next six weeks, lady!

‘But sister, could we see the room now?’ asked mom meekly

‘You people treat your kids like some treasure of sorts. It’s just of one and a half months right? You can see the room tomorrow when you move in.’

With a chorus of ‘please sister’ she got up from the chair. And we wondered if it was for showing us out or showing the room.

‘Aren’t you coming?’ she snarled at me as she walked into the hostel corridor. My mom and I stepped forward.

‘Only the girl can come. No mother and all.’

Okay. Was she going to shout at me alone inside?

We walked into a narrow corridor which was completely dark. Not a bit of sunlight from anywhere.

She opened the door to a big closet, sorry, small room. Two beds, tables, cupboards all crammed into a small place that there’s no place to move around. And no windows. I sincerely hoped that the tube light worked or my eyesight would diminish considerably in these six weeks.

She had said it would be bath attached but I couldn’t find any in this box.

‘It’s not bath attached, ‘she said with an evil grin. It's over there. ‘4 cubicles in the end of the corridor.

Oh, and another for right next to them.

‘So eight loos, right?’

‘Do you require more than one?’

No comments.

Well, that was the end of the tour.

And I was in a dilemma.

Hostel #1, seemingly nice sister. #2, the lady think s i’m the little girl who threw a stone ay her 10 years back on whom she’d love to take her revenge.

Hostel one, rules and more rules. Hostel 2, no big rules

Well, after weighing them over and over again, I chose Marian Ville. That’s right, the one with the wicked witch of the west.

But I have the big closet for myself. I pray every day that no one else would come in to join. There are TWO plug points for me to use. I can come in by 8:30.

Life is not so bad. The nun only bothers you if you chanced to meet her. Which happened the next morning when I came out to put my washed clothes on the lines. There were two big washing stones for us girls outside, which I didn’t dream of using. I’d managed it in my lazy way with wheel and water.

‘Where you washing?’ came an angry shout (Where did you wash was what she intended to say). Yep. It was sister…gosh! I don’t even know her name. And I don’t think I want to.

‘That sister…in the loo, with my bucket n stuff….’

She gave an angry glare, but I gave a sweet smile and rushed putting all the clothes and left.

I might have got into trouble with her for another thing a few days later- there was a ritual to be followed in the hostel- you had to sign your attendance every night after dinner. I used to gladly go to eat dinner (and come back sadly hoping there’s more of those bourbon biscuits in my room) but had never signed for some 3-4 days.

But thankfully, I that night it was an old sister who was taking attendance that night. She was nothing like the grumpy one. She smiled sweetly and marked me present even for a couple of days before I joined there.

Anyways, life there is pretty cool. My own big closet, messy, like my room. My hard disk with my kind of movies- and that hard disk helped me make friends coz I discovered that there are more ppl like me who love Disney and fairy tale like movies. Unlike my hostel stays before, I’m having a lot of fun- glad to have fellow mallus Deepa and Lakshmi as the occupants of the closet next to mine.

Well….I’m having a nice cozy time in my new cribJ