How I survived a matchbox PG room

Kritika Kanwar

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I came to Chandigarh 12 years ago as a 17-year-old girl. I remember my father giving me clear-cut instructions about how he would never allow me to stay in PG accommodations no matter how stringent hostel timings were.

A few years down the line, I realised how his decision only turned out to be a blessing for me.

After spending seven good years in safe and secured hostels in Chandigarh (first at MCM DAV College and then the PU), I had to bid goodbye to my comfort zone and move to a completely new sector — I was no longer a student and had already secured a job. The happiness of beginning a financially independent life was cut short by an unsavoury experience as a paying guest, which I am bound to recall after the recent incident of PG inferno in Sector 32. After joining an office in Sector 17, I had to stay at a friend’s PG accommodation in Sector 15, Chandigarh, for a few days. Since, she was already adjusting with two other girls, it became imminent for me to search a place for myself as soon as possible. After spending strenuous hours at work, I would embark on a house-hunting journey in the evening — only to end up frustrated at the end of the day. The ‘to-let’ boards used to fill me with hope but it would always turn out to be short-lived after I was shown dingy and overcrowded rooms with wooden partitions.

Adding fuel to the fire were snob owners who would often ask me uncomfortable questions. After multiple visits to Sector 22, I finally settled for a room. To say that it would not have qualified even to be a storeroom would be an understatement. Considering its proximity to my office and single occupancy, the idea of putting up in that matchbox room, for which I was charged Rs 4,000, seemed to be convenient. I had not even settled down in my room, when my landlady came up with a list of dos and dont’s. I was not allowed to switch on light for long so as to save the electricity bill. What came as a blow was that I was not even allowed to lock my room. Also, she would borrow one thing or the other each day, never to be returned.

She had also rented out the upper portion of her house to boys. One day, I came back from office only to find her yelling at a guy and calling him names for “stealing” the pillow given by her, while vacating his room.

Landlords in Chandigarh are known to be stingy and money-minded, but what happened after two months of my stay in that room proved to be the last nail in the coffin. I had gone to my hometown for a week. As usual, I was not allowed to lock the room. After I came back, I found that my towel and other belongings were not in place. All hell broke loose when a girl staying next to room told me that my landlady had rented out my room for six days to a guy who was in dire need of an accommodation and was charging him Rs 100 per day! Not only this, he was also using my belongings.

Too shocked to believe what I had seen and what I was told, I called up my parents who took me back to my hometown.

I was lucky that just after a few months, my parents shifted to Chandigarh permanently and I started staying with them. Sadly, the girls who lost their lives in Sector 32 fire incident and Sector 22 murder case were not.

Such incidents have again highlighted how offering PG accommodations has become a cottage industry in the city. With owners paying scant regard to the basic amenities, the recent fire incident was a tragedy waiting to happen.