We live in a flat on the first floor. There are six flats in our building there are four other families in the building as the flat on the ground floor under us is at present vacant. All the neighbours live in peace and harmony. But there is not much social contact and relation with one another. They are a bank manager, a lady teacher, a business man and a doctor.

The bank manager is a nice man and lives in the flat above ours. His wife is a housewife and religious minded. They have two sons. They both go to school. They are originally from West Bengal but speak Hindi very fluently. The manager is also the head of the Bengali Samaj of our locality. He is Chaterjee by caste. During Durga Puja he is very busy in organizing the Puja activities. On the top floor opposite us lives a businessman Mr. Ranjan Kapoor. He is very much busy in his factory of cardboard boxes at Noida. He leaves early in the morning and comes late at night. His wife is not educated and comes from a village in Haryana. She often throws the dust and dirt of her house out of her balcony. People have complained her about it many times. But these have fallen on deaf ears. Therefore, people have adopted an attitude of tolerance in the matter. Her two sons can be seen playing cricket or some other game most of the time after school hours. They are very noisy as well. They often throw bits of papers, toffee wrappers, orange skins etc., in the common passage and stairs.

The lady teacher opposite us on the first floor is our immediate neighbour. She is a widow and has a son and a daughter. The son is about 25years of age and works in a ministry as a section officer. The daughter is of my age and studies with me in the same school. But she is junior to me as I am in the tenth class and she is in ninth class. Her name is Saraswathi. She is tall, slim and beautiful and very much like her mother in appearance. The lady teacher teaches English in a nearby corporation middle school. On Sundays and other holidays she often comes to my mother and they both together enjoy talking and doing things. Saraswathi also comes to our house and sometimes I help in her lessons and homework.

The doctor is a jolly follow and can be often seen sharing jokes and pleasantries with others. He can be seen smoking sometimes.

He is also a good singer. He has a small clinic in the market and has a very good practice. His wife is a fat lady and very talkative. She enjoys advising others how to prepare this dish or that. She regards herself as the moving treasury of recipes. Their daughter Vasudhara is 6 years of age and really lovable. She studies in a convent school in the first standard. They also keep a dog. The dog sometimes becomes a nuisance when shut in the house alone. Then he goes on barking and barking till sometime returns home. When let loose he scares the children and frightens the ladies.

On such occasion as Diwali, Holi or Durga Puja all the 5 neighbours come together and exchange greetings, i.e., sweets and goodwishes but for the rest of the year every family is mostly confined to itself. But now it is a common feature. Social isolation and lack of contact and intimancy with one another is now the order of the day.