Home Truths

We’ve been apartment hunting for the past 2-3 months now. Found one finally. The better-half is satisfied, thinks he got a good deal.  Kids are thrilled because there is a nice little park just behind the apartment. 

Me, I’m ok…..not on top of the world or anything just ok. It’s a nice little place. Almost like brand-new. I stress on this bit[the brand-new bit] particularly because the place we are staying right now is an old building almost falling apart. My husband came to this apartment when he was 8 years old which means he’s been living in this very place now for 3 decades now.

Three decades……thirty years & more……seems like a lifetime huh; now can u just imagine the junk accumulated inside this old apartment. There are certain cupboards in this house which I don’t open at all. These cupboards are stuffed with junk…..stuff nobody needs but can’t be bothered to throw out or things which they[esp the parents] hoarded because they believed that they’ll need it at a later point……like old ceiling fans, an old VCR and the cassettes, bits and ends of electronic fittings, shower fittings, old, old books, old & broken photo frames & mountains of photo albums…….and….don’t ask…..there’s even an old school bag of the better-half. Seriously, its there. It’s not like the school bags the kids are lugging around now. It’s like a tiny hard suitcase covered with red & black checked cloth material. In these past 12 years I have taken it till the door atleast 3 or 4 times to throw it out along with other garbage. But somehow at the nth minute it disappears from the trash and if I made an effort to search for it I would find it back in the same place I had taken it out from;-/.

I may not be looking forward to moving to a new place but I’m certainly looking forward to throwing out all the junk. You are wondering why....about the former I mean??? Yeah for some reason I’m not so thrilled about the moving. The apartment itself is nice…..it’s a bit smaller than my present one and comes with all facilities especially maintenance; the living room is spacious, it’s got central-AC which will be a huge relief in summer, the bedrooms though are a bit box-like, the kitchen which I was obsessed about throughout[apartment-hunting I mean] is spacious with natural sunlight which is like a miracle. You’ll be surprised at how many apartments I saw which had super rooms & facilities but had dingy kitchens with little or no natural light coming in from anywhere. I couldn’t imagine staying in a place like that. The bathrooms again are small but like the better-half told me I take comfort in the fact that there’s less area to scrub;-P

The new apartment is in a good locality but there are hardly any Indians in the building. I’m not so sure I like that. I got used to the colony I’m living in. it has old shabby buildings but it is a mini-India. And I feel right at home here. It is also centrally located……all amenities like the metro, bus station, taxis’ all were available in 5 minutes distance. Whether it was the grocery[Indian], laundry, tailor, the parlour,  the kids’ Arabic tuition or the money exchange, nursery[plants], recycle bins, they were all here within comfortable reach. Whereas the place I’m going now to shift to has just a Baby shop closeby, a huge supermarket 10 minutes away. And an Ethiopian restaurant nearby;-/. 

The kids school-bus stop which is almost below the building will now be a 5-10 minute walk away depending on the traffic signal we have to cut through;-(. And not the least, the rent was very reasonable here but now we are going to be paying more than double the amount. And that’s also going to take some getting used-to.

I bet you are wondering why I’m moving if everything is soo goodJ…….like I said the buildings are getting old and shabby. The roof leaks & there are cracks in the walls; just last week an entire section of a terrace wall of another building crumbled and fell damaging 3-4 cars parked below. And not the least, it’s no longer a colony for families anymore; bachelors are making their way in. Everybody in Dubai knows what that means. Men who are not married or can’t afford to bring their families to Dubai will take up a flat together and stay. Sometimes 6 to 10 stay together in a single flat. It’s gets really messy. Cigarette butts all over the place. Paan stains. You’ll find them loitering near the entrance or lolling on the terrace. Womanfolk no longer feel free to walk about. We don’t feel very comfortable sending the kids out to play on their own. Get what I mean.

Actually our situation is not so bad but the better-half wants to get out before it becomes like that. I agree with him but it’s sad to leave behind everybody we know. Like my husband’s, most families have been here for a long time. The kids have made a lot of friends who they play with in the open spaces available. And I for some reason feel worst affected…….I’m going to miss the only home I’ve known in Dubai for the past 13 yrs.

When my sister-in-law called to wish for Easter I was telling her how gloomy I was about the whole thing and how I hadn’t the 1^st clue about shifting. And she was like “It’s awesome, I’ve shifted 14 times in the past 10 years and made some really good friends”. I couldn’t help but laugh. She somehow manages to put everything into perspectiveJ.