It was 10th October 2006, I joined Magnet Technologies in Kandivali E. The traveling if calculated from my home till the office was very hectic.
Dombivli to Dadar : 60 mins
Dadar to Kandivali : 40 mins
Kandivali stn to office : 15 mins
other time : 20 mins (waiting for right train.. crossing through bridges.. and all)
The one way time to reach office was approximately 2.5 hours.. so daily I had to spend 5 hours only in traveling. The office timing were of 9 hours. Aggregate my 14 hours in a day were supposed spend in this. I was not ready to sacrifice my 5 hours only in traveling for getting nothing. I decided to stay near the office. I was staying in Bandra with my uncle during the initial months. It was quite good experience to stay in Bandra. Bandra is coolest and happening suburbs in Mumbai. My uncle, aunt and brothers were happy with my stay and didn’t had any objection. I was very fortunate for this. I heard from many of my friends and colleagues how there relatives treat them if you stay with them. I was really lucky having such a good relatives. However I didn’t wanted to disturb much in their personal life and was desperately in search of a new house nearby office and fortunately I met Vivek Danej.. the newly joined php developer. I moved to Kandivali .. ‘Thakur complex.’ What a cool place it was!! We had a swimming pool below our balcony however I could not get an opportunity to swim there.
I was staying there with Mango (Mangesh), Aslam Bhai (Vivek) and Nagoba (ManojKumar). Later my collage met Pranav replaced Nagoba. We had lot of fun and masti.. cooking Egg Burjee.. Dal Khichadi… Chicken.. and many other Sabjees. I was quite lucky again.. about my room mates. All were very co-operative, friendly, helpful, caring and fun loving. Vivek was the best room mate I had. May 2007 was very stressful for the roomies as we had to leave the place. We were now in search of another roof to hide. Again.. another uncle of mine were there for my help. He suggested a room of his relative (Kalpesh) at Chandivali’s Mhada Complex.
Me with Aslam and Pranav shifted to Chandivali. The house was on the 6th floor. We got down our belongings from the tempo and checked for the elevator. oooooooooppps!!! Unfortunately the lift was not working. We had very heavy things with us like the Bed.. cylinder.. my dumbells of 40 pounds.. many pans and plates and other cooking material and of course our bags. Huh ! We three get all the things on our shoulder upto the 6th floor. We were very tired. We opened the room and found the next problem awaiting for us. The room was not vacant since the built up and was full of cement and dust all over. We then cleaned and washed the room and got the things in. The balcony view was very cool. We had a direct view of some part of the International Airport from our balcony. And as it was on 6th floor we had blessed with fresh air.
Again.. next issue we found was regarding the electricity. The room didn’t had a meter setup yet. I had to stay at Dadar with my brother. But Aslam and Pranav stayed on the room without Lights.. and Fan for two days. I cant believe how did they manage those two days. When I came back I got all set. Pranav went back to his home and we got two new roomies. Pakya and Umya who were Aslam’s friends.
The room was very small. It was the typical room where most the Mumbaikars live. Hardly 250 sq feet area and four people who were supposed to leave the room for office on the same time. But we shared a very understanding relation. Overall it was quite good experience staying with the roomies. I learned different things from all the room mates I had. It was 18th October, my last day in the Chandivali room. The roomies gave me a pleasant surprise party. They had ordered delicious food from the nearby hotel. Everyone had a few words about me during the dinner. They also asked me to share my experience staying with them. These will be the unforgettable days of my life.
Comments:
October 19th, 2007 at 2:32 amIt was really a nice experience with passed year.Is it really a passed year ???? ooofff…..How fastly a year finished !!! Great Memories as u written here..Will definitely miss you Don..
All The Best.Vivek .
Oct 19,2007
October 22nd, 2007 at 7:32 amAmeya,
must say, amazingly written article.
i was tempted to comment on it as soon as i read it. i was the one , infact i was the lucky one to be with you while u were about to take all the important decisions and make some vital changes in your life. i must say, seriously, now that i think of all whetever u have done in this 1 yr, i feel its really creditable on your part to have done everything successfully. no frustrations, no regrets on the decisions made by you, confident on the things u decided( inspite of most of the people being against you in the staying away from home ).
i have seen you change so much recently and all for the good.
i am so proud of you. seeing where you are right now. and must say… you made me famous too
no one would have done that.
thanks. and i am extremely happy seeing you like this.
keep posting more n more atricles and i will be there to comment
cheers dude !
you rock !
sAi ChItAlE.
October 23rd, 2007 at 4:22 amwell….really cool blog…
I cd visualize everything while reading…bt u must hav enjoyed all d happy-sad moments…
keep it up buddy.BTW u dint tell me ever dt Vivek is ur ex-room mate!!!!
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:42 pmYeah even i am lucky that i shared couple of days at Ameya’s place at Chandivli with his roomies yes it was a nice experience.Good Luck,
Ameya for your new career start & welcome back home.
November 2nd, 2007 at 2:52 amI know Ameya for more than a year now from the time we were working in Katalyst and we all really had a gr8 time there..Seems you had a ball wid ur roomies. Hav neva got a chance like this to stay away from home with pals.. wud surely love this sum day! All da best 4 ur next job !
November 12th, 2007 at 2:22 amAmu,
Great write-up.Made me wonder about how millions of Mumbaikars go through this everyday and still emerge so much stronger, smarter and wiser.I’m so glad you got the opportunity to do this. I’m sure you will never regret it. Good Luck on your new job and always stay positive!
God Bless,
Aarya
xo
November 12th, 2007 at 8:53 amThankssss a lot Vivek… Sai…. Sonia… Kunal.. Nishit… and Aarya.All I am is b’coz your love ‘n friendship. Keep loving
November 12th, 2007 at 11:28 pmHey,
I feel good to hear that you had a great time with your office colleagues/friends. Even I want to do it. But kinda scared bcoz I have never lived alone ever. I had been to trips, stayed at friends place for weeks, et al. But I had never stayed away from home for months. Bit scared to do things all by myself. I doubt,Would I be able to do things on my own.
Any tips???
November 12th, 2007 at 11:46 pmHie Rajesh,
I think all of the things we do once for the first time. You .. yourself have the tips. Read your last sentence..
You will definitely enjoy staying like it If you are ready.. to
1. cook food or help cooking food..
2. wash your cloths
3. wait for your chance to use the bathroom (very IMP)
4. manage even if someday your roommate is drunk and boring you
5. share everything you have (material.. and emotional.. not others lol )
6. clean the room once in a whileThese are some of the difficult times.. however the relation you share with your roomies.. is awesome. At times there are your parents.. your kids.. your brother/sister.. your teacher.. your enemy.. your everything. Yes even sister ( we got our Rakhis tied by our roomies.. as our sister were far away)
This place is too short to describe anything. You just have to experience it.
All the best.