Saturday, September 02, 2006

Stuff about stuff

A year ago, I moved from the Eastern part of Singapore to the West, because my university is in the extreme west and living in the west enabled me to come back home after my night classes at a less unearthly hour.

Almost a year ago, I wrote a post about how sad I was to leave the east. And I thought to myself, I'm gonna feel exactly the same when I move back to the east. (Oh yeah, I had already decided last year that I would be moving back to the east this year.) But surprisingly, I did not feel anything this morning as I finished the last bits of packing before my transport guy turned up with his van. To me, the west was not home. It was never home. It was like temporary hostel accomodation.

I wanted to minimise the stuff I had to make moving easier. So I gave away almost half of my clothes and shoes. And I thought to myself - so I'll have at most two suitcases of clothes, a carton of kitchen stuff, a carton of books, my computer, the computer table and chair, my musical keyboard (no I don't play well, I just play by ear), a carton of sentimental stuff, a carton of toiletries and I'm done.

Wrong.

I had tons of cartons. And the weirdest thing is that I have no clue why I had so many. I guess they contained "stuff". Now here's some stuff about stuff. "Stuff" is what you dunno you have. So I decided not to rack my brains anymore and just accept the fact that a girl has "stuff" and the "stuff" just has to stay with the girl, it cannot be thrown away.

But I am so glad that my new flatmate (anyone remember my dehydrated pictionary temp flatmate? I have elevated his status.) did not complain even once as we loaded our stuff into the van. Any other guy would have just started to sort thru my stuff and would have even had the audacity to offer his advice on what I should throw. Shocking. I'm so glad that there are some people who let you carry your memories with you, no matter how heavy they are.

My transport guy's eyebrows shot up higher and higher as we loaded up his van with my stuff. I was surprised at his being surprised because he is the same guy who had transported my stuff when I was moving to the west exactly a year ago. This guy is ubercool. He advertises about his transportation services now and then and this year, the title of his ad cracked me up.

"Supervan returns!" it said. :D

The guy is very good-natured and flexible. I decided to try my luck, and said "You should give me a discount, I'm your old customer." And he actually did! So this afternoon, he drove us and the megatons of stuff to the new house. He had rolled down the windows of his van and it was so amazing to feel the wind in my hair. I hadn't experienced that in a loooooong loooooong time. Makes you realise how sickening air-conditioning can be.

With the help of two life-saving friends, we managed to unload the stuff in the van pretty soon. "You'd better stay in the east, cos I am moving back as soon as I can." I'd threatened these friends long time ago when I was moving to the west. And my threat worked. They're gonna be here till May at least.

The new house looked bigger than it did when we had seen it first. It could be because the earlier tenants had a toddler, and you know how much space toddlers occupy with the insane amounts of running around they are capable of.

Right now, the living room is full of "stuff" that needs to be moved into our respective rooms. Then there's "stuff" that needs to be bought for the house, for the kitchen (I plan to start cooking again.). Speaking of the kitchen, my crazy flatmate's first reaction was "Itnaaa bada kitchen?? Yahan par cricket khelenge, okay??" (He's in the Singapore cricket team.) The look I gave him cannot be described in mere words.

This flatmate is a bit crazier than all others I have had till date. I think I gotta be a little Monica-like to avoid the possibility of cricket matches in the kitchen and F1 races in the living room. He has the F1 video game, complete with the racing wheel which he replaces my computer keyboard with and races for hours. The other day I was playing my favourite music and he insisted he wanted to play his favourite music. He closed my winamp window, played a video and said with a blissful look on his face, "Now that's my kind of music." What he had played was a video of some F1 race and the "music" he was referring to was the roar of the car engines.

But I like him. I think it's going to be fun living with him. He's not dirty and messy like most guys I know. He allows me bully him. He can cook only one dish so I have monopoly in the kitchen. (My last flatmate spent so much time in the kitchen, he almost gave me a complex.) And I got the big room without having to use waterworks or brute force. He's the most patient guy I have ever met in my life. And the best part is - he's a techno geek who can fix all my computer problems. (And no, that's NOT the reason why I chose him to be my flatmate. Ok, it's not the ONLY reason.) :P

So here I am, writing my first post from my new place. I had to play hopscotch with myself to jump over all that stuff and get to the computer. The sight of all that stuff is freaking me out. I gotta submit two chapters of my dissertation, I gotta watch Munnabhai, I gotta work on my term papers, and I gotta unpack and sort the stuff in the living room. Not to mention the psychotic cleaning of the house that's gonna happen first.

Looks like this weekend's stuffed with stuff. But
it's not all bad.

Good stuff's happening too - I'm finally home. :)



26 comments:

Unknown said...

FARASHTTTTTTTTTTTT

Unknown said...

good fer ya! your home sounds great! here's to fun times in the East for you!

Shekhar said...

And I have tonnes and tonnes and tonnes of study material to get through this weekend in order to prepare for the exams next week. Hey, do you need an extra hand to sort out "stuff" at your place ??

shub said...

hey!!! "supervan returns hahahahhaa" cracked me up too when I saw it on public folders :))

and whattdya know!! I lvoed cruising on the highway with the windows rolled down too!!! In fact it was sooo refreshing a change from the aircon, I wanted to blog about it!!

jussst got back from watching munnabhai :)


mail ka reply nahi? :'(

R said...

your room mate sounds nice
*blush*
errr
err..err..
uska number doh na, sis...bahin hone ke naatey..inna toh karna hi padega*battng of the eyelids*

*maxx sweet nd innocent luk*


p.s. karan bhi aapka! nd abb yeh nice nd patient guy bhi aapka flat mate!
NOT FAIR!!!!!
*wails yet again*

Sayesha said...

#Ipanema Gal,
Aao thakur... bahut dinon baad darsan diye! :D

#Shekhar,
Hahaha! Padhai kar le beta... lagta hai extra hand ki zaroorat tujhe zyada hai! :D

#Shub,
Yeah, that dude is the coolest! :D

//mail ka reply nahi? :'(

Nahin yaar... maamla serious hai... I thought we'll talk when you get back. (When's that, btw?)

#Raam Pyari,
Areee agar teri nazar mere flatmate par hogi toh tere Stalket... I mean Saket ka kya hoga re? :D

Apun dono Karan ko share karte hain na! ;)

Anonymous said...

On regards to your previous post, how can you be so sure that karan's gay?

and btw, would really appreciate if you made a slight modification to my url in the blogroll...
http://www.sumedhprasad.com/zeitschrift/

Garam Bheja Fry said...

KANK : Karan Aayega aur Naa Kahega tere offer ko...kyuki wo to cow hai.. i mean gay hai..

wats da blog address of your flatmate...i am just err.. Curious!!

P.S : hey hey mai COW nahee hu..aise hi poochaa addr

Anonymous said...

toh wen they were loading 'stuffs' in the van, did ypu sing them the song:

saathi haath badaanaa,
ek akela thak jaayega,
mil kar bhojh uthaanaa!!

saathi haath badaanaa!!

?? :D

The Ghost said...

chalo bhai badhai ho..

Anusha said...

Yay! Good that you're back where you feel at home! I can't wait to see the new place! And the uber-sweet (apparently! :P) flatmate! :D

Anonymous said...

hahahah cricket in kitchen it seems :D and supervan! superfunny :)) looking fwd to more posts on flatmate's antics!
jane

Persona non gratis said...

Well congratulations about your new pad.

Rosh said...

Shifting can be such a pain... But, I am glad that you are already in love with the new place.
Cricket in kitchen is a vey bad idea. We play both cricket and football in our living room ;-)

Njoi Maadi.

qsg said...

Best of luck unpacking - this is the reason I don't move! ;)

Sudipta Chatterjee said...

Oh!! I ssooooo wish to ybe your flatmate!! You can have the kitchen to yourself all the time, and I am an expert dishwasher!! Also, I too can fix (almost) all comp problems (check out the latest post). Lekin haa, what exactly do you carry as stuff?? :O I came to America with less than 46 kilo baggage :)

Nirwa Mehta said...

Yep, I totally relate with you regarding the "stuff".. :-) This reminds me, I must clean even the drawers of my study desk, and there will be lot of interesting things to make me smile! :D

Hmm.. cricket in kitchen.. sounds fun! :D

Anonymous said...

Export your roomate to Pareee for some days. I'll beat him so bad at that F1 racing game that he'll develop a huge complex and won't dare play that game again on your PC *proud and cheeky grin*.

the Monk said...

have fun at your new place...

Sayesha said...

#Sumedh,
Did I say he is (or isn't) gay? Did I did I did I??? Huh huh huh?? X-(

//and btw, would really appreciate if you made a slight modification to my url in the blogroll...

WHAT?? AGAIN??? Sumedh I will kill you!!!!!! :/

#Cardamom,
My flatmate doesn't blog :)

#Satish,
SHEESH! :D

#Pirate,
Thanks yaar! :)

#Clueless,
Come over next weekend, baby girl. By then, I would have set up the place nicely... abhi bahut buri stithi mein hai :P

#Jane,
//looking fwd to more posts on flatmate's antics!

Haha! Yeah I think there's gonna be a lot of 'em! :D

#Shreemoyee,
Thanks! :)

#Lonely Traveller,
Cricket and football in living room?? :O

#Gemini,
I hate moving too... but kya karein... I don't belong in westen SIngapore. Paschimi sabhyata raas naa aayi. :P
*Suraiya type expression*

#Sudipta,
Hahaha! I have no idea what I carry as "stuff"... senti stuff I guess :)

#Nirwa,
Yeah man... all the drawer-cleaning is taking up SO MUCH TIME! :O And there are like a million drawers in this house! :D

#TGWSTW,
Wait till he reads this. You will hear the lalkaar of war! :D

#Smiling Girl,
:)

The Monk,
Thanks! :)

Iday said...

Ur home sounds great :)
As someone living with his parents, I miss the single life so very much :(
May this new house brng u loads of luck and keep u happy :)

harsh chirania said...

//Supervan returns...

SUPER TAPORI ADI RETURNS;).. to sayesha ka bar wala adda. :D
Hey i also play cricket in kitchen .. isme galat kya hain?? (gives a innocent confused look) :0.. BYE

Sudeep said...

supervan returns was too gud... he shld be in the ad profession too

racing wheel n all.. sahi.. i had played it at a frnds place n it is nice

hope u sorted all the mess out .. otherwise the earlier family will look at u n say "our toddler was better than the one here" :D

Sayesha said...

#Iday,
Thanks :)

#Adi,
Hey welcome back buddy! Kahan tha? Galti se padhai toh nahin kar raha tha na? :D

#Sudeep,
Yeah, the dude is super-cool! :)

//otherwise the earlier family will look at u n say "our toddler was better than the one here"

Hai raaaam! Sudeep tu kabhi raste par mil ja, teri durgati ho jayegi! :D

Anonymous said...

hey, one thing i dont like about singapore is the air-conditioning... all the cars and hotel rooms have their windows closed... i love to feel the wind through my hair. good to know u r back in the west.

Anonymous said...

hey, one thing i dont like about singapore is the air-conditioning... all the cars and hotel rooms have their windows closed... i love to feel the wind through my hair. good to know u r back in the west.