A place to call home...

 

In the 70's and 80's thousands of people from all over India left their small towns and villages and headed to Bombay to find work or in some cases pursue education. Yours truly included. Bombay was a big city then, but not the metropolis that it has become now. I do realize that depending on need, change is inevitable, and the city must make adjustments; therefore, the skyscrapers, malls, and other infrastructure changes to accommodate. However, I do miss the small town feel of the 80s when I visit.

 

So the question is, where do all these people who arrive find shelter- a place to call home, sleep, feel safe and be comfortable? Not sure about now, but back 30+ years ago there were Paying Guest accommodations, room rentals, bed rentals and many other creative way people found a place to live. And, there were working women and men’s hostels. I happened to live in one of those "hostels" conveniently located between Hill Road and Turner road, close to Bandra station. I am going to leave out the specifics to maintain anonymity to respect the privacy of the kind gentleman and his family who provided me a place to live when I was desperate. Although, I am sure somebody here may be able to figure out exactly who/where I am talking about.

 

My Landlord was a kind, reasonable, broadminded, no-nonsense kind of person who managed to house  30-40 young men, some of them rambunctious with gentle authority. The rooms were clean, with a window, so fresh air, common bathroom and facilities with running water and showers(which was a luxury). there was no rulebook, only unwritten rules- respect one another, be kind and don’t interfere in anyone’s business if they didn’t want you to. He would occasionally come check on us, but never asked questions or interfered unless there was a reason. As long as the rent was paid on time and you minded your own business there was no problem. He also realized that we were grown men and sometimes friends would visit, it was never an issue as long as it was within reasonable hours. Anyone testing the limits was dealt with firmly and in a manner that others would not even know there was any kind of trouble. When I had an issue with my room, he assured me that as soon as another one is available, I can move there( and I did), I was pleasantly surprised when I got employed by an international airline, he was one of the first ones to congratulate me. His family too was very kind. Eventually, when I moved out, I was apologetic, but he was gracious and remember him staying- " I don’t expect you to live here forever, everyone has to move on and someone else will take your place”. A logical response.

 

Needless to say, I have to say I was lucky to be staying at a prime location, paying reasonable rent,be able to get a good night’s rest, and be a "Bandra boy" even if it was for a couple of years. I have stayed in places where the landlord would raise rent without notice, be abusive and unreasonable, sometimes even evict you without reason.