In a mad man’s world

Scratches and dents, pain and loss;
Anger, shock and revenge after a pause.
Irritation, frustration and pent up rage;
Hatred, disbelief, plans of a war to wage.
Some of life’s surprises leave us appalled
When we live in a mad man’s world!

P.S.: Loooong post ahead.

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July 3, 2010: The Grande Punto came home.

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July 10, 2010: Punto gets its first deep scratch across the bonnet and on the side, near the left rear view mirror.

*we send swears at the ever-irritating passers-by who can’t bear to see a spotless car in town*

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October 1, 2010: Punto gets a new scratch on the front left door.

*devil be on you, you horrid passer-by*

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October 2, 2010: Punto gets a new scratch on the bonnet again.

*why us, why why why?*

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October 3, 2010: Two of our plants are broken off and thrown into our compound.

*now, one needs no rocket science to figure out this is no passer-by; it’s someone with a malicious intent*

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October 4, 2010: We install a web-cam to video record our cars and who/what’s damaging it. We see the following footage the next day morning…and we are shocked!

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This was at approximately 5.18 a.m.

This was at approximately 5.18 a.m. That’s him bending the antenna of dad’s car, the Alto. And he scratches on the bonnet…but since there’s nothing sharp with him, there’s minimal damage. So he goes back to his house and returns 10 minutes later.

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And then, again, at 5.26 a.m, he returns with his car key, scratches our car, and returns to his car.

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Since the web-cam was installed on the second floor, the face is not clear, though we can clearly make out who it is. But, as ‘evidence’, this will not pass. So, we decide to wait it out another day and install it again that night.We buy one more cam and install them both at two different spots.

We see this the next morning…again, done at approximately 5.20 a.m. He comes out of his house, throws waste into our compound and goes back. On the way back, he changes his decision and comes back to dad’s Alto and bends the antenna again and makes it an ‘Z’. You can see him only through the car window here since our kitchen window blocked view.

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One more plant attacked.

We call in our house owner and detail the incident, showing  him the footage. We have a couple of hours’ discussions, along with a friend of his who stays close by. They take a look at our cars — the Punto and the Alto — all the while, talking loudly on the road. The house owner tells us to approach the Residents’ Association before going to the law. The Association President is out of town for 3 days…so we wait again. But the web-cam runs everyday. And gives us more and more evidence everyday.

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We see this the next day, done again at approx. 5.30 a.m. Here again, he is on his way after damagin another plant, and scratches the back door of the Punto.

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And the next day…at approx. 4.50 a.m., on his way back after parking his car at a safe spot, putting his hand in through our gate and breaking off two of my Christmas trees!

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And the next…at approx. 5.45 a.m. Here he scratches the back door of the Alto and moves to the boot. We found two deep scratches on the boot in the morning.

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It’s October 13, 2010 that day. That’s all we are willing to wait. There are now 7 scratches on the Punto; the Alto has suffered multiple scratches all around, plus one bent antenna now resembling an ‘Z’. I’ve lost 7 of my plants.

We have to nail the a*s*o*e asap, before he annihilates all our plants…and the cars! We know who it is…and we decided to make sure the entire locality know who it is. It’s our neighbour, Mr Govindaraju, who lives at #196, 5th cross, S.T. Bed, Koramangala 4th Block. Bloody &^#@%*)(^%#@%&*)(&&$$#@%^&( !!!

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Flash back to Feb, March, April, May, June…

We rented this house out in February 2010. We had a Pulsar and a Matiz, then. The neighbour [who lives on the other side of the road, and has ample parking space for the bike inside his compound, and for the car on his side of the road] always insisted on parking his car and bike on our side of the road, or even on the footpath adjoining our compound wall. We never complained (though we should have).

Ours is a corner house, so we get two sides of the house to park our vehicles against. We decided to let him park there, while we parked on the other side. In April 2010, dad and mom shifted to Bangalore. Which added an Alto to the family. Only one car can be parked on the other side of the house…and that’s where the Matiz rested. So, the Alto took the other side, always cringing for space after the neighbour’s Maruti 800. We never complained (though we should have).

We could see how possessive he was of his vehicles. Even if dad parks his Alto a bit further towards where he parks, the minute dad drives off to some place, he’ll rush out and re-claim his spot!And when the Alto and Maruti were parked bumper to bumper, with barely enough space for one person to fit in between, he’d park his bike in that weeny bit of a space, mostly kissing the Alto’s bumper. We never complained (though we should have).

When the Punto came home, we decided to talk to him and claim the space…but we didn’t; till July 9th, about a week after the Punto came.

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Flash back to July 9, 2010.

The husband had gone ot office in the new car that day, the next day being a second Saturday, a holiday. When he reaches home, we see our neighbour’s car parked in front of our house, and his bika also parked behind it, lengthwise, leaving no space for our Punto or for Dad’s Alto. Owing to lack of space, Dad had parked his Alto where we used to park the Punto. When the husband came back, he saw the bike parked lengthwise behind the Maruti, leaving no space anywhere for his car.

He parked it in front of our gate, walked over to the neighbour’s house and requested him to “please remove your car from there, I need to park mine.” The man came out and took away the bike. To put an end to this drama, the husband again told him “we have two cars now, and we need to park them here…so please park your car on your side of the house”. The man said he’ll do it later, to which the husband insisted he do it “now”. So he said he misplaced the keys and couldn’t do it then. The husband then got a bit irritated and said “No Sir, you’ll have to do it right away. I need to park my car.” And that’s when the man began yelling at the husband, saying “I’ll do what I want…let me see what you’ll do. Who are you to come here and talk to me like this…” and tried to slam the door on his face. The husband put a foot between the door and said “Now. I want your car removed from that spot now, because I have to park my car.” The man screamed the daylights out of the husband and refused to do it. The husband came back seething.

I reached home late that day, and when the husband narrated this to me, I scolded him, saying you needn’t have made this an issue…I’d have approached them differently and all that. I guess he was really hurt that I didn’t support him. [Today, I regret having scolded him!] We decided not to spend a single moment talking to such low people and forgot the issue there. My dad took the Alto back to kiss the Maruti, and the Punto was parked on the other side, beneath the tree.

The next day, we saw a deep scratch on te bonnet of our Punto. We thought it was a passer-by and cursed him/her.

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Fast-forward to September 29, 2010.

On my way to office, another neighbour of mine called me in and told me that the spot we parked the Punto at wasn’t very safe. Apparently, the tenants who lived here earlier had bought a new car, and used to park it there. One day, a dry branch broke off the tree and crashed on to the windshield. She suggested we park both our cars on the other side itself. And then I told her that this man parks his car there, and he’ll fight for the spot. To which she rightly said ‘that isn’t his private property, so h can’t say anything”.

And then onwards, we began parking our car there. The Maruti automatically moved to his side of the road…and we were happy for the absence of any more quarrels. Until the scratches began appearing.

So, that was it. All for the loss of a parking spot, he began damaging our cars!!! he wakes up at 5 everyday, plucks flowers from all over the place, and then washes the front of her house…the footpath and in front of the gate. And recently, he’s added two more items to his daily routine: damaging our plants on the way back from flower plucking…and then parking his car near the Park (his idea of a safe spot, away from the busy road) and on his way back, damaging our cars before he begins the sweeping and mopping.

We accompanied the President, Vice-President and Secretary of the Residents’ Association and went to his place to interrogate. Only his wife was there then. She said since the husband shouted at him three months back, they bot had no affection for us. That a youngster being rude to a senior citizen is wrong, not acceptable, etc. That’s when we showed her the clippings…asking her if these were acceptable. She was shocked: she couldn’t believe her “senior citizen’ husband was capable of such cheap, underhand tactics. She apologised profusely and looked shattered!

Then he came in. He saw us sitting in his house, with the hot shots of the residents’ Association committee. And he gave us all a weird smile. The President asked him what was the issue between him and us. And his reply shocked us all: “What problem Sir? I have no problem. He is like my son…i like him a lot. I’m like his father. What problem sir!?” Am sure we all felt pity and scorn for him. I am unsure what the wife went through at that poor show show of fake emotions and affection! That’s when they told him about the ‘evidence’ and showed him the first clipping. He was looking at himself walking across the road and damaging the Alto’s antenna. I wonder what he went through at that moment. Well, we were all waiting with bated breath…when he said “no Sir, this is not me. Why would I do it? Why? I’m not that kind of a person at all”.

And for the next 3 hours, he kept repeating that “this horrid boy, like a Hitler, stood at my door and yelled at me”… He kept on saying that for at least 25 times (I’m NOT exaggerating here). He refused all logic and sense, and blatantly refused to accept blame. In spite of showing him these videos, he confidently said it’s not him. We were all surprised. We put in our demand then: he had to compensate for the damage he caused. He agreed…and how!? By taking out two Rs 500 notes and offering it to the husband, and when refused, to everyone else assembled there. We rephrased our demand then: get our cars repainted. If he thought he could cover it up with Rs 1000, he could think again. We said we’ll take both cars to the service station and get an estimate of the repairs to be done…and give the bill to him.

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He’ll pay for his sins!

We took the Punto to the service station and took an estimate: two doors, the bonnet and the area between the doors and bonnet. Repainting costs Rs 17,000 + taxes. About Rs 20,000.
We took the Alto to a local workshop and took an estimate: all around the car + one antenna.
Repainting + repair costs Rs 12,350. [If it were at a service station, easily ass about 3-5k]

The friendly neighbour’s total expense: MINIMUM Rs 30,000.

If he wanted it cheaper, he should’ve bought himself a blackboard and some chalk to practice drawing lessons! A*s*o*e!

Today is when he’ll get the bills from he Association President (we’ll hand it over to him to do the honours). Even if this freak gets a heart attack on seeing the ‘fruits’ of what he sowed, I wouldn’t care. I’ll make sure he pays up every single penny!

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The mental torture he put us through for about 10 days can’t be explained! We lost sleep, concentration at work, peace, appetite… Every time I see my plants, I can feel the hatred rising…and all I wanna do is make his life miserable forever. I keep thinking I should just forget and forgive, but I guess for once, I WONT do that. I DESPISE people who hurt others without any provocation.

If it had been done in a moment of anger, we would’ve understood: that’s human nature. But for a tiff that happened 3 months back, if he decided to plan and execute a cheap revenge 3 months later, he better pay for it. Others can ‘plan’ too.

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I’ve always hated Bangalore; and this event just adds one more to the list of “Why”s. But if the freak thinks we’re going to run away from here, he can think again. I’m going to invest in a CCTV, no matter how much it’ll cost me. We’ll live here and monitor him constantly. I’ll make sure he doesn’t trouble us (or anyone else, for that matter) ever again. If this is a psychological problem of his, like a neighbour mentioned, he should either be locked up…or beaten up till his senses come back! I have no sympathy for such miserable people!

Feels good to have vented this out; but it hasn’t taken away all my anger. I’m saving some for him!

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P.S.: I had been completely caught up in this…and was sooooo not able to blog. The only solace and comfort were reading all your blogs and forgetting this mad man for a few minutes every time one of you posted something. Thanks a ton for that, folks!

(On a lighter note.) In the midst of all this torture is when Vimmuuu calls a dozen times a day to ask his silly questions 😀 So, I HAD to put up that post on his questions (yes, Vimmuuu, I found time for that. I had to! :D)