Home Sweet Home
Four months is what it took us to find the home we liked. Too long or not is debatable but we finally have it. It wasn't easy though!During our four-month-long struggle, we traversed the suburbs of Mumbai from Santacruz to Bandra to Sion to Wadala (yes) to Dadar to Mahim to Chembur and even parts of New Mumbai including Vashi, Nerul, Juinigar, Belapur and Kharghar.
I don't even want to think how much money I blew up on travelling to these places not to mention lost weekends and efforts. It's intangeble and unfair.
Classified ads are an example in cryptic writing. "1BHK, East facing, 10/1L, 3RD FLR, NO/LT, Near Rly Stn, Juhu". For god's sake, which railway station is close to Juhu? And which idiot in Juhu is giving away a 1BHK for 10K? I had to find out! So I called. And it was an agent. And I saw the flat. And it was a 1 RK (that's room-kitchen) about 280 sq ft that was converted into a 1 BHK (you do the math about the sizes of the rooms!) and with a common loo. Gawd!
We lived through this for 4 months.
One thing I have relised during this ordeal is that luck, more than anything else, plays a very big part. We lost two houses only because of well, timing. I stopped short of saying bad timing, because it was not us who were the culprits. One in Santacruz was lost because the owner had just gone out of town for a month "that morning" while the other in Vashi (how we wanted that one) was lost due to lack of communication between the agent and the owner.
Estate Agents are a unique breed... they can get attached and well, de-attached (for want of a better word) from you just as quickly if they realise a bigger better deal (commission!) may be had from elsewhere.
However, I have to mention Mr Chawla (from Chembur) and his resilience in putting up with me (which can be an ordeal for him and for all you know, he may have put up a post somewhere in blogsphere!) and showing me no less than 25 flats!
Funnily, though, everytime we narrowed it down to two or three, one of them got taken, another owner went missing and the third suddenly didn't seem so nice... Is there something wrong with us? No. Because wanting to live in a good house is not a 'wrong' thought to have and being extremely discerning about the house you choose is a must. There's just too many strings attached to choosing a house... You must feel like coming back there... it must be bright, conveniently located... you know... all that jazz!
Bottomline here is, we have finally chosen one in Chembur (in an area just behind R K Studios; I hope to do some celebrity spotting!). It's in a brand new building called Blue Bells, on the seventh floor overlooking only greenery and no noise or pollution to be had. Our sole companions are the hills of BARC and the building has great videophone security and all!
We move in on August 1 and neither of us can wait. Hope to see you there for the housewarming! Yes, you are invited to our home.
posted by Scribbler @ 1:40 am
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