19.0 It Is Pathetic To Stay Away From Home. Written By A Weeping Heart.

As I wrote a few stories about the boarding house in the last post, I decided to write about my boarding house in this blog post. As there are many things to write, I decided to write two posts.

I went to another school for advanced levels and, there was about 20 km from the school to home. Those days most of the weekdays I had evening tuition classes, and my parents decided to board me in a place that is near to the school. My father's friend found out that place and, it was an ancient house called 'Walawwa.

The owner of the boarding house was an Aunty. Her husband passed away and, all of her children were out of the country except for one daughter. That is why she started boarding at her house. By then I was 17 years old. She was the strictest woman I met during that time period besides Principal madam in our school. However, we grew up well by adhering with her own and strict rules though it was a tough time. Always we had to follow up on the right thing and, there was no small space for any kind of fault. 

Sometimes it was a big headache for us to adhere to her own rules in mid of the exam pressure. Though it's a big home, later on, she sold some spaces to shops and a medical dispensary. As her children lived in some other countries, they also do not need that home. Because of those reasons, she kept a reasonable space for her. However, still, it was a big house and, we could imagine how big a house it was. Those days she taught English at home and, there were a few evening classes. She did more work than her age, and she was a strong, courageous woman.

This was the first time where I lived out of the home and, my family members. On that day, my parents and sister came to drop me to the boarding place. They arranged everything for me and, spent a few hours at boarding place with me. I wanted to cry when they were leaving and, it was a terrible moment for me. 

I felt like I lost them. I felt like something has stuck in my throat. Therefore, I did not talk to them much when they were leaving. When they dropped me there, my sister laughed and said that she could be the queen at home now. But my mother told me that she cried later. However, she did not show it to me and, hid her tears. We two always maintained our statuses as siblings and, we do not want to show our loving feelings for each other as most of the time, we had fights and arguments. Therefore, I was so glad, once I got to know that she cried because of me. Lol...

So, the first day in the boarding house was a messy day and, I behaved like a robot. There was only one friend and, I did not know others. I took a very little meal for dinner, though others asked me to have more. I slept very early on that day and, my friend laughed a lot by looking at my abnormal behaviors. There was no separate study room, and there were a few tables in the bedroom to do studies as well. 

Therefore, all the lights switched on and, I could not sleep till they switch off the lights. So, it was a terrible day, and I wanted to go back home. There were two rooms for boarding mates. Altogether, there were five boarding mates. At that time three of us studied for advanced levels and, another schoolgirl was younger than us. The other small room used by an elder sister who did a job. After a few months, she left the boarding place and, aunty gave that room for another two schoolgirls who studied in our school. Then there was a gang with six members. 

The main problem I had at the boarding place was the food. I did not have any option, though I did not like to have a given meal. So, earlier I did not eat and, had a small snack like biscuits. However, it was not a good solution as it happened in many days. 

Therefore, gradually I used to have a given meal. At the boarding place, I had many foods that I have not even touched at home. I could say that I had to eat whatever aunty's servant prepared for us. Soya meat was one main curry she cooked for us most of the day. Apart from that, there was potatoes curry which was not suitable for a curry. When she prepared it for lunch, we knew that it's available for dinner as well. So, it was the most unpleasant curry we had at the boarding place. Those days, I stopped eating eggs and fish as well because of the way they have prepared and some other reasons. More information is available in the 'Eggs' post. 

When I was coming to school from home, I had a heavy diet for my breakfast. So, the breakfast I had at the boarding place was not enough for me and, I was hungry within the next two to three hours. We had lunch after school. So, aunty gave the same breakfast for the school interval and, we brought rice or bread with two curries. We brought the remaining food and, most of the time it was not enough for some of us. But we did not say anything because it has fallen under the additional food category. Lol... However, it was not a big problem as we have shared food with other friends at school. Those days each of us did not eat food separately and, we ate one lunch packet at a time. 

As my one was not qualified for this process, my friends put my rice and curries on top of the other's lunch packet. So, my parents sent lunch for me for a few days by a sister who was coming by a school van. It was a big lunch packet and, they did not forget to put chocolate or toffees as the dessert. My friends also would love to eat it. However, the food of our boarding place was in good condition when compared to the other boarding places. We did not suffer from stomach aches because of food. Therefore, most of them accepted that our aunty treated us well. On the other side, others respected her a lot because of her decent behaviors. 

In addition to eating and drinking, the other problem was using the bathroom. Always there was a queue to go to the bathroom every morning as there were about eight people in the boarding house. We could not stay for more than ten minutes as someone was there to yell and ask to come. 

I took time more than the others, though I went to wash my face even. Therefore, others asked me to go to the washroom at the earliest or last. I decided to go at last and, it avoids getting up early in the morning. However, still, I could not do my job peacefully by taking the time I want, as aunty wanted to use the bathroom once all of us finished. So, most of the day I had to hear her bathroom song. 

Therefore, it was a tension to use the bathroom in the morning. It was a bonus tension for me with exam pressure. Apart from that issue, we had to follow up bathroom rules given by aunty. As the main rule, she asked us not to use the commode seat. However, it was the rule that I broke up as well. I could not sit without a commode seat as it brings pain in my back. That bathroom was attached to the aunty's room. So, we had to reduce whatever sounds as much as possible when she was sleeping. However, her bathroom rules violated human rights. Lol...

Aunty did not like to lash the walls. The mosquito net was also hung on the roof. One day, the hook used to hang my mosquito net broke, and then we had to use a nail. After that, we painted that black nail and hole in the wall using white glue as wall paint also white. According to her another rule, we had to switch on a few lights when studying at night. 

We switched on the light in the dining area when we were going to the bathroom as we had to go through that area. So, that area lightened as daylight for a few minutes. If aunty woke up at that time, she thought that we switched on all the lights for the whole night. Though all of us explained it, she did not believe us. Later on, we brought a torch as a solution. However, we could stay mid of all those rules as all of us lived there like siblings. Therefore, we did not care much about the unwanted rules she brought up for us. 

The very first days at the boarding place were very uncomfortable for me. Eating, bathing, sleeping, studying and everything was a big mess for me. My behaviors were like an alien for a couple of weeks. It sorted out once others were friendly with me. The other problem was doing my work by myself. 

At home, my parents supported me. But here, I had to manage my work. It also sorted out later gradually. Those days I did not wash my clothes at boarding place and, brought them home every weekend. The clothes washed at home and, took back to boarding every Monday. It was my procedure. Some days I did not wash my school shoes because of the workload I had to manage by myself. One day a boy gave me an unpleasant look by looking at my dirty shoes when I was returning to the boarding place after evening classes. It was a big shame for me and, after that, I washed my shoes regularly. Before that, I did not much care even though a few of them advised me at school. But that boy's reaction was a shame for me.

We used aunty's land phone and, took some phone calls without her permission. That was the only unwanted thing we did and, at that time we behaved like thieves. Aunty got to know about our phone calls and, she asked us not to take calls from her phone when she was not at home. That was one main advice she gave when going out among the many bits of advice. When Auntie goes on a long journey, it's her custom to remind everyone about the rules and procedures. We loved such days as we could have meals from a nearby restaurant.

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