Is public being Studentsphobic?

Few days back we had been contacting a no. of property dealers, wandering in sun, tanning our skins, looking for a flat. Now when we got a shelter to stay and a home to enjoy and of course to pursue our studies, it takes me with awe while recalling the days full of anguish and the times when we were going through ordeal.

Thanks to wonderful Tiffin facility and crowdie ambience at Mukherjeenagar which made three of us, college mates and UPSC aspirants, look for a common flat in quest for comfort, good food, freedom and peace. Our target was to find a house where right to privacy of every occupant can be realised and moreover a house which is spacious with good ambience.

As we had earlier experience while searching for rooms in the beginning, we knew, it was never easy to find the house for rent in Delhi and it becomes even more difficult for students to find houses with their pockets already low in money power. Gone are days when affording a house was easy and cheap. In the era of population explosion and real estate sector boom willing for an easy and cheap accommodation has remained merely a nightmare.  Due to exponential rise in population and shortage of land to be accommodated price rise for the land and housing facilities is inevitable. Further cartelisation by property dealers has only added salt to the wounds especially to the students who unlike others cannot afford the houses with usurious prices.

Flat hunting was not pleasant for the trio. We three friends have been together since college days, belonging to U.P., Bihar and Jharkhand respectively. While looking for the houses, be it dealers or house owners were interested in knowing which place we belong to? Few of them were hesitant to offer their houses for renting just because one of us was from Bihar and another from Jharkhand, erstwhile Bihar. Few of the dealers even suggested us to conceal our real identity in order to fetch a house.

Though the state Bihar has always been in news for notorious reasons and a topic of debate for its backwardness and illiteracy, in recent years it has shown tremendous growth in terms of literacy rate and economic growth. For the time being lets suppose people are not aware of the growth stories of Bihar in recent years, however, students from Bihar thronging IITs and UPSC final list had many times hogged the headlines in news daily. Ok let us leave everything, be it growth stories of Bihar or proven competence by students of this state in competitive examinations, we three wanted just an accommodation for our studies but the house owners were investigating as if we were planning any terrorist activity.    

Even after 8-10 days of drudgery when we could not find the house. At last one of my friends seemed to the beacon of hope and believe me she has been of great help to us. Without her help it couldn’t have been possible to find the house of our choice. Right from arranging the contact details of dealers to finalizing the house, she was involved. In the end a house drew our attention; spacious, ground floor, beautiful park view however a bit older. Shabby walls and dirty floor were initially a deterrent. The flat desperately needs a whitewash and cleaning once before it becomes worth staying there. Frankly speaking I did not like the house but amid constraints this flat seemed to be the best choice to opt for and we chose it as well. By its appearance it was quite sure that none has stayed there since months and speculations of its being either haunted or with affected with any abnormality was widespread among us, how lame! Good or bad be it, can only be judged once we start staying there. Running short of time for our preparations, affording another day or two for flat hunting is impossible. Hoping for a good stay there with my friends, I wish the house be the memorable and we achieve our much awaited and elusive goal there. All the best!     

Though we got a house and I am sure of a wonderful and pleasant stay there, I am left with sea of questions. Are we living in a society where trust deficit is widening, suspicion is widespread and people with xenophobia are conspicuous by their presence? It was quite surprising that people keep primordial and regional identities before national identities. Is the nation still in the building? Though media has indeed compelled people to be islamophobic, whether they are STUDENTPHOBIC also?  It is true that country has witnessed many terrorist activities and many of them are performed by the people who had disguised their identities. Notwithstanding that is it good to be overcautious, isn’t it a blot to the national harmony and unity?