The last day started out as a reminder of how we had started in the city.
In order to get our refund for the jerry cans that held our drinking bottle, we took an auto to a part of the city which was new to us.
“Where is your office? Address?”
“No address mam. BSNL office at Ameerpet. Go past the third gate and you see Sri Varawana apartment. Opposite apartment, there is pink building. Office is on the first floor”
When I first got here, my eyes would have stretched wide open and asked how could they have had no address? But becoming wiser with experience, I knew they had a address except that the address would have made no sense to someone looking for the office.
So I learnt not to question and just follow her directions. True enough, her directions got us to the office without difficulty and we got our money back.
Next stop, the bank. Considering the difficulty we faced opening an account, I had already prepared myself for a tough time. To my surprise, ending the relationship with them was much easier than starting one. Fill in a few forms, surrender items like ATM cards and cheque book, ink down your signature to confirm the decision and it’s done.
When we got home, we asked the watchman of the building to come up to our flat. We gave him our pillows, quilt and a bag of the hubby’s old shirts.
The watchman and his family live in a make shift room on the ground floor and during the colder months where temperature fall occasionally below 10 degrees, they are still sleeping on the floor. During summer months, they would move out to common area where there is more ventilation and maybe a slight summer breeze.
When we first took over the apartment, we had thrown away the old mattresses and bought new ones for ourselves. The landlord was exasperated that we threw the old mattresses away even though we were going to leave behind the new ones. Afterwards when we saw the living conditions of people like the watchman, we understood why. The mattresses though dirty, would have gone a long way for many people.
In total, I gave away three bags of clothes. I had brought old clothes to India knowing that I will not be bringing them back. A hoarder by nature, I felt very sorry for my clothes that I had to leave them in India. Maybe I should have donated them to Salvation Army in Singapore instead but I tried to console myself that these are the people who would need it more. But at the back of my head, I question the usefulness of my clothes because you do not see Indian women walking around in t-shirts and shorts/capris.
Our domestic help came for the last time today and I had given her plenty of home items and foodstuff. As a gesture, I had also given her the entire month’s pay though she was only working for half a month.
She is the only person besides the hubby whom I come into contact with almost on a daily basis. With her limited understanding and speech of English, I managed to communicate to her through simple words and actions the daily tasks which needs to be done. Occasionally, she will try to tell me more about her family. When she left, she wished both the hubby and myself well and left with the things I had given her.
What soured the day was that about 2 hours after, she called and asked me for money! I politely told her no and reminded her again that I had also given her extra pay for the month. She started saying that she needed help, that they were poor, please…
This is where I draw the line. I know her family is not well to do but they are definitely not in poverty. It is difficult to say no especially when I know the amount is not huge but they need to learn the value of earning their own keep and should not be begging. Bottom line, I was firm about my stand and she hung up after a couple of minutes.
On the way to the airport, the hubby and myself spoke about how different we view this place now as compared to when we first arrived. Buildings and surroundings that were looked foreign before is now so familiar.
Living in Hyderabad is indeed not easy and the one word I would like to say that I am wearing this experience now as a badge of honour.
Namaste.
