Friends in need....

2230 HRS ,a lonely street .....few stranded dogs yelling their hearts out as if something's seriously troubling them...whatever few shops in the locality had shut down already....absolute darkness prevailed ....5people,2 girls 3 boys,arrive at the doorstep of a house.No,this is not really the first scene of a upcoming thriller movie niether is a preface from a Jeffrey Archer novel.....this is a fact from my life @ Bangalore which still haunts me ....I had landed up in a paying guest accomodation the week I came to Bangalore and since then had continuosly cribbed about its lack of ....err....almost everything!!!The lack of cleanliness,the lack of hot water ,the lack of good food(ohhhh...I so missed ma's fish curry that time),over and above ,the lack of a home....My friends (Vipul,Anupam and Ritesh) and Soumen tried searching for any rented house or an apartment near to office that may meet the "deficiencies" mentioned above.My PG roomie was also interested in moving with me(she also was genuinly pissed off with that PG )...So even we joined in the search...Mrs Reddy seemed pretty nice lady at first sight.At Rs 8500 as rent amount and an initial deposit of Rs 50000 which we said we'll pay the day we move in,we settled with Mrs Reddy,our "to-be" landlady,to rent a 2BHK of her huge house.We decided to move in by the end of that month.Still 15 more days at the PG?Horrible....We soon came to realize that those 15 days were worse that we could have ever imagined.Mrs Reddy repetitively called us and asked for that deposit money that too in cash....she threatened us that she will give that flat to somebody else if didn't pay immediately.Both of us were new to Bangalore and obviously hadn't made so much savings to pay her immediately.To add to our misery,we had already given notice to the PG owner about vacating by month end.Thus,we were left with two only two options:1.to search of another place(God,save us from the ordeal again!!) and 2.To pay the hefty sum(that seemed better to me).....We opted to seek advice instead.Soumen said he'll arrange for the amount.Ritesh and Anupam asked to confront the landlady.Vipul wanted a more peaceful settlement.My roomie had guts and brain I suppose to agree to Ritesh and Anupam....I being the meeker one,wanted some less risky way.....but bravery won over cowardice !!We had to do it that very day,that very night at 2230hrs....Then 5 of us(my roomie,me,R.. ,A ... and V..) rushed through the deserted streets of Munnekolala,the almost underdeveloped locality where we lived,to Mrs Reddy's house.Ritesh knew Telegu(the language Mrs Reddy spoke) and started to reason with her regarding her insane demand.She listened at first but later her arrogance seemed to overcome her and she started abusing us .Her son chipped in few slangs.This infuriated my brave friends and they lost patience.No more sweet talks were exchanged,instead only heated conversations filled in the hollow of the night and echoed down the street...I was terrified.My legs wanted to run away from this horrifying situation...but my mind was filled with pride for my friends and that provided me the strength to still be with them....Suddenly my roomie mouthed something rude to her out of sheer disgust and that was when Mrs Reddy's anger crossed its limit and she said "You guys don't know me and my family,we can hire people to kill you guys"...the anger was real in her eyes.That very dialogue petrified us,even R...,A... and V.... were silenced.I think this thwarted their anger and they understood our plight.We decided to stop at that point.We left the place by paying some amount to her (which she said she deserved since she didn't give that flat to someone else in those 3 days).Whatever happened that day left a bitter mark in the memories of Bangalore ,but had left me with an obvious truth..that is,I had got some real friends who can help me out in any situation and be by my side whenever I needed......