A New Beginning
Post dedicated to Nishant, Saurav, Chatty and Raj, who have selflessly allowed me to take refuge in their house in such testing times, I really hope you get rid of all the millions of cockroaches in your house someday; and also to all my IIT Bombay friends who have helped me create such a strong network that I believe such help will be available to me in almost every major city, not just in India, but in the whole wide world.
*********************************************************************
This is a story that almost everyone goes through while starting on their first jobs, or any job for that matter, especially when you are placed away from home. My tale is no different; only a bit more complicated since I initially had plans to go for higher studies abroad. My parents decided that it was time to move on, and wanted to move back to their native place. It was as if the timing was made by God. But then, fate always has other other plans. I couldn't land funding for my education; and have ended up in perhaps the best job that would have suited me in insti - an R&D job in an MNC which is just setting up such a center for the first time in the world - bringing 60 years worth experience in a start-up like scenario, a job which I might have landed even after an MS; but more on that later. This post is more about the other stuggles while shifting out - looking for accomodation. So sit back, relax and enjoy a thrilling tale filled with anxiety, uncertainty, freshiness, n00bity, hatred, cheating and desperation.
I was happy and in a way lucky to be placed in Pune - the land where the grass is green and the girls are pretty, even in insti; and that says a lot. Anyways, the current temporary office building is in Hinjewadi, an upcoming place outside Pune; and quite a few of my friends from insti and the seniors who work at the office live in Aundh, a newly developed area on the outskirts of Pune, but 12 km away from Hinjewadi; so it was obvious to me to look for a place in Aundh. Now, very few people from insti are placed in Pune, and most of them had already jugaadofied acco. The HR guys at my office were kind enough to give me 7 days worth of acco in my company guest house, after which I moved to Aundh with a few seniors - Mohanty, Nishant, Chatty and Raj, though I met Raj only after moving in with them. Now, the office was supposed to shift to Pimpri in about a month's time. Pimpri, Aundh and Hinjewadi form a rough equilateral triangle of length 12km and it is a difficult commute in the absence of a private vehicle.
My house hunting in Aundh was getting nowhere, especially due to the dearth of a flat-mate; and the work too, hadn't begun; we were shunted from room to room - wherever there's space - there have even been days when we had to change rooms 3 times! Luckily, I found another new joinee also looking for a flat. It was then that someone suggested that I look for a place in Pimpri, where our office would shift in a month's time; a place which is to Pune as what Ambarnath is to Mumbai. In the meanwhile, Nishant and I got slightly addicted to this show on TV called Crime Patrol - Dastak - a must watch - wherein they show real life stories of crimes and how every crime has a warning "Dastak" signal. This was also along the time when I was contemplating on replacing my Uber slow N70 with an android, preferrably the HTC desire. But while living with Nishant and encroaching on bed-space, I found this copy of the incredible Bhagavad Gita and it's translation. The best part about the Gita is that it is not meant for any religion. It is just an open conversation between Arjun and Lord Krishna left to open interpretation; and this was all that I needed. I thought about convenience of everyday travel rather than living in a posh locality. I (almost) gave up all desires and started looking for a flat in Pimpri.
We contacted a broker. Here's a little summary of our endeavour.
Day 1 - I went to look at houses. He shows me 2 houses. One extremely good looking, with ceramic floors and absolutely no furnishings except for fans and lights and one cot and bed and a cooler. The rent quoted was 8.5k, slightly higher for a place like Pimpri (though we could easily afford it). We requested the landlord to pitch in a geyser instead of the cooler (Who needs a fucking cooler in Pune anyway) and/or an extra bed. He refused point blank and in turn laid down additional terms and conditions. All his money - even the deposits - were to be made in hard cash and he won't give us any receipt for the rent (we need them for tax benefits). He said he'd sign our receipts only if we were ready to pay the taxes he would incur on him earning the rent on our house. This was definitely a Dastak of some jhol/lafda. After feeble attempts of trying to negotiate, he didn't budge, and we ditched him - in no way am I interested to transform my hard work's earnings into black money.
Day 2 - Another house, this time closer to Chinchwad, an utterly desolate rural area. This house was a 1bhk with 2 cots and a geyser, 7k; but very very shady place. I got repulsed just at the sight of it.
Day 3 - We contacted another broker. After 7 more days of randomly going to Pimpri and trying in vain, just as all hope was lost, a miracle occured. The second broker showed us two flats. We liked one of them and decided to finalise it. We are in talks with the owner and hope everything will be hunky-dory.
In these experiences, I have truly seen what I believe to be the good, the bad and the ugly of house hunting. All this at a time when I had just started working, with almost zero money in the account - no money, no inflow, only expenditures. I learnt that looking for a new home is like looking fora girlfriend... The good looking ones cost a bomb to maintain and the affordable ones are plain ugly... but I'm no expert on either :(
*********************************************************************
This is a story that almost everyone goes through while starting on their first jobs, or any job for that matter, especially when you are placed away from home. My tale is no different; only a bit more complicated since I initially had plans to go for higher studies abroad. My parents decided that it was time to move on, and wanted to move back to their native place. It was as if the timing was made by God. But then, fate always has other other plans. I couldn't land funding for my education; and have ended up in perhaps the best job that would have suited me in insti - an R&D job in an MNC which is just setting up such a center for the first time in the world - bringing 60 years worth experience in a start-up like scenario, a job which I might have landed even after an MS; but more on that later. This post is more about the other stuggles while shifting out - looking for accomodation. So sit back, relax and enjoy a thrilling tale filled with anxiety, uncertainty, freshiness, n00bity, hatred, cheating and desperation.
I was happy and in a way lucky to be placed in Pune - the land where the grass is green and the girls are pretty, even in insti; and that says a lot. Anyways, the current temporary office building is in Hinjewadi, an upcoming place outside Pune; and quite a few of my friends from insti and the seniors who work at the office live in Aundh, a newly developed area on the outskirts of Pune, but 12 km away from Hinjewadi; so it was obvious to me to look for a place in Aundh. Now, very few people from insti are placed in Pune, and most of them had already jugaadofied acco. The HR guys at my office were kind enough to give me 7 days worth of acco in my company guest house, after which I moved to Aundh with a few seniors - Mohanty, Nishant, Chatty and Raj, though I met Raj only after moving in with them. Now, the office was supposed to shift to Pimpri in about a month's time. Pimpri, Aundh and Hinjewadi form a rough equilateral triangle of length 12km and it is a difficult commute in the absence of a private vehicle.
My house hunting in Aundh was getting nowhere, especially due to the dearth of a flat-mate; and the work too, hadn't begun; we were shunted from room to room - wherever there's space - there have even been days when we had to change rooms 3 times! Luckily, I found another new joinee also looking for a flat. It was then that someone suggested that I look for a place in Pimpri, where our office would shift in a month's time; a place which is to Pune as what Ambarnath is to Mumbai. In the meanwhile, Nishant and I got slightly addicted to this show on TV called Crime Patrol - Dastak - a must watch - wherein they show real life stories of crimes and how every crime has a warning "Dastak" signal. This was also along the time when I was contemplating on replacing my Uber slow N70 with an android, preferrably the HTC desire. But while living with Nishant and encroaching on bed-space, I found this copy of the incredible Bhagavad Gita and it's translation. The best part about the Gita is that it is not meant for any religion. It is just an open conversation between Arjun and Lord Krishna left to open interpretation; and this was all that I needed. I thought about convenience of everyday travel rather than living in a posh locality. I (almost) gave up all desires and started looking for a flat in Pimpri.
We contacted a broker. Here's a little summary of our endeavour.
Day 1 - I went to look at houses. He shows me 2 houses. One extremely good looking, with ceramic floors and absolutely no furnishings except for fans and lights and one cot and bed and a cooler. The rent quoted was 8.5k, slightly higher for a place like Pimpri (though we could easily afford it). We requested the landlord to pitch in a geyser instead of the cooler (Who needs a fucking cooler in Pune anyway) and/or an extra bed. He refused point blank and in turn laid down additional terms and conditions. All his money - even the deposits - were to be made in hard cash and he won't give us any receipt for the rent (we need them for tax benefits). He said he'd sign our receipts only if we were ready to pay the taxes he would incur on him earning the rent on our house. This was definitely a Dastak of some jhol/lafda. After feeble attempts of trying to negotiate, he didn't budge, and we ditched him - in no way am I interested to transform my hard work's earnings into black money.
Day 2 - Another house, this time closer to Chinchwad, an utterly desolate rural area. This house was a 1bhk with 2 cots and a geyser, 7k; but very very shady place. I got repulsed just at the sight of it.
Day 3 - We contacted another broker. After 7 more days of randomly going to Pimpri and trying in vain, just as all hope was lost, a miracle occured. The second broker showed us two flats. We liked one of them and decided to finalise it. We are in talks with the owner and hope everything will be hunky-dory.
In these experiences, I have truly seen what I believe to be the good, the bad and the ugly of house hunting. All this at a time when I had just started working, with almost zero money in the account - no money, no inflow, only expenditures. I learnt that looking for a new home is like looking fora girlfriend... The good looking ones cost a bomb to maintain and the affordable ones are plain ugly... but I'm no expert on either :(
Comments
ahem ahem.. :P