Wake Up Om

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When the last thread would also leave the Beach House behind, would be its demise......

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2007

The year after the year which decided to change our lives.  Our?   Me, Simi, Fino.

We 3 studied in the same college, the same class and got placed in the same multinational company in Bangalore.The placement happened in 2006 and that was the year that triggered the change.

So 2007, July 26, we all were in Bangalore to begin our professional corporate lives the from the very next day!

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After a month of stay in my cousin's place, I decided to move to another place and start experiencing the joy (read pain) of paying monthly rents. Fino was already staying in a PG with his....

wait.. PG. PG stands for Paying Guest and in Bangalore, most of the time it does not mean the real Paying Guest.Well, 50% is correct, the paying part.

Usually a PG is a hostel in good terms, a boarding in reality. You get a small, rather tiny room, which is relatively large when compared to the attached bathroom in it.And this room will be shared by more than 1 person. But the owner of most PGs will be very 'broadminded', during the time of collecting rent.

Okay, so Fino was staying in a similar PG with his brother.His brother had come to Bangalore for a job and would be flying to Dubai in a month.

One fine day,I moved to this PG. FIno and his brother shared a room.And I shared a room with....

"Hi, I am Nithesh", I said to my new room mate.

"Om", he smiled filmy style.The promotions of Om Shanti Om were going on then and it looked like he felt those were about him.

"Nice name", I smiled.

"Thanks and hey, we'll talk more later..Now it's time for me to call my girlfriend. I've been practicing this song for a while now.Today I'll be singing it for her. "

"Oh , that's great, you sing?"

Om just smile.

'Dude, the look on your face is like, you are a famous pop star and I didn't recognize you', I thought as I said, "Good luck...", and walked out of the room.',..to your girlfriend!'

It felt as though Om was a man living in his dreams.Well if that dream occurred to me I would call it a nightmare !

I walked into Fino's room.

"Hey, come in, how is your new room?", Fino asked as I entered.

I looked at him with a weird look on my face like, 'How could you even ask this?It's horrible'. I had already made my mind to find a new house and move there as soon as possible .

"And how about your room mate?", he asked again.

'Aankhei teri..Kitni haseen..ke inka aashiq..', we heard someone singing loud and it echoed all over the PG.

"That's him, my room mate!", I said.Further details were not asked.

We kept talking about many things under the sun.As we were new to Bangalore, Fino's brother gave us many instances of his experiences in Bangalore.Time passed and it was mid night.We had to go to office the following day and I decided to go back to my room.

I went to my room and tried to open it. It was locked from inside.I knocked the door but Om did not open it.Now, this PG had walls which do not touch the ceiling, so I jumped to check inside the room and saw that Om was in deep sleep.

'Oh God ! this guy is in his dreams when he is awake and now he is asleep. How do I wake him up? '. I banged the door louder. No. There was no response. I went back to Fino's room.

"What happened?", Fino asked

"My room mate, he's not opening the door.He's lying on his bed.."

"What, he's dead?"

"No, no, he's asleep..."

"I know, just kidding...He would be tired after all those singing", Fino said.

"Come on, let's try to wake him up.", said Fino's bro and we all marched towards my room.We knocked the door again, but Om did not respond.

"We'll try to throw something at him", said Fino,"You have a phone?"

"It's a new one!", I said.

"It's okay, we'll throw it upon him..even if it misses, it will land up somewhere on the bed and the phone will be safe.", he replied.

I was not that convinced, but then I agreed. "Take it,you do the honors ", I handed over my phone to Fino.

Fino jumped high and Threw the phone over the door.The phone flew and flew (in slow motion), and landed just near to Om. It did not touch him.

"Oh NO...", we sighed.

"Missed by a whisker", I said , "Now what?"

"Anyhow your phone is there..Call to your number and when it rings, he'll probably wake up"

"Good idea, but bad idea.", I said, "my phone is in silent mode."

"Oh NO.", we sighed again.

"Okay lets bang the door until either he wakes up or the door breaks..a 'Wake or Break' situation", I said.

We all started banging the door.

Except Om, everyone in the PG woke up.The guy next door came angrily as he was deprived of his sleep, but after we told him my situation, he became calm.

"Okay, why don't you do this thing?This Om guy is lying adjacent to that wall that shared by my room.Let's go to my room and pour some water from the top of the wall.", the guy next door told.Now, it was not only my need that Om should wake up.It was a global need..well, PG need !

"Okay great idea.", said Fino and his bro.

"NO", I opposed, "Not a great idea..My phone is on that bed. and it's new.No water please.."

"Then what do we do?This guy doesn't seem to wake up.Is he really dead?", asked Fino with frustration.

"Okay, now that we got a better angle to throw something to him (from the adjacent room), let's throw your mobile ", I looked at Fino, smiling.

"Even my phone is new ! "

"Don't worry, this time I will throw it.It's pay back time..", I snatched is phone from him, set the maximum volume for Plan B and threw it from the adjacent room.This time the phone flew faster for me, but was in slow motion for Fino..The phone did touch Om, but he still did not wake up.

"Oh No, He still did not wake up", said Fino.

"Don't worry , this time we have Plan B.Let me dial your number", I said as I asked Fino's bro for his phone, who was hesitant to give me that as he was afraid I would throw that one too into the room.

Anyhow, considering the larger issue, he gave me his phone and I started dialing  Fino's number. Seeing all these, the occupant of that room had gone really frustrated and came with a bottle of water and started poring in from top of the wall to my room.

"No...No water, our phones..", Fino cried aloud. At the same instance, his phone started ringing. Water drops fell on Om's face.(The neighbour roomie had a god aim.)..and finally Om opened his eyes...the mission got accomplished. Om wake up to see two phones on his bed, one ringing and water dripping on his face from somewhere above.

"Oh, is it raining really?", he shouted,"just as in my dreams"

"Dude, you are not in your dream.Wake up.Please open the door.Why have you locked it from inside?", I asked.

He looked up to find four of our faces on top of the wall, staring at him from the next room.

"What are you guys doing up there?", he asked?

"We were trying to wake you up, so that you could open the door."

Really, For that you climbed up there? And poured the water all over me?You could have called me..Or just knocked the door", he opened the door for me.

'If I had called him by his name, I would have to do that all night and people outside the PG would think that this place is some temple',I imagined, as I finally got to enter my room.'

"Need to find a house really quick.", I said to Fino as I handed over his phone back to him.

"Sure..We'll search for one..Goodnight !"

"Goodnight???.. okay, good night !", I said.

More than half an hour of hard work to get into my own room, a real good night indeed.

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The journey to Beach House begins...