love thy neighbor...

Love thy neighbor,am told is what the bible preaches.unfortunately,not all devout Christians follow this.my neighbor for one,surely doesn't abide by it!man, we believe,evolved from monkeys but if you see my neighbor you will be led to think otherwise.he bears a striking resemblance to a hippo.Of course his offsprings also share this extraordinary trait.god,they get on my nerves....you have no clue how difficult it is to live under the ruthless trudging of a massive hippo!we live on the ground floor you see.

Last week i reached the end of my tether and decided to brave myself for an open confrontation.it takes a lot of prior preparation because the very sight of him is enough to make one feel hapless and vulnerable.what if he just breathes hard and blows me away?!Even this very minute as i pound away at my computer in utter desperation, the hippo gives me no respite.Anyway,last week,i did try and 'talk' to this creature.i told him,halting(his expression grow menacing by the minute!)that he was being rather too noisy.i told him i did not want to fight and that i am a pacifist!all i wanted to do was politely request that he tone down the volume a bit.he kept making these unintelligible,grunting sounds and then finally spoke the language of the civilized.He started off by growling,"i have every right to live here like others do-the way i want".true,mister hippo,but so do the others.then he went on to accuse me of having "preconceived notions"....this will prove to be quite ironical later...

I knew that this conversation was futile and so i tried to back off by mumbling under my breath,'never mind then'.but no,hippo wouldn't let me go that easily.he was deeply offended by my audacity.so he continued,'there is a burning smell coming from your place at 3 in the morning!'most foreigners here,are wary of us Indians because of our cooking habits.so most of the time,people keep complaining that they are nervous that the houses in which we 'barbarians' live,will go up in flames any time!talking about preconceived notions,our friend here,certainly has no right to comment...by now my fear was gradually replaced by sheer indignation and i told him firmly,'i finish my cooking by 7 in the evening.we(me and my husband)don't smoke and i most definitely don't have any business in the kitchen at an ungodly hour like 3 in the morning!'Moreover,if there really was some 'fire' in the house,the smoke alarm would have gone off lonnnnng back...

Anyway,he refused to relent and that was the end of our meaningless discussion.Nowadays i feel that my attempt to communicate has only worsened things.He is more noisy now and well,i feel he is probably causing more trouble with glee....Hmmm,so thats that.we have no option but to grit and bear till our lease period is over.only then we can move from this zoo!

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