“Hate your next-door neighbor, but don't forget to say grace”
I was watching this Marathi movie called 'One room Kitchen'. Yeah..am addicted to Marathi now. Though my roots are in the South of India, my heart is with the West:). I love the Marathi language, the culture of Maharashtrians, their food..in short, everything!!! I am sure MNS will be proud of me. LOL! So 'Mee Marathi'. 'Jai Shivaji aani Jai Maharashtra! hehehehe!
So coming back to this movie..it was very endearing. As is the case always, I could only watch it halfways. I always forget to switch on the television. But even then, the gist of the story could be captured. It was about this wife who was unhappy with the life in a 'chawl' and aspired to be in a flat like her rich friend. But she soon discovers that chawl life is more happier as the residents in the chawl are helpful and caring towards their neighbours, unlike those who live in their huge flats. So basically, the movie highlights the shallow nature of those who are loaded with money but have forgotten the basic values such as kindness and charity towards their neighbours. I do not like stereotypes but this is true to a large extent. When you live in flats, majority of your time is spent in interacting with those who are within those flats. There's no conscious attempt to get friendly with outsiders. You never know what their background is. So there's an element of suspicion involved as well. This is a big disadvantage of living in cosmopolitan neighbourhoods.
Detailed review of movie in case someone wants to read- http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/review_review-one-room-kitchen_1625879
My mom had an allergy towards all our neighbours. We never made an attempt to get close to any of the 3 neighbours who were part of our old society. I don't blame her. There was one family who were accused of instigating their daughter in law towards suicide. One night, a big bulky policeman had come to our residence for enquiring about this case. I still remember the petrified look on mom's face while she was trying to explain in her broken Hindi that she didn't know them. The neighbour below this flat was a man who was scared of his own shadow. His next few days went in eternal fear as he claimed that he could hear sounds from the above flat that was locked after this suicide case took place. The adjacent neighbour lacked a sense of hygiene. Mom's task in the morning was to kick their dustbin to their corner rather than ours. I guess they received the 'most favoured family' status from the stray dogs in our area. Their dustbin used to attract these dogs who used to have their fill and then drop the rest on the stairway. Finally mom had enough and complained about this during the society meeting. That brought some relief but some instances continued erratically. The other neighbour is not worth mentioning. We rarely saw them. They were into some corny business. I believe that must have been the case as there was this one instance where a thief who entered their home had carried away official documents instead of cash. It must have been something shady..hmm! Still a mystery.
The rest of the acquaintances in the building were quirky in their own ways. The Maharashtrian lady who stayed at the third floor had a weird temperamental dog named 'Sonu'. Yikes. Our adjacent neighbour's son got bit by this dog . The father was livid and went downstairs to ask for an explanation from the family. Coincidence was that even he got bit by the dog. He came home worried after meeting the doctor as latter had informed him to keep a watch on the dog for some reason. Was it because he feared that the man had infected the dog? Wonder who bit who. LOL! Sonu's penchant to use the stairway as his personal toilet translated into wet floors as irate flat owners washed their doorways with disinfectants. So you had atleast 7-8 instances in a month wherein you had to lift your salwar bottom and then walk so that it didn't get wet. Sigh!!! Then there was a Christian family on the second floor who migrated to the US, the Aunty on the first floor who took our Marathi tuition, the 'showoff' family on the second floor who boasted about their US settled children and the list goes on...We moved out from that locality, around 6 years ago. But I still have fond memories of the temple, the trees that surrounded our building etc.
Current locality is uppity. A lot of rich folks live around us. There's no sense of belonging again. Our current neighbour is a guy who works in some film production. He's very handsome. The impression remains until he opens his mouth to speak. He speaks horrible English. But so far, he's been harmless. The other 2 flats are vacant. Their owners have just got them as an investment. As for the rest, I don't know as to who's who! Weren't we supposed to be a collectivist culture??? :) I guess we are leaning towards being a individualist culture now. But again, it makes little difference which you prefer, but rather which are a part of your existence and which you must respond to.
Our experiences with different kinds of people will continue since we live in a cosmopolitan area. Different people..different experiences!!!
“A bad neighbor is a misfortune, as much as a good one is a great blessing”
Detailed review of movie in case someone wants to read- http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/review_review-one-room-kitchen_1625879
My mom had an allergy towards all our neighbours. We never made an attempt to get close to any of the 3 neighbours who were part of our old society. I don't blame her. There was one family who were accused of instigating their daughter in law towards suicide. One night, a big bulky policeman had come to our residence for enquiring about this case. I still remember the petrified look on mom's face while she was trying to explain in her broken Hindi that she didn't know them. The neighbour below this flat was a man who was scared of his own shadow. His next few days went in eternal fear as he claimed that he could hear sounds from the above flat that was locked after this suicide case took place. The adjacent neighbour lacked a sense of hygiene. Mom's task in the morning was to kick their dustbin to their corner rather than ours. I guess they received the 'most favoured family' status from the stray dogs in our area. Their dustbin used to attract these dogs who used to have their fill and then drop the rest on the stairway. Finally mom had enough and complained about this during the society meeting. That brought some relief but some instances continued erratically. The other neighbour is not worth mentioning. We rarely saw them. They were into some corny business. I believe that must have been the case as there was this one instance where a thief who entered their home had carried away official documents instead of cash. It must have been something shady..hmm! Still a mystery.
The rest of the acquaintances in the building were quirky in their own ways. The Maharashtrian lady who stayed at the third floor had a weird temperamental dog named 'Sonu'. Yikes. Our adjacent neighbour's son got bit by this dog . The father was livid and went downstairs to ask for an explanation from the family. Coincidence was that even he got bit by the dog. He came home worried after meeting the doctor as latter had informed him to keep a watch on the dog for some reason. Was it because he feared that the man had infected the dog? Wonder who bit who. LOL! Sonu's penchant to use the stairway as his personal toilet translated into wet floors as irate flat owners washed their doorways with disinfectants. So you had atleast 7-8 instances in a month wherein you had to lift your salwar bottom and then walk so that it didn't get wet. Sigh!!! Then there was a Christian family on the second floor who migrated to the US, the Aunty on the first floor who took our Marathi tuition, the 'showoff' family on the second floor who boasted about their US settled children and the list goes on...We moved out from that locality, around 6 years ago. But I still have fond memories of the temple, the trees that surrounded our building etc.
Current locality is uppity. A lot of rich folks live around us. There's no sense of belonging again. Our current neighbour is a guy who works in some film production. He's very handsome. The impression remains until he opens his mouth to speak. He speaks horrible English. But so far, he's been harmless. The other 2 flats are vacant. Their owners have just got them as an investment. As for the rest, I don't know as to who's who! Weren't we supposed to be a collectivist culture??? :) I guess we are leaning towards being a individualist culture now. But again, it makes little difference which you prefer, but rather which are a part of your existence and which you must respond to.
Our experiences with different kinds of people will continue since we live in a cosmopolitan area. Different people..different experiences!!!
“A bad neighbor is a misfortune, as much as a good one is a great blessing”
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