Every website that publishes classified ads, copy and paste of all promising ads and a hundred phone calls later, I'm still in the mad rat race in pursuit of a house to live in. It's a demoralizing experience to think you will get thrown out of your house in the near future.
One thought leads to another and I imagine myself standing on the road with all my bags threatening to burst open at the slightest jolt. Now add to this the apprehension of a person living out of home for the first time. Shudder shudder!!!
The ads:
They reveal nothing really, no landmark, no specific area....the descriptions are typically:-
"Heart of the city" (read walk 2 km on a mud road to reach here)
Or
"1500 sq ft" (The fine print- carpet area 800sq ft. the rest of it is your share of the car park, terrace etc., I guess)
Or
"Brand apartment in posh (read uninhabited, sparse human population, deserted) residential area"(looks like they'd rather not commit on the "newness" of the house. Can't they run a spell/grammar check on an online ad?)
The hunt:
We (Me and 2 others) took a chance and went see one of these houses.
We call the owner. He's very sweet and says "come over anytime".
Time to go - we ask for directions and got a series of lefts, rights, lanes and landmarks which form a hazy picture. So we set off in a car, finally reach the first landmark in sight and then stop to ask for directions. It's amazing how people come forward to help. Two guys jumped forward to help. One says "Straight jaaoo, dead end me left hogi, seedha hogu, aur ek dead end aayega, alli right" That was Kannada, Hindi and English in one sentence. The guy next to him wakes up suddenly and says "not left right". I wonder which of the left turns he was referring to. So ultimatey after stopping every few yards and 3-4 U-turns later, we reached the place.Only to find that it's located in one remote corner of the heart of the city. Hence is still qualifies as heart of the city, I guess. This is a conspiracy against poor house seekers.
This takes the cake:
Due to the (amazing) connectivity of the place to other parts of the city, we had to rule it out as an option. But alas, this wisdom came too late... we decided this when we were at the gate of the apartment. The whole episode was a waste of fuel, time and effort.
….And stop not till the goal is reached:
Today it starts all over again.... I have 2 houses on my list...
One of the ads reads (I’m quoting from the ad):
"Ideally located in the heart of the city".
One should understand that this is only the "ideal" scenario. Reality could be anything at all. I hope it turns out to be interesting at least...
