The room-mate blues

Being a poor graduate student in USA, living situations left a lot to be desired. And being a woman engineer, I thought looking for a room-mate (pref. female) was an ordeal. Little did I know what was going to follow…

There are a lot of room-mates I’ve come across... some my own and some of my friends’. Each with their own brand of antics and eccentricities…

The Radically Religious
The kind that won’t allow anyone to speak while prayer is in progress, until the lamp in the alter has gone off or anywhere there’s an agarbatti. Needless to say… a quiet household.

When the silence is finally broken and daily house duties are discussed, you discover that - for religious reasons, she won’t cook before sunset on Mondays or Wednesdays and after sunset on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

‘Well… any restrictions on Friday?’

‘I think we should fast together on Friday. Will help in bonding.’

The Nodder
The kind that nods so frantically every time you bring up a chore, the eagerness touches you. But, it’s all nod and no muscle (except the ones in the neck)!

Soon, the dirty dishes overflow out of the sink and onto the window-sills and the fridge preserves molds and some very questionable liquids.

Finally, you dump out the contents of the fridge as well as the dishes into a couple of trash bags.

‘Could you take the trash out?’

*nod nod nod*

It’s a girl thing…
The kind that thinks cleaning floors or the bathroom are not womanly duties.

‘Eeewwwwwwww’

Look out for a post titled ‘How the boys across the hall were tricked into menial tasks’

Me, myself and IIT
I have a lot of respect for IIT and its products. But, just because I didn’t study there don’t treat me like a dimwit. How come IIT doesn’t teach mutual respect?

This is the kind that brags her head off and (being from IIT) thinks it her duty to teach you the perfect way to turn on the stove or boil water and then proceeds to put an egg in the microwave!

Do you want me to describe the stink, the drips and the mess after it explodes… or are you in the mood for experiments?

The Angry Blogger
The kind that doesn’t believe in discussing issues face-to-face. Instead it culminates in an angry blog.

“Can’t believe that bitch.. how could she???....”

Hey, don’t accuse me… I did try to talk… when all failed… I blogged

The Furtive Ferret
The kind that is extremely compassionate as long as you’re around and the minute you’re absent – eats your food and uses that expensive lotion of yours.

Of course, when you notice the seventh can of coke disappear, you pose questions. All she does is shrugs innocently.

To avoid a hostile situation, you believe there lives a soda-loving-ghost in your trash can.

The Cleopatra Kind
The kind that spends every minute of her livelong day primping and preening in front of the mirror and bathroom sessions last an eternity.

By now, you’re the expert at holding back those urges to pee. What really irks is the sub-kind that does all of the above, but claims not to. She claims to waking up with hair sprayed and eyelashes tinted.

Of course, these beauty treatments leave no time for trivial tasks like washing the dishes or flushing the toilet.

‘What?! And ruin my manicure???’

The Hygienically Impaired
The kind that showers once in a blue moon and dirties the bar of soap instead of getting clean. The apartment is laden with her body odor and unmentionables take over every inch of the bathroom.

And there is an ‘occasional best-friend roomie’ who turns out to be your extended family and someone you can really count on. It’s that hope that keeps me going on.

Room-mates – can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em!