I have been hunting rigorously.. Infact am wondering.. if I was hunting or was being hunted.. but thats besides the point.. I have been hunting for a new place to live.. The old place is good.. but for our budget a tad too costly.. but when we shifted in we had other concerns so could afford this place..

So firstly, we went to the most trusted crusty old foggy who also happens to be an "estate Agent" for more than 15 years.. As it happened.. we had to wait for 45 min for the "Sir" to arrive and then were made to fill one loooonnng form.. and finally we were assigned to the "field boy".. He showed us places.. according to him.. our budget was too low to get a nice enough place.. we were looking for a 2 BHK house for 10000/ month..

Anyways.. after traversing through the crummy sun and seeing 3 houses.. wherein the first house can only be viewed from outside as the owner had forgotten to give the key to the faithful neighbors.. and the second one .. which apparently came from the brick age.. for we could actually see the bricks popping out.. and lets not talk about the kitchen with the "AMMI" small grim room with cobwebs all over..

Ah tired but not discouraged, after all it was just an start, we headed home, where ofcourse we were yet to cook clean and wash.. And we saw this new "Estate Agency" and against our better judgment we went in.. First of all he asked us little pesky questions like if we are vegetarians .. which we were etc etc.. then he conspiratorially let us know that he thought we are Shri-Lankans.. read terrorists and then had a cheek to let us know that it was a joke.. ofcourse our stares let him know otherwise..

And we definitely felt preyed upon.. for before seeing the first house we had like 7-8 estate agents seemingly making a pitch... and being directed to thousand different directions!

Like vultures!

Anyways we told them our requirements.. specifically, 2BHK, ground or 1st floor and within 10,000/month and preferably near the main road.. and specifically the area has to be "XYZ"

I wonder if they really listen.. or have brains to understand what is said to them , for they showed us 4 houses .. out of which 2 were in 3rd and 4th floor and 2 were above 14000/month and the only one was in 1st floor within 10000/month.. but it was quite far away from main road and out of the area we specified.... Evidently, this wasn't enough, they speculated if we really had a "Dad" as we claimed or if we slyly eat chicken at home... Which I personally find very obnoxious ..

So 3 hours late from our intended time, extremely tired of the sun, hungry and thirsty we came home.. where we still had chores pending.. Grumbling all the while and after 2 small quarrels we divided our chores.,.. I had to cook while my sister has to call people from AD-MAG a local classified magazine.. And after calling around 20 people we got a positive response from 2 people.. both were estate agents.. I wonder why buy an ad magazine when you still have to deal with estate agent and pay commission?

So, we were to meet in front of a temple by 5 p.m.. and being true to my usual habit, i reached there by 5:30.. in the meantime I didnt receive any miss call which was weird! hence once I reached there I called. He said he will be there by 5 min which even after 30 min he didn't materialize.. So finally giving up we called the other guy.. which was lucky.. for the first house he showed us clicked.. like magic :)

After that he showed us like 3-4 houses.. none worked for us.. So our search has ended and we are like extremely happy.. happy enough to humor the idiosyncrasies of the new owner..

Now post 26/11, he wants to see our employment proof namely "Offer Letter" then he wants reference from someone in Bangalore "read relative" and then he would sign agreement with us. He also wants to meet our Dad.. though we would be paying the rent, signing the agreement.. it would be drawn in our name.. *meaning sister and me* Looks like we have no sanding though we would be paying the rent..

Anyways, we are willing to humor me.. firstly coz the house is heavenly.. and its damn cheap.. 2/3rd of the rent that I am giving right now.. and coz he seems to be a nice guy...

And he is not gonna charge us for the 15 days starting from today, we are free to move any day.. While we had paid 6000 for our current place that we occupied 10 days before the 1st of the month.. I know damn steep and we were ripped.. this time we are hoping that we did a better job :)

After all you make mistakes and you learn from them don't you ?

And now the funniest part of all was the obnoxious guy I referred to earlier, called in the evening. We told him we got the house we wanted and tanked him sweetly. He started pitching super ernestly then. He called us up like 80 times since yesterday. I didn't pick the call again ofcourse! I was tempted to just pick up the call and tell him I am indeed from Shri - Lanka.. ah but you see I am very very 'seedha saadha' soul.. I didn't pick up..

Sometimes I really wish, I could carry my home on my back.. on second thoughts it would be too heavy ..