I had always dreamed of getting my own place. In my final year of Bachelors, we had single rooms in the college hostel. I remember coming back from college, bag slung on my shoulder, a pile of readings nestled in the crook of my arm and fumbling around for the keys in my bag. I would find it after a while, having dropped a few things in the process, and finally unlock the door. I remember feeling extremely hassled at that particular moment, but also immensely grown up. Opening the door to a place that was all my own, done up just the way I liked it. The freedom to be as clean or as messy I wanted to be.
So when I got my first job after postgraduation, I was very clear that I wanted my own space. As with every single decision that I have ever made in my life, my parents thought it was obviously a bad idea. It’s expensive, how will you manage a house, why don’t you share an apartment; yada yada yada. But their most important concern was my safety, probably because they know I hardly ever think about that. I live in Delhi, a city with the worst record for women’s safety. So it was quite natural that they assumed the worse. And at some level I did understand their apprehensions, but I can be really stubborn when I want to be.
I was already looking up apartments online, with DIY home decor tabs crowding up my browser. But then of course life decided to complicate matters for me. The job I thought I had was taking a long time to come through. I was sitting idle at home and losing steam. I started applying to other places and the DIY tabs got replaced with job portals. Anyway, long story short, I got an interview call and flew back to Delhi at a day’s notice. And also got the job.
I was living with my cousin at this point, and the total metro commute of four hours was killing me. Add to that my mother’s paranoia and I was fielding at least ten to fifteen worried phone calls from the time I left office till the time I reached home.. Three days of this and I had decided I need to get a place close to my office. And judging by how dead I sounded on the phone everyday, my mom thought that would be best. For me, and for her peace of mind.
So I looked up a few places online, made a few calls, and decided to spend the weekend house hunting. I had zero idea how all this worked. From what I had heard, it might take a while. So I went to this broker’s office, stating my requirements. He referred me to another broker whose offices were a few lanes away. I don’t know why I keep calling them offices when it’s just a room with a chair, sometimes two, a table and an idol of any one of the Gods from the Hindu pantheon. Coming back to topic, I reached this second broker, walking through a maze of narrow lanes amid running children, vegetable carts and shops and homes stacked beside each other. There was also a temple and a park that looked like a dust bowl. So I reached this new broker and he ordered his Man Friday to show me an apartment that was up for rent. So I follow him into a cramped by-lane with buildings rising on both sides and a criss-cross of black wires blocking out an already thin strip of sky. I didn’t know what to expect at this apartment. All I could think of was that maybe Mom was right. Maybe this is not a good idea. It all looks very shady and I should just turn back and run. But as I said, I was stubborn and I didn’t run.
I was led up a narrow flight of stairs and into my future apartment. Well….maybe ‘apartment’ is an overstatement. It was one room, a kitchen and a bathroom; the last two of which were clearly an afterthought. So I walk in and look around, not that there was much to look at. There was a bed, a rickety table, a settee, two cupboards, a large terracotta vase and three hideous plastic stools. Then I noticed the shelf on the wall. It was not your regular shelf and had an interesting division of space. That was probably the only thing in there that I actually liked. I went to the balcony, which was really just a thin strip of concrete filled with a lot of junk. The kitchen was not much better. A countertop and a sink was all it had. The bathroom was pretty tiny too(duh! obviously). So there I stood, in the middle of a dusty room, hands on my hips and scared out of my wits. It was just too much for me and I don’t even know if was actually thinking anything at that point.
There was no conscious weighing of pros and cons in my head. I needed a place on rent, this was a place, let’s take it. I remember getting out of there and thinking to myself, I can make this work….maybe.
So I put down the security, the brokerage and a month’s rent in advance. I moved out of my cousin’s place on Monday morning, dumped all my stuff in my new ‘home’ and walked to office. It was just 7 minutes away and all the way I thought about how much extra sleep I could squeeze in.
I came back in the evening and opened my door. My stuff was all piled up in the corner and there was a lot of cleaning to do. So I got to work taking out all the junk, some dusting and sweeping, a lot of coughing and finally rearranging the furniture. I went out and bought some more stuff I would need. As I walked home carrying everything I realised that everything I need to buy is really close at hand, which is great. I was almost home when I realised I had no dinner. I had all the arrangements but definitely no desire to cook, after all the cleaning. So I walked back and got some dinner.
My parents were really excited to see the place so I sent them a few pictures. I was nervous because I really wanted them to like it. The weren’t thrilled, but they weren’t absolutely horrified either, which was good. I was ready to call it a day so I switched off the lights and lay down on the bed. And that is when it finally sunk in; this is it! This was my own apartment. The walls were shabby and the curtains were dusty, but it was all mine now. I closed my eyes and thought about everything I could do with the place. The shabbiness sort of faded away and I could see how I made it work. I was really happy and excited and sleepy.
So like any sane person, I went online to look for more DIY home decor :)
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