As The Landlady Raves & Rants… 
…And boy, does she have a knack for monologues…especially with unsuspecting paying guests like me.
She has not an ounce of flamboyance in her, which makes it very difficult to listen without drifting off in precisely 60 seconds. I have no choice but to switch to ‘tune out’ mode. I nod every couple of seconds, feigning approval ( inevitable since she talks a lot and hardly listens).
Also, she’s a reincarnation of Uncle Scrooge and stingy as ever. And one more thing, she loves to interfere. She once yelled at my roommate for recycling MY newspapers, because I usually got about Rs.4 for a kilo is I sold them, like it’s any of her business anyways.
Hmmm…MOVE, you might tell me or else live alone. Well, landladies/lords are mostly all the same. I’ve had about 5 or 6 till now, and every person has been no. 1, old. No.2, possessed a quirk.
Except for this one (late) elderly Maharashtrian lady in Pune who constantly reiterated that she was “broad-minded like the Parsis and Christians because she has moved about in society”! True to her belief, she was a dear.
The sad thing most landladies is that they are aged. Thier kids have moved out or simply have no time for them. So, they resort to keeping paying guests, to make some money, but more so I suspect, for company.
The tragedy is that, they are so domineering and regimental in their ways, that it’s impossible to develop any sort of relationship with them, let alone one which borders on the affectionate. They blow hot, and then blow cold (mostly cold, and hot when they get lonely). It’s very sad, but true…
