Paging Dr. Sunny

There were many things wrong with the place I moved into in Thiruvanthapuram. There was no fridge, no gas stove, and the flush didn’t work properly. Still, I could overlook most of this because the people renting it to us were friendly: a sweet young mother and her two kids. Then, there was my hilarious, laugh inducing roommate with a tragic present, in whom I saw an older sister. I’m in the mindset if the environment is good, then you can overlook all the little stuff. Some of my friends would beg to differ though.

So when I was asked by my friend G, “How’s the new place?”

I said, “it’s awesome” right off the bat.

She was like, “Girl, even if you lived in the gutter, you’d say it was awesome.”

I laughed along with her because it was true. I didn’t mind roughing it. 

It was around this time something strange begin to happen.

That night, long after everyone had fallen asleep, I awoke, startled. I had heard something. Something strange, horrible... Yet I wasn’t completely sure if I imagined it or not. As I pondered in the dark, the possibility of the sound being real or not, I heard it again. It was a strangled scream which echoed the style of theyam performers. I gulped and nudged awake my sleeping roommate. She leapt up, fearing the worst. When I described what I heard, I would assume she looked at my figure in disbelief and irritation. But then, the sound came again, and this time, we both jumped.

“Wha-what was that?”

We pinpointed the direction of the sound. It was coming from the neighbouring house. Their lights were on too. When we went to our landlady, P, she drowsily told us there was nothing wrong and to go back to sleep. By that time, the sounds had gone and the lights were off.  We grudgingly made our way to bed, thoughts focused on the screams next door.

The next morning we were told that it was a religious thing. Apparently, the next door patriarch has screaming matches and randomly starts spouting samskritam. It’s called anugraham (blessing). Since my roommate and I both were not Hindu, we couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Later, when I asked my co-worker A, he started laughing.

He was like, “Athu anugraham alla. Athu bhaathaya.” (That’s not a blessing, it sounds like a spirit.)

Needless to say, his explanation didn’t make things better. It only increased our anxieties at night. It reminded us of movies like Manichithrathazhu and The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

Things began to deteriorate when the neighbours continued to burn organic waste in front of the house. Our landlady has asthma and the smoke makes her really sick. She had continuously told them not to do it in front of the house, but to no avail. The funny thing is they actually have a bit of a lawn so they could totally make a compost pit. One evening, she caught them in the act and started asking why they would keep doing something which is not only detrimental to people’s health but the environment as well. They began to talk back and we were witness to the samskritam and theyam-esque screams again.

That night was what Malayalees would call a kaalarathri. The steps to their terrace were right near our room and we could hear him running up and down the stairs, screaming till one a.m. 

     

The fights continued as did the sleepless nights. In desperation, the police were called. The neighbours were disciplined like children, but threats soon followed. The neighbour patriarch claimed the Attukal Amma would help him kick us all out as soon as Pongala finished.

It so happened that my awesome roommate soon moved out due to some conflicts with P (a story for another day). And suddenly, I was alone. When someone is by your side, you can make jokes and ignore the crazy. However, when you’re all by yourself, everything seems a whole lot scarier. To keep my mind off the screams, I would stay up late texting friends, making funny facebook statuses with the hashtag #livingwithabaadhaneighbour.

One night, there were no screams and I had finally started to doze off. I was dreaming I was in a forest or something when it started raining. The dream rain woke me up in real life. For a second, I thought I was in Inception because it was raining in my room! I shook away my sleep and jumped out of bed. I thought the roof was leaking. Luckily for me, that particular night was Shivarathri and P and children were awake.

I open the door and literally freak out. The children calm me down and tell me that the maama (uncle) next door was watering the garden, and that perhaps the water accidentally came through the window.

“But the windows were closed.” I point out.

They come into my room and they see that. We look around and see that the only opening is the air hole which is way near the ceiling. There is no way he mistook his garden for the roof. There is no way. When I complained to P, she shrugged it off. I think she was tired of fighting with them. But I was also tired. For me, this was the last straw.

So exactly how long did I last in my first accommodation in Thiruvanthapuram? 8 weeks and 4 days.