I just can’t take this any more. The weather is getting hot a real sultry humid Mumbai hot when you can’t make it whether the moisture on your face is the humidity or your sweat or possibly both. For a whole year now our  building is covered with scaffolding while the structure is being reinforced. Over the years the structure has developed cracks and the plaster is being scraped off to expose the iron rods that are now rust encrusted. Once the rust is scraped off, the rods are treated with a polymer to prevent further rusting and then the walls are re plastered and painted.

One of the joys of  living in a high rise building is that you can hear noises from all over the place. In addition to this is the frequent banging and hammering as every new owner feels obliged to leave his mark on the flat he is going to occupy. Nowhere in the world are such alterations and modifications possible but in India we are like that only.

But today I’ve reached the end of my patience. One month of heat and dust has made my angina and asthma play up and unless I have a few puffs of my seroflo I have to cough myself to sleep. So I’ve decided to abandon my plans of refurbishing my house, at least for the time being. I need to get back my house the way it was before the walls were savaged with newly laid wiring. I want to regain my kitchen, regain my space and regain my sanity.

I am fed up of providing old sheets and newspapers, rags, buckets, basins, ladders and step stools. I can’t imagine why contractors don’t carry this equipment with them. But since they don’t and I’ve engaged them to do my work, I have to run around when they ask for any stuff.

So I’ve out a stop to the work .