Moving On, Maybe

**********************************************************************************
"You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming."
- Pablo Neruda **********************************************************************************

I have finally gotten myself to reconsider my choice of address. After close to six years in this house, it feels a little strange that the decision to move is an outcome of materialism, not from boredom, or a cataclysmic move out of the city or country, or even , marriage.

I used to advise people, without of course implementing it myself, that one should consider the following three paths to induce excitement in life- change of jobs, change of marital status or change of houses. Of these change of houses is the simplest way out of boredom. Suddenly one is faced with some small shake-ups and in many cases it is quite welcome.

I have kind of found myself a house. It is not in Bandra, where I hoped to live out at least my single days, a location I have defended in numerous fora , mostly office parties since my colleagues- every single one of them chooses to live townside. The closing argument in all these debates used to be that in Bandra I can get drunk and walk back home.

That apart I quite like Bandra. The place is young, and cosmopolitan. While there is a Catholic overhang, but it is not definitive. Most of my friends live, or used to live here once. I still bump into strangers every once in a while who I end up being friends with. It is open, yet non-intrusive. There is a certain colour to the suburb, a zest which I absolutely adore. Be it the Christian bakeries, or the eatery strip along Carter Road. Be it the little bars, or the big discs. Be it the cheap liquor and the 3AM home delivery of Janta, or the chic restaurants of Landsend. It has everything. And best of all it has the sea closeby.

This house I live in, like any other that one would inhabit for 6 years is full of memories. But now the walls are peeling, and it really isn’t quite it. For sometime now, the directions to my place have always included the phrase- the most dilapidated building on 36th Road. Over the recent years many people have offered me various arguments to move. From D’s outirght disapproval (it’s a fuck all place to stay) to Trips’ clairvoyance (you’ll never get married if you stay in this dump). To AD once conceding, many months after breaking up, that it was a depressing place to come back to at night with me, to IK’s diplomatic (It’s a good house, but you know you deserve and can afford a lot better).

And of late the long drive back home has begun to bother me quite a bit, and with the coming monsoon it will only be worse. Even though I now have a driver, I still remember the fact that in the last two years I have had to walk back home from Mahim or Prabhadevi, in heavy rains at least once.

The house I am considering is on Altamount Road. Swank building with Page3 occupants. It has lovely views of the sea from a bedroom window, of Marine Drive from the other, and that of a densely wooded park, that you thought couldn’t exist in this city, from the hall- though the windows themseves are not quite as big as I’d like them to be. Its current residents chose to colour the walls of the hall and one of the bedrooms in red, while the other, where their kids stay is blue. But that is a minor deterant. The current occupant’s wife could make out that I didn’t quite like the walls from the grimace on my face and suggested that I get them painted, and I said if I had the temperament of going through a paint job, then I probably wouldn’t be moving houses at all. I have already started planning the furniture, low seating cane in the hall, wrought iron in the bedroom, while the other one (that which overlooks the Queen's Necklace) will be just for my books and music- something I have always wanted. The house is obviously expensive, but not entirely unaffordable. It is seven minutes from work in the morning and about 15 on the way back. Best of all, it comes with a rare 3 year lease.

So what exactly is the problem? Well to begin with, the area. It feels like a 100 years old as soon as you get on the road off Peddar. D’s first reaction when I mentioned this possible relocation was – You can’t do that, you’ll age so much faster. Also I cannot move in before August, and that does take away from the right here right now pleasure of making decisions. Also, all my friends currently stay in Bandra and I see myself there every weekend anyway (of course, according to BossMan, I should keep both houses). Then the fact that I am not entirely convinced that I should move out of Bandra.

But the problem with Bandra, apart from the ones I mentioned before, is the fact that my friends seem to be in the change mode too. Bose is off to Paris for good, and D to London for about two years (which is just the same). IK is going to be in NYC for a good part of the year now, and that just leaves Shrek who I almost always meet only at Hard Rock. So all those pluses wil sooner or later be gone. Perhaps I should consider the offer made by Two recently and try a different city for a bit. And Tokyo did sound enticing. New place, new languange. Enormous anonymity. According to Buch the city is so fast that just looking out of the window numbs the mind.

But then I think about the last few years and I realize that there was once a time, may be two years back when I was in a similar situation. RV had just moved to Dubai, Viper and Nu to HK, Buch to the US and Tinman headed home to Hyd for good, and I was almost friendless. But back then, because I was in Bandra, I was able to form new conections. It might not be as easy to repeat that considering I am on the other side of 30 and too far gone in my ways.

Let’s see.

**********************************************************************************

"Before I can live with other folks, I've got to live with myself. One thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience"-
Atticus Finch. To Kill a Mocking Bird. Harper Lee.
**********************************************************************************