Shanti Thokchom's Life Experiences
- Part 20 -
Bombay Masala

By Shanti Thokchom *

Today I would like to share the stories of my days of staying in rented spaces in Bombay. Its well nigh impossible to get a decent room at an affordable rate in the city. I was introduced by a young muslim nurse at my work place to her cousin Abida whom she called "Didi" .

She owned a flat for rent. I was very anxious and very undecided to trust about renting that room from her but I was assured by my young friend so I took her word for it. I met "Didi" and my first impression of her was that she looked like a "Leela Yaobi" (play actress).

She then showed me the room in Bandra east.I was a little uneasy of that place called Behrampada. She even took me to meet the local burly "DADA" saying that she had his "Protection" in case someone bothered us there.I did not even know it was a railway quarters because she convinced me that it belonged to her and she could do what she wanted with that room.

It felt strange to be in that "Dada's" abode... I saw for the first time how people in Bombay lived in 'Chawls' harmoniously with so many but in such a small space!

I said to myself..Hmmmmmmmmmm.....if they can survive in such small spaces, why cant I? I felt a lump in my throat thinking of how I gonna start living in a rented place from now onwards! I never felt like that before as I was staying in a hostel without any worries nor fear but now, it made me realise that I had full responsibilty to take care of my siblings and also to be able to survive staying in the city!

I felt like a 60 yr old already just thinking of that! But hey! we are in a cosmopolitan city and many are surviving and working so I gave myself a pat on my back to go ahead!

Well, I needed a place to stay with my younger sisters so I paid "Didi" a deposit for Rs. 15,000 which she said it would be returned by the end of the lease agreement. Whether that was returned or not, thats another story. I moved to this railway quarters with mixed feelings.

It was scary too, as the people did not know where we came from. They called us 'Nepali' 'Chini' etc. We ignored all that and carried on with our lives. Little did we know what we gonna face later!!

Abida "Didi" always came to collect the rent at the first of the month without fail. A little after, a man came to us saying that the railway quarter was in his name and we needed to move out ASAP or else face eviction from the Railway authorities. I was very shocked and numbed as I had already paid that deposit amount to "Didi" !!

The man told us clearly that we ain't gonna see our money back as he had already reported to the authorities about our stay there. I was in a fix as to where to get a place to stay at such a short notice and with my money gone! I called up Abida "Didi" and let her know about the situation. She kept telling us not to move an inch but how could she say this to us?

We are in someone's room and she telling us to stay put did not sound right.I had no other option but to wait and see.I had nowhere to go live with my sisters! Abida "Didi" had taken us for a ride with her smooth talk! Lesson learned -the hard way not to trust anyone in that city!

I went to work and my sister tearfully called me up to say that the railway authorities came to empty that disputed room. I left immediately to check on her. I took her to "Didi's" place and told her that we were being homeless now due to her smooth talk. And that she should let my sister stay with her as we had no place to stay.

I made it known to her that she had deceived me and was responsible for my sister's stay there.She could deduct the rent from the deposit amount we paid her. As for me,I sometimes worked night shifts and stayed here and there with other friends or sometimes at the staffing agency hostel with the owner's permission.

She had by then moved to another flat nearby and let us stay with her.She made 6 bunk beds and got desperate and homeless gals to stay there on rent. Even though we had hated it, we stayed on there to at least get the most out of our deposit money left with her...Full Paisa Wasooli!!.( money's worth).

We could not hope to get it back anyways. This new flat was on Rizvi Nagar in Santa cruz west and was full of bed bugs and rats. But it did not faze us. Now we got smarter. She had thought we were "junglee" "Chini Mini " or" Nepali". By now we had smartened up.....she thought she could drive us out anytime for all the world to see with full "Tamasha " ( action) and "Drama Baazi" (some hysterics) and spice the event up with some "Masala " (spices) of how she got rid of us "Chini" Mini " over some excuses and unpaid rent and others.

We knew of her action beforehand cos she did that to the other hapless gals and never returned their deposit money on some pretext or the other so we had become well versed for any kind of such incidents happening to us. We were her longest staying residents as she was accountable for the deposit I had given her and I kept demanding it whenever she started her drama about how she was not getting any rent out of us.

I told her that we would move out if she returned us the amount. She always was plotting how to get rid of us from her flat. She was always complaining that her water pipe was broken by my sisters and any other kinds of flimsy excuses. She tried to gang us up against the other gals with whom we had a good rapport. These gals themselves forewarned us of "Didi's " plan to evict us one evening when all the neighbours are around to showcase herself as a ""CAN DO woman" .

Meanwhile she worked night shifts and I worked days so we hardly met except only my sisters whom she would make it known that she resented our staying there and taking up the bunk bed space and not getting any real rent out of us but still on deduction of that last deposit amount for that doomed railway quarter room. When the amount came to about Rs. 3000 , she plotted her well known plans to evict us.

My sisters had already got a paying guest accomodation in the Air India colony so before hand they had already informed my neighbours that we were moving out before "Didi" came back. They all loaded everything on a taxi and informed me about the new place. They waited for me at the bus stop.

And boy! I am sure that "Didi" must have been fuming in rage cos she could not perform her highly anticipated show to kick us out!! We learnt the tricks from her!! The other day my sister went to visit our neighbours and they told us how angry "Didi" was at our courage to thumb our noses at her!!

We beat her at her own game! We did not mind losing the remaining RS.3000 so far none of the other gals had been able to get anything out of their deposit. They lost them because "Didi" always bulldozed them with her terror tactics. The gals had no choice.

Well, it was a very good learning experience to have stayed at such "hoods" as Behrampada which is a den for antisocials. We had stones thrown at our windows whenever we were home but we did not retaliate because we knew they were ignorant. Our next door neighbours were all Muslims but we were on good terms with them. They always shared their dishes with us on festive occasions such as EID.

But there was tension all around whenever there was a cricket match between India and Pakistan. The whole colony looked like Sahara desert and not a soul to be seen anywhere. People there rooted for the visiting team and it felt like a do or die situation during these tension filled matches!

I had to pass through the grocery stores everyday to work back and forth to the Bandra station and it was no fun having to face/hear crude remarks from people who thought we came from a different planet!! Anyway,it was closer to workplace so we slugged it out despite all the inconveniences. It was a very rough and rowdy place to live. We survived. I could not have commuted from far off suburbs. It was better to bear it out than lose time in travelling time.

I had witnessed the '93 ethnic riots between the Hindus and the Muslims which is very scary and traumatic. I hope it does not happen again in future. Both communities were living in harmony all these years until that big Hitler fan Bal Thackery of Shiv Sena incited hatred among the disillusioned unemployed youth of Maharashtra and fanned it to really destructive levels. I was still staying in my hostel then.

I saw from the building roof tops people throwing kerosene soaked buns to each others' houses, cutting off limbs of people or just go on a mad rampage. It still sends me shivers down my spine when I recall those incidents. The poor people suffered due to the politics of these power hungry politicians on both sides.

I had to report for work from my hostel as none of the others could come to work due to the riots. The local trains got pelted with rocks or anything. I was alone in that compartment but had to go to work.I was nearly hit by a big stone thrown at the train. I was small enough to hide in the corner.

I had to stay overnite for over 4 days in the Breach Candy hospital taking care of a private patient whose husband was missing. She was really franctic about him as they had come in from Delhi to have her surgery done in Bombay. We had no proper food as there were no trucks coming in to deliver fresh foods.

The patients were on I/V fluids and did not matter. We ate gruel and watery dal to survive. Me and a very good Malayali friend Maria helped out the charge nurse of the 5th floor as she had shortage of nurses. She was a very changed woman that day because we saved her day.

She used to be so bitter and mean to us anyone working on that floor. She took out her all on us poor mortals! But from that day she became our good mentor to me and Maria. We could not believe it!! We both celebrated it by having ice-cream after work near our hostel!!

Because that meant less harassment from this particular charge nurse.She always addressed me as Assamee!! To me she was an intimidating person but inside of her, she was a lonely woman needing someone to talk to or interact with.

Her young nurses always shooed her away and she became very mean as a way to get back at them! Some people are like that only!! Can't help it!..............