grabthemoments

My flat is strange.

We have quite a conglomeration.  A mix of cultures, languages, beliefs and tastes. We come from everywhere you can imagine, and speak almost every tongue your mind can conceive.

The catch is – we have but one small place to share.

Let me tell you a bit more.

Recently, some of our flatmates have been causing trouble. The Makrinov and Xin couples want a bigger room. They have been threatening the rest of us. The latter have often put their ancestral heirlooms (which turn out to be swords) in the common area to assert their dominance. The former, from time to time has forayed into the rooms of others insisting that they have something that belongs to them. Sometimes they have insisted on sleeping in the others’ rooms too! When questioned about this, they have gone grimly silent, flexing their (not insignificant) muscles and glaring at us.

Both of those couples are often at odds with the Browns (our American expats). Though all three of them have big rooms, they seem to find pleasure in bickering with each other incessantly. They tend to think that they don’t have much in common with each other. The rest of us disagree. We think they’re all the same. They’re all bullies.

A case to illustrate the above: A few days ago, the Browns went on a rampage through the Al-Mahdi’s rooms. They claimed the Al-Mahdi couple had a gun. Our landlord does not permit guns. If the landlord found a gun on the premises, we’d likely all be evicted.

We all advised caution. The Browns had naught but suspicions to base their accusations on. But deaf to our pleas, they went on their rampage anyway. They did significant damage. Did they find a gun? Well…I think you can guess the answer.

The only consequence of their actions was to give rise to a tidal wave of Al-Mahdi anger. Despite the Browns trying their best to ‘restore’ our flatmates’ room, the damage had already been done. The Al-Mahdis, seeing the example of the Browns, decided they would start rampaging through their neighboring rooms as well, and that had predictable consequences. Most recently, the Massads (who were the neighbors of the Al-Mahdis) left their room and decided to bunk in with the Gerstmanns. The Gerstmanns, understandably are not very happy about this. Initially they had put on a brave, generous face, but the reality of the intrusion seems to be sinking in slowly.

And then there are the Lals and Rashids. Admittedly, the Lals’ have a pretty crowded room. In their room there is no less than a family of ten people! The Rashids live just next to them, and they too bicker incessantly. Their favorite topic of debate is (what was) a rather lovely walk-in wardrobe. Ever since they moved in, each of them have claimed half of the wardrobe. As a result there has been a lot of aggression, graffitti, and general unpleasantness in that same wardrobe. I wonder, if only they had peacefully agreed to disagree on this issue and focused on other common topics, perhaps they could have upgraded the facilities in both their rooms and enjoyed far greater standards of living.

I suppose I could keep going. I haven’t even told you about the mad-missile Kim who lives down the hallway from me, or the McGraw couple, who forcibly moved into (and continue to inhabit) the lovely Jedda family’s room. Or even the fact that due to extensive abuse of our air-conditioning and waterworks systems, our flat is heating up to near disaster levels.

But I think you get the general picture.

I left my room a while ago for a new (albeit smaller) room. Needless to say, my old room has been more than filled. It seems like my flatmates never cease to increase in number.

The main problem (as I see it) is that we are all too self focused. Whenever I try to broach a common cause, I am shut down. There is a committee for running our flat’s affairs. But the ‘head’ flatmates have the final say. All too often, they go against our common pleas. It seems that deaf ears, like the gates of a prison house, block any talk that threatens my flatmates’ individual interests. And any one of us who raises a voice to speak out, risks eviction.

What, you say? Why haven’t I moved out? Well… unfortunately there isn’t much of anywhere for me to move to.

You see, this flat is all I have.

This flat is all we have.

This flat is my whole world

…and this flat is your world too.  

Yours in service,

A.R.D