The YWCAs of Bangalore city

In mid July, me and Mira embarked on an Emirates flight to Bangalore to help her settle into a hostel in the city during her internship at an online magazine/platform. After scanning google search results and reviews, we chose the YWCA in Koramangla which according to its warden had double and triple sharing rooms for working women. The other YWCA on Infantry Road was nearer her workplace but looked pretty old and the rooms more crowded. Mira said she couldnt live with more than one person which was what her uni hostel rooms had prepared her.

We took an Uber to the place on a day the taxis went on a lightning strike at the airport. The warden was waiting for us, and we filled the formalities. She told us that the minimum stay was for six months and Mira would forfeit her deposit of 10k if she left before that. She could instead furnish a letter from her uni to prove that her internship didnt last that long. There was no lift, and we were offered a double sharing guest room on the second floor. The cleaning ladies lugged our heavy suitcases up the stairs  but I was told not to tip any one person in particular. The warden showed prospective rooms Mira could occupy. It was neat yet it gave us both a sick feeling. I guess it was a long time since I had lived in such places. The hostel only provided dinner but the other meals could be arranged through a lady caterer. There was no washing machine and the girls could wash their clothes on a stone on the terrace.

We decided we would check out the other YWCA before deciding where she would live. It was on old colonial building which had a school in its premises. The staff were very courteous and we were offered tea before they showed us a room for four - effectively three as one lady in the room came only once a week from Chennai. I decided the place was more suitable although the bathroom in the room had a long window that couldnt be fully closed. The food and kitchen seemed homely. 

However, after we had paid the fees - for my guest room and Mira's regular room - the warden told us that we shouldnt mind the cats as they helped to catch the rats in the building. That gave us a scare - residents were strictly asked to eat on the dining table and not in their rooms; keeping snacks in the room was also kinda forbidden.

I liked the food - soft idlis, tasty pulav and rotis with curry - that they served during the one week I was there. An old Tamil speaking lady guarded the hall and the girls in the night along with her cats (during the day she worked in the bungalow of the YWCA's Anglo Indian convenor). The mornings were made lively by the schoolchildren who sang hymns and the national anthem at the school assembly and piled their bags under the huge banyan tree in the compound. 

Mira left after 15 days as she didnt like the internship. She however made friends at the YWCA and enjoyed the company of her roommates and vouched that having more than one roomie wasnt a bad idea after all.