Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Roomies!

My life with roomies started from my first year of collegiate education - 1996….sounds like a long time ago! Since then I have never experienced an “alone” stint for more than few weeks, and when I do there is always someone I will find my fun with! Be it a roommate or a friend who shares the same thought process, the fun part will always appear, getting rid of the “alone” feeling!

Well, with roomies, the seemingly idealistic case is when we spend the few months/years of together time that we have and peacefully part with or without the sentimental bull and promises to stay in communication grounds, spending the rest of the lives trying hard to keep it in tact. Or sometimes we end up as great friends for the rest of our lives. But things doesn’t always flow this smooth! Sometimes turbulence prevails in every step we take!

“Don’t try to teach me how to live! I think I can manage at 22”

“I don’t think I can be with you guys any more. I can’t stand the way you guys make fun of me, and just me all the time”

Right after the regular Wal-Mart grocery shopping, “Well, I guess its time separate grocery bills! I don’t think I will eat chips, so I don’t want to share that in the bill”

And this happened even before the invention of cell phone, “I won’t receive any phone calls! So I guess I won’t share the phone bill”

All these quotes were from people who claimed to be my roomies one time or the other. So you can see I was not the best roommate in the world and so were they. Considering the fact that I had quite a lot of roomies (you are bound to when you have such a long student life) and only a few have lodged the first information report, I can claim to be a reasonably good human! May be all these roomies are the most important reason for the little patience that I think I possess. Anyways, let me step out of this autoroomiography and make this generic to make it an interesting reading material.

It is amazingly true that a good friend doesn’t necessarily have to be a good roomie and this holds true the other way too! The constraint holds good only when your character is almost framed, and is definitely false when you are stepping in the so-called character development stage. Most of the roomie problems start with the daily chores or stuff that involves money. I have seldom had/heard of roommate problems during my undergrad days when neither money nor the chores is a headache. Perhaps it’s the age thing, or may be it’s all those other petty stuff that derives this enormous amount of importance.

But life without a roomie wouldn’t be fun as well. Both from the monetary as well as from the fun perspective, it is easy with a roommate. I have seen loads of people who fail in the “adjustments-0001” course. The examination revealed that these people were never passed through the “life-with-a-roommate” phase and have learnt just to demand and not to accept. Life with a good roomie shows you lot of good things and life with a bad roomie teaches you even more. Again, good and bad is a personal definition so there is no point in arguing which one is right.

On the other hand, how could we create peace? As I said earlier, I have had several roomies and there is atleast one quality that I would like to learn from each one of them. And that attitude certainly sowed the seeds of harmony under the roof. This learning process was mutual most of the time, and I had my way through by making them believe that I might have one. More the qualities that we look for, more the harmony we derive. Sometimes, if we keep looking for those qualities in vain, it creates chaos as well. So it’s highly necessary to accept what they have and not expect a lot of what they don’t have. If we try not teaching life rather than learning it, I guess roomies wouldn’t be such a problematic term.

Remember to derive fun in everything we do. I had this roomie who was amazingly adept in cooking! Ofcourse it’s sarcastic! He had once displayed all his talents in the art of making something he claimed to be sambar. Everything was fine with that except for one thing. What he made was a bread sambar. Yes! you read it right. Bread was the major ingredient. Right off the bat, it was horrible. Couldn’t resist, but finished the dinner with curd rice et al without even going near the untouchable. Till date we cease his energy with this! Whenever he is in high state making fun of everyone around him, this story pops to shut him up! Like my soppu story. That day would have been a mess if we had irritated him as well as ourselves for making that sambar. Instead, we waited to appreciate his effort and not the product and till date its fun to get back and see how bad it was.

I don’t want to compare roomies to co-passengers in the life-train, where they get down as they reach their destination. Roomies are beyond co-passengers, sometimes they teach how to live and sometimes how not to! Either way it’s a positive progression. So you derive something with them and remember it unlike what you do with co-passengers.

When you are miles apart and even if you live and die with your cell phone and other communication devices, a “personal-comfort” is always priceless. Be it from a friend or from a roommate, it is worth beyond the words of expression. So when we claim that he/she is a bad roomie or a good roomie, be aware of the fact that it reflects what you are with him/her.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice one Bratboyfunk ... Learnt a lot of "what-not-to-do" as a roomie from ya!! *wink* *wink* ... Superana post maame !!! ...

BB said...

@ Anon

The pleasure is all mine ;) I know you! mame!

BB said...

Thanks!

Inda initials concept US fulla iruku!....I dont know who started it...but its pathetic...it was the same in one of our friends place...ada paathadhuku appala...anda ootaandave pola!

Anonymous said...

Hey Maapla...the whole post made a lot of sense...&the last line was annamalai punch ;)
Like u said, roomies teach us tolerance, being more calculative & hvng fun togethr. So, lets tk the positive side of it as a lesson/experience ;)
&u reminded me of this "friends" soap-opera...if i wr ur roomie... machi..u wudnt hv ur bread-sambar probs n all...paavam nee. Bt adhe avan epdi saaptaan apdinnu thaan million$ Qs!

BB said...

@ Viji

"Friends" oh yeah! ofcourse...sometimes these kinda bread sambar probs comes in "friends" as well..but the director edited it..nyways the million$ questionku answer ..."he did not" :) nee enaku roomie a wanda naan en bread sambar pathi laam yosika poren...anda pakame poga maaten :)

cutefreaky said...

hey..lost ur number... is ur sis coming to airport?? call me on my number.
tata
sukku

JB said...

hey
First time here ! remembered my short trip to U.S last year..Had some similar experiences..! :) Anywayz..its fun most of the time..if u learn to take things in a cool way :)

BB said...

@ JB

Oh yeah! thats teh way it goes...not jus this rommie thing...ethiing works that way isnt it?

Adaengappa !! said...

"a good friend doesn’t necessarily have to be a good roomie .."

Amazingly true..I totally agree with ya..But as a starter,NY-la veedu paarthu thaniya iruntha,en muzhu salary-yum rental kodukanum...lol..En roomies kooda chinna chinna fights...thats fun..afterall,whats life without fights..lol again..
= sambhar fight here..

Priya said...

ive been hearing a lot abt roomies these days.. complaints mostly.. i wanna live with friends for a few months atleast probably in blore.. :)
then i can start cribbing abt them ..:D

..p..

Jinguchakka said...

"A long student life" What do you mean? An extended one completed in arrears? :-)) I came here after a long time. Was surprised to see that there wasn't much new. Anyway see my blog. I've honoured your tag!

BB said...

@ adengappa

thanks!

Ny and roomie...man I can understand!! Good post...I was laughhin out loud!

BB said...

@ priya

Iam sure u will get ur chance...live for a while u will...live long u will start enjoyin it...!

BB said...

@ jingu

"A long" I meant the eternal student thing!

And the tag...I enjoyed it..and I really appreciate it!

BB said...

@ Faisal

I know you would defintely accept with the views...after all the views are basically derived thoughts from our conversations as well!

Jyothsana Chandramohan said...

"I had this roomie who was amazingly adept in cooking! Ofcourse it’s sarcastic! He had once displayed all his talents in the art of making something he claimed to be sambar"

Well....I guess my roomie is saying the same too (and p'bly even blogging),with a "she"!

BB said...

@ Jsea
Well..what shall I say abt ths...may be I shud think before I can accept any invtation :)

Jyothsana Chandramohan said...

:)