single occupancy....

one of my wishes all my life has been to have a room to myself... and for some reason or another, it's right there in the 'Totally Impossible Fantasies' along with 'Brew the concoction to make myself invisible', 'Meet Mark Twain' and 'Learn to sing'...

i know it's not all that unreachable a wish for many out there... but a series of unfortunate happenings meant i never did get my wish... when a kid, i was stuck with my kid-brother for a room-mate... with his nose in everything i owned, i was almost glad to be packed off to boarding school... we had a huge dormitory and 45 girls in it... i doubt there was any place 'private' in the whole rambling campus... and then finally college... back to home and sharing rooms... post-grad, we were promised single-occupancy and we were thrown in with our anti-selves... i am pretty sure they came up with a mind-boggling algorithm to come up with room-mates who'd spontaneously combust at sight... i've never seen a bunch of more mis-matched people since...

let me take a few lines to explain... my room-mate was a soft, plump, pale, north indian who loved to study and even had a gold medal from the then president!! now, i am skinny, out of choice... coz i believe any extra flesh is rude to all the starving Somalians, never buy textbooks (in an attempt to save trees) and i doubt anybody ever has or will give me a gold medal for anything... i am not really good at anything much... academics, sports, music... every skill seems to evade me!... hmm... damn! that's depressing! there were other things too... she's a social person... with lots of friends... i am what i'd kindly(to myself) put it as 'antisocial'... i can't really get the point of small talk... and banter... and social graces evade me... i don't smile at the right times... and when i do, it looks like i'm smirking at them! it's hard being me....

the story didn't end there... i had to shack up with a lot of people along the way to here... well, for the record, everybody survived and is hale and healthy and far far away...

me, i am with a new room-mate... she's off to chennai... a wedding and some work... so, i have had all the time in the world(three full days) to rule the roost... and as i find out, there's not much to it... living by myself... the freedom's intoxicating for the first 2hr 36minutes... when the lights went out and i didn't know what to do... there's no TV... i cant stream movies from the internet coz i've already exceeded the download limits... it's no fun window shopping alone... i find myself turning to my absent partner in an attempt to co-ogle at the unbelievable pair of pants, handbags, guys, etc... eating alone is worse... i get to cook, eat and clean! and since the only thing i have mastered is lemon rice, i've had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner... for 3 straight days... maybe it'll join the list of 'allergic foods' i have... maybe i should stick to IV drips... if only they had a carry-away counter in the local hospital....

ok, now i've been rambling for so long, my leg has fallen asleep... there must be something under Geneva Convention about letting this happen... gotta take care of it...

ooooooooooooooooucccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!