Mumbai is a very difficult city. You will either love it or hate it. Daisy loved it, she loved every thing about it, the people, the buzz, the chaos and even the smell that every one complained about. Daisy was from Coorg, while studying in Mount Carmel in Bangalore, she had tagged along with a friend of hers for an audition, her friend did not get the part, she did. She was over the moon, and then that started the ball rolling, she participated in the Modelhunt competition held by a leading magazine. She placed on the top three and was invited to Mumbai to participate in the finals, where she did not win but came in second, but was completely starstruck. A famous Bollywood actor crowned her, and she got business cards from all the top agencies. “This is where I need to be, I am not going back to Bangalore”. She then pleaded with her Dad and Mom to let her try her hand at modelling, her father gave in after much negotiations, Daisy would have to finish her college and then she would be given 6 months in Mumbai. “Ok, that sounds fair”, she told her Dad.
Coming to Mumbai was tough, she had to find her self a home, the biggest question single women face in the vast city, but the God’s were smiling down at her, she knew it was a good omen, when in an audition she met another girl from Bangalore. Kavita was a Kannidiga and had moved to Mumbai to try her hand at modeling. She lived in an old part of Bandra , right behind Hill road in the fishing village, in a huge house shared with 3 other girls in the fishing village, the rent was moderate, and they had place for one more girl. Daisy moved in that day. She got the room upstairs, it had a tiled roof, and was absolutely bare. She went out and bought herself a mattress, one pillow and some sheets. She was quickly told the rules in the house, every girl had their own shelf in the fridge, bills split equally, and if boys stay over, they were not to disturb the other girls. Privacy was the most important thing for all the girls. She quickly became friends with all the others in the house, each woman was connected to the media in some way. Pia was a Maharastrian from Kolhapur and worked as the head of production with one of the best advertising house’s in Mumbai. She was no nonsense woman, with a heart of gold and bad taste in men. Malini was from Delhi, half Punjabi and half Scottish, she was a fabulous mix, and worked in as Veejay in one of the top music channels in the country. Parizad was a Parsi, she was married and divorced and was a voice over specialist and a Radio jockey.
Daisy’s career took off, and she was flying all over the country doing shows, and ads, and generally life was good. She periodically joked with her house mates, that the house was a place where she came to wash her clothes. She did not mind the travel, it was hectic and fun, though she did get a bit lonely sometimes. She quickly shook her self out of any such thoughts and realized that she would not exchange this life for any thing else. One day she came home in the afternoon, as usual, and there was a palpable quiet in the house. She went up to her room and came down to make a cup of tea. She heard loud sobbing coming from Malini’s room. Not wanting to intrude on her privacy, Daisy made her cup of tea and went into the dining room. She was sitting sipping her tea and dipping her Marie biscuits in the tea, and generally enjoying the peace and quiet, when Malini walked in. Her face was swollen and her eyes puffed up from continuously crying. She walked past Daisy, went to the cupboard, took out a bottle of Vodka, and walked back into her room. Daisy was now a bit alarmed. Wondering what she should do, she went looking for her room mates. She found Pia and Kavita sitting in Pia’s room, both were reading. So immersed in their reading were they , they did not even look up when Daisy entered. Its only when she spoke did they look up. She quietly told them about Malini, they looked at her and Pia rolled her eyes. Kavita told her in Kannada to just ignore the whole thing.
The next day Daisy was off to Goa for a shoot for a calendar for a liquor baron. When she returned, one week later, everything seemed to okay again. Relieved, as she hated drama, Daisy went to her room and having been exhausted with all the work and partying in Goa, she decided to crash, even though it was only the morning, she told Kavita she did not want to be disturbed and to take a message if the phone rang. She slept soundly, but around two was woken with some sounds downstairs. Thinking that it was an intruder, she picked up her tennis racket, and walked down the stairs as stealthily as she could. The sound was coming from the kitchen, and as she approached she saw a light. Feeling foolish that no burglar would switch on lights, she put down her tennis racket and walked into the kitchen to find Malini cutting onions, her eyes were streaming with tears. There were about twenty onions in a basket and a huge mound of chopped onions on one side. Daisy approached her and said “Every thing okay? Why are you chopping onions in the middle of the night?”, to which Malini replied that she was going to cook. So Daisy asked her if she could help. Malini told her no, “just leave me alone and go back to sleep”. Slightly alarmed by her tone, Daisy went to Kavita’s door and knocked on her door, Kavita came out, looking very sleepy. Daisy explained to her what was happening downstairs, they then came down together, they then went to Parizad’s room and woke her up. Parizad, being the oldest of the lot, took matters into her own hands, marched into the kitchen and asked Malini “what the hell are you doing in the middle of the night?”. They started arguing, voices steadily rising till they were both were screaming at each other. Daisy did not understand every thing, but “boyfriend dumped me”, “selfish ass”, “get a grip” was being shouted at each other. Finally Malini picked up the knife and turned, screaming like a banshee, with a look of madness in her eyes, charged at Parizad. What followed was that all three women, scattered, Daisy ran up the stairs, Kavita towards the front door and Parizad towards her bedroom. In the commotion, Daisy found she was still holding her tennis racket. She turned and ran down the stairs, and went running behind Malini, who was now chasing Parizad around the dining room, both screaming obscenities at each other. Daisy took a wide swing and hit Malini, the racket caught Malini on her arm and the knife fell down, then Daisy hit her again, but this time, at the back of her legs. Malini fell down, Parizad threw her self on top of her and tried to restrain her. By now Kavita was in the room, she also jumped on Malini.
At this point, the front door opened and in walked Pia, with her production team. They had gone pubbing and had come over a late night meal, of omelette sandwiches and tea. They came running into the dining room on hearing the commotion and found a sobbing Malini , straddled by Parizad and Kavita while Daisy had gone to get a bucket of water to throw on her. They all were separated, and over much accusations, and indignant statements, the story was narrated.
Malini had been dumped by her model/actor boyfriend, and had not taken it too kindly to find out that he had dumped her for another Veejay in the same channel. To make matters worse, she was the last one to know about it, and Malini concluded “she is soo bloody ugly, how could he dump me for her?” Pia, went into the kitchen first made tea for everybody, then used some of the chopped onions to make the omlettes, and then after feeding every body, told all present to go either go home or into their rooms.
The next day, Malini was asked to move out, it was a unanimous decision , as Pia told her “we had enough of your attention getting drama, we all have our ups and downs, but my God you take the cake and the bakery.” That evening she left for Scotland to be with her family, and peace returned to the house.
Coming to Mumbai was tough, she had to find her self a home, the biggest question single women face in the vast city, but the God’s were smiling down at her, she knew it was a good omen, when in an audition she met another girl from Bangalore. Kavita was a Kannidiga and had moved to Mumbai to try her hand at modeling. She lived in an old part of Bandra , right behind Hill road in the fishing village, in a huge house shared with 3 other girls in the fishing village, the rent was moderate, and they had place for one more girl. Daisy moved in that day. She got the room upstairs, it had a tiled roof, and was absolutely bare. She went out and bought herself a mattress, one pillow and some sheets. She was quickly told the rules in the house, every girl had their own shelf in the fridge, bills split equally, and if boys stay over, they were not to disturb the other girls. Privacy was the most important thing for all the girls. She quickly became friends with all the others in the house, each woman was connected to the media in some way. Pia was a Maharastrian from Kolhapur and worked as the head of production with one of the best advertising house’s in Mumbai. She was no nonsense woman, with a heart of gold and bad taste in men. Malini was from Delhi, half Punjabi and half Scottish, she was a fabulous mix, and worked in as Veejay in one of the top music channels in the country. Parizad was a Parsi, she was married and divorced and was a voice over specialist and a Radio jockey.
Daisy’s career took off, and she was flying all over the country doing shows, and ads, and generally life was good. She periodically joked with her house mates, that the house was a place where she came to wash her clothes. She did not mind the travel, it was hectic and fun, though she did get a bit lonely sometimes. She quickly shook her self out of any such thoughts and realized that she would not exchange this life for any thing else. One day she came home in the afternoon, as usual, and there was a palpable quiet in the house. She went up to her room and came down to make a cup of tea. She heard loud sobbing coming from Malini’s room. Not wanting to intrude on her privacy, Daisy made her cup of tea and went into the dining room. She was sitting sipping her tea and dipping her Marie biscuits in the tea, and generally enjoying the peace and quiet, when Malini walked in. Her face was swollen and her eyes puffed up from continuously crying. She walked past Daisy, went to the cupboard, took out a bottle of Vodka, and walked back into her room. Daisy was now a bit alarmed. Wondering what she should do, she went looking for her room mates. She found Pia and Kavita sitting in Pia’s room, both were reading. So immersed in their reading were they , they did not even look up when Daisy entered. Its only when she spoke did they look up. She quietly told them about Malini, they looked at her and Pia rolled her eyes. Kavita told her in Kannada to just ignore the whole thing.
The next day Daisy was off to Goa for a shoot for a calendar for a liquor baron. When she returned, one week later, everything seemed to okay again. Relieved, as she hated drama, Daisy went to her room and having been exhausted with all the work and partying in Goa, she decided to crash, even though it was only the morning, she told Kavita she did not want to be disturbed and to take a message if the phone rang. She slept soundly, but around two was woken with some sounds downstairs. Thinking that it was an intruder, she picked up her tennis racket, and walked down the stairs as stealthily as she could. The sound was coming from the kitchen, and as she approached she saw a light. Feeling foolish that no burglar would switch on lights, she put down her tennis racket and walked into the kitchen to find Malini cutting onions, her eyes were streaming with tears. There were about twenty onions in a basket and a huge mound of chopped onions on one side. Daisy approached her and said “Every thing okay? Why are you chopping onions in the middle of the night?”, to which Malini replied that she was going to cook. So Daisy asked her if she could help. Malini told her no, “just leave me alone and go back to sleep”. Slightly alarmed by her tone, Daisy went to Kavita’s door and knocked on her door, Kavita came out, looking very sleepy. Daisy explained to her what was happening downstairs, they then came down together, they then went to Parizad’s room and woke her up. Parizad, being the oldest of the lot, took matters into her own hands, marched into the kitchen and asked Malini “what the hell are you doing in the middle of the night?”. They started arguing, voices steadily rising till they were both were screaming at each other. Daisy did not understand every thing, but “boyfriend dumped me”, “selfish ass”, “get a grip” was being shouted at each other. Finally Malini picked up the knife and turned, screaming like a banshee, with a look of madness in her eyes, charged at Parizad. What followed was that all three women, scattered, Daisy ran up the stairs, Kavita towards the front door and Parizad towards her bedroom. In the commotion, Daisy found she was still holding her tennis racket. She turned and ran down the stairs, and went running behind Malini, who was now chasing Parizad around the dining room, both screaming obscenities at each other. Daisy took a wide swing and hit Malini, the racket caught Malini on her arm and the knife fell down, then Daisy hit her again, but this time, at the back of her legs. Malini fell down, Parizad threw her self on top of her and tried to restrain her. By now Kavita was in the room, she also jumped on Malini.
At this point, the front door opened and in walked Pia, with her production team. They had gone pubbing and had come over a late night meal, of omelette sandwiches and tea. They came running into the dining room on hearing the commotion and found a sobbing Malini , straddled by Parizad and Kavita while Daisy had gone to get a bucket of water to throw on her. They all were separated, and over much accusations, and indignant statements, the story was narrated.
Malini had been dumped by her model/actor boyfriend, and had not taken it too kindly to find out that he had dumped her for another Veejay in the same channel. To make matters worse, she was the last one to know about it, and Malini concluded “she is soo bloody ugly, how could he dump me for her?” Pia, went into the kitchen first made tea for everybody, then used some of the chopped onions to make the omlettes, and then after feeding every body, told all present to go either go home or into their rooms.
The next day, Malini was asked to move out, it was a unanimous decision , as Pia told her “we had enough of your attention getting drama, we all have our ups and downs, but my God you take the cake and the bakery.” That evening she left for Scotland to be with her family, and peace returned to the house.
