The moment I decided to take up my new job,I knew this was the start of a new life as everyone talks about that big moment when one's life changes. My life has been quite normal so far. Normal parents, normal middle class household, normal education, normal everything. My mother is a teacher so in my house,education came first over everything else. I always knew I would do a job as I could not even think of just staying at home whole day for any reason. I love housework and help my mom in cleaning, cooking whenever possible but I cannot imagine spending my whole time doing just that. And growing up,we always talked about Kiran Bedi and Indira Gandhi as role models in our home,so if they could balance their personal and professional life,then any woman could and so would I. It is just that I had never stayed outside home with anybody else, always my own family members and cousins during vacations. But I was pretty excited about the prospect too.
When I came to Mumbai,I got a rented accommodation with a very nice lady in Andheri East. She is a widow with two sons both of whom are settled in USA,so she has this big house with 3 bedrooms which she rents out to single working girls. There are 4 girls staying in 2 rooms, so the first day I came here,I met my roommate and was very excited to stay with her. She seemed like a very nice girl and we bonded over music and movies. Her parents lived in Hyderabad and she had grown up in quite a different home than mine. A few nights later,I found her tip-toeing back into our room at 4 AM in morning,which was strictly prohibited by our landlady. She told me that she had been out with a few friends and it got late. She had made a copy of the main door and did this now and then. I felt bad as she was cheating our nice landlady but she made me swear that I would not tell on her. However, a few nights later this again happened and this time I could also smell a lot of alcohol. I did not tell on her but I told her that this was not a good thing, she should at least respect the rules of the house as we are living in. Also,the neighbors might notice and say something. Mostly,I was just scared of the kind of people she was being friends with and if they were really nice people or if they were also into drugs etc. Finally about a month later,she did not come home all night and in the morning, the landlady aunty asked me about her whereabouts. I told her what she knew and also apologized for not telling her about this earlier. She was sad but did not scold me at all. I felt very bad and called my parents on what had happened and my mom said that I should again apologize to her. When my roommate came home at about 9 in the morning, I told her what had happened and asked her on the landlady aunty's behalf to leave the home as this was not the conduct of a good person from a good house. The landlady aunty also asked her to do the same.
Looking back at this,I remember being all new in the city and also a little bit shy but I learnt something very important-honesty is the foundation of everything. I could not start my new life on the basis of cheating or lying as my roommate was, it was not something I was taught by my parents and it was not the right thing to do. It taught me to be confident enough to do what was right without worrying about what anyone else was thinking. I used to care about my roommate enough to lie for her but then I realized it was my own lack of self-confidence that stopped me from doing the right thing. Today I live in a different house but I am still in touch with the landlady aunty and she always reminds me to remember the start of my new life here in Mumbai. Remember this as you browse through Housing website and see this video.
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