The thing about renting a place is that your landlord gets antsy if you hang on too long in one house. So you know that within 3-4 years you will be getting marching orders. The thought that my landlord might soon give me marching orders, gets me all antsy after 3 years in one place. I start preparing myself mentally for the move. During my three years in Baltana, I was constantly looking for another place. When we first moved there, electricity was a huge problem. If the power went off, we were never sure when it would return, it could be within two hours or two days. The water supply was good to start with, then all the people around installed motors to fill their tanks overhead, it pulled the water supply away from non-motor people like me. So faced with the bad approach roads, narrow lanes where I could barely navigate my scooter, the water problem, I decided the time was ripe to move. Before I leave the topic of Baltana, let me mention that the market was awesome. I could get everything there from handkerchief to quilts, all sorts of services were available, from fixing a loose wire to .... anything. From 9 in the morning to 9 in the evening. I love these kind of thriving shops a lot. Baltana is not too far away from where I live now, and I can visit it anytime in case I need to visit my old addas.
Ok, so a friend recommended this flat to me. It is about a mile away from the previous location, not the one I was looking for. I was looking for someplace more within the city, but the rents... they are forbidding... and my salary... it refuses to move northwards. Hence I snapped up this flat when I found it. It was in a decent area, things of immediate need are available within a 200 meter perimeter. My drive to my office is non-bumpy which is essential when you riding a scooter. This place is on one of the edges of the city, which still has the view of mama nature in its semi-pristine splendour. There are farms adjoining the flat where I see a tractor plying, things growing. There is a cluster of greens and trees through which a train screams past now and then. For some reason its 'Mere Sapno ki Rani' that plays in my head more than the forlorn screams of the train in Pakeezah. Maybe it denotes that my heart is in a happy place, which is good. I can see the Shivaliks in the distance, green fields; so it is like living in the lap of nature. Ideally, I would like to own a house in Kansal, with the Sukhna Lake and the Rock Garden close by. But I am not Richie Rich, I have to do with what I have.
Look at the few pictures that I have taken with my cell phone camera.
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| Lights glittering in the night... |
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| A train passes by this way. |
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| The fields to my left, I wish I had a zoom lens |
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| Again the view to my right, to be enjoyed for a few months more till the new flats block my view |
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| Cars lined up tidily by the side of the road |
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| Camera does not zoom, but my eyes see the hills in the distance |
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| Look at the fields in the distance |
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| My Balconey |
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| My doorway |
