We shifted our house in 2021, from Chotta Shimla…

We shifted our house in 2021, from Chotta Shimla to New Shimla. We had only one day to do it because the new tenants were coming the next day.

We booked a small pickup truck. My father, me, and the driver. Three people.It started raining at 10 am. Not heavy, but that Shimla wala continuous rain which makes everything slippery.

We had this old almirah. Very heavy, my grandfather's. Four people are needed to lift it. But we were only three. We tried to push it down the stairs. Halfway down, the driver slipped. The almirah hit the wall and one of its legs broke. Loud sound.My mother came out and shouted "aaram se karo, kya kar rahe ho."

We left it there on the stairs for 20 minutes, just standing in the rain, covered with a plastic sheet. Then we called our neighbour's son. He came, and finally we lifted it.

The truck had two trips. On the second trip, my box full of books got wet because the tarpaulin had a hole. All my 10th class notebooks, all wet. The ink was spreading. I tried to dry them with a hair dryer later but they became hard and wavy.We reached the new house at 7 pm. All of us were wet, tired. No geyser working yet. We ate bread and pickle sitting on the floor because the gas wasn't connected.My mother was crying a little, not because she was sad, but because she was tired. My father said "ho gaya na, bas."

That night we all slept in one room on mattresses. That was the first and last time we all slept in the same room after I grew up.