New Apartment

Haanji!! kya haal chaal? sab badiya, ek dum mast, tip taap?
I hope ki sab badiya ho at your end.
Well, I wanted to write this post before my post Show off but I was not able to stop myself to write it (why? read it and know it).

So, we have shifted to a new apartment in a different society in same area. I don’t know why but I kinda love this area (Indirapuram) and when we came to know that we need to look for a new rented apartment then moving out of this area was not on my list. I am living in this area from the past 5 years and that might be the reason for my love to this area and its proximity.

It was a month’s effort on property websites and interaction with property dealers to search a rented apartment which suits our requirements. I cracked this deal by the medium of an add posted on one of the property website (yes, no brokerage) and I felt good to see that still some land lord post their property’s advertisement on internet rather than including property dealers who let their apartment on a rent amount which actually do not deserve to be.

Process of finding a rented apartment includes various questions from property dealers and land lord which we (I and Palak) found sometimes funny and sometimes very weird, some of the Q&A were:-

• LL: “Aapko apne liye chahiye ya kisi aur k liye?”

Me: Apne liye chahiye.

• LL:“Aap dealer he ya party?”

Me: Hum party and hum bahut party karte hein :)

LL:kya?

Me: I mean hum party he…hume hi ghar chahiye.

• LL:“Kitne log he aapki family me?”

Me: Hum do log he, kyun?

LL: Actually, jis family me bacche hote hein hum unhe ghar nahin dete rent pe kyunki bacche ghar kharab kar dete hein.

Me: Ohh, that means aapke bacche nahin he.

LL: Excuse me! aisa kyun lagta he aapko?

Me: aapko ghar se jyada pyaar he na isiliye, never mind.

• PD:“Aap kahan aur kya kaam karte hein?”

Me: Noida me, Software company me, kyun?
PD: Accha software me ho, phir to thik he, wo kya he na ki software waale jyada much much nahin karte.

• PD:“Aap kahan se belong karte hein?”
• LL:“Aapne padhai kahan se ki he?”

Me: Street light k neeche, sadak pe. Kyun aap ghar rent pe nahin doge kya?
LL: Nahin wo baat nahin he, I just want to check whether you are a professional or not. Kabhi kabhi kuch dada type k log aa jate hein.

Once a lady asked me (who was staying in a house as a tenant which we went to see)

• Lady: Aap kahan kaam karte hein?

Me: Ji, wo main aapke Land lord ko bta chuka hoon, aap ghar dikha dijiye.

Lady: Nahin phir bhi kahan aur kya kaam karte ho?

Me (frustrated): I am Ankit Garg and I like movies a lot, I use my motor cycle to go for Movie on every weekend and I like to whistle and throw coins on Movie screen when a good scene comes. I like to play cricket inside movie hall and regularly drink Pepsi because it changes the game. I also go to Noida for bike ride and for job. (Palak started smiling)

Lady: Accha, Motorcycle se Noida jaate ho job k liye, ok.

Me: haanji

In this area rent pe ghar dhoondhna wo bhi without broker is like aiming in the eye of a revolving fish with bow and arrow by looking at its mirror image. We went through this life learning lesson and realized that real estate sector is really booming and rates are touching sky these days. After all this jostling when we finalized our deal we took a breath of relief and tighten our back for shifting.

Two days before shifting to new apartment we started packing and then we actually saw how much things we have in this 2 BHK. Palak said “OMG! itna samaan aaya kahan se…..kitna samaan he yaar humare pass”. Whatever it was we had to pack and we had cartons, cartons and cartons every where.

Some how we got shifted to our battle won apartment with the help packers movers and got settled, but, still struggling to get broad band connection. Bechara humara laptop, from the day we came in to our new apartment it did not get the chance to connect itself to its peers in this electronic virtual word, it has not even come out of backpack.

Arey!! sabse important baat,Many thanks to the god that Maids in this society are not rowdy and raunchy like maids in old society otherwise we have to again go through hiring and tantrums of kaam waali bai as I told before. I told Palak that she is lucky this time with the maid and lets hope this new home brings us more good luck. Fingers are crossed.

Hiring and Tantrums of Kaam Waali Bai (Maid)

Note: I feel that the conversations in this post will appear best in their original language Hindi although I am writing them in English J.

Maid 1

Maid: “Hum 800 rs lenge jisme hum sirf  jadhoo pocha aur bartan karenge.

Bathroom aur balcony saaf karne ka 200 rs extra.

Mahine me 3-4 chutti, kab? Wo hume bhi nahin pta.

Hum din me ek baar aayenge, kab? Wo hume bhi nahin pta…bas aa jayenge.

Aap ghar pe nahin mile ya darwaza nahin khola to hum wapas nahin aayenge.”

We felt as if she is hiring us for the house cleaning job. After gasping this reaction from that maid’s job applicant Palak said

Palak: “Kisi bhi time aa jayenge ka kya matlab, hum kya pure din isi chakkar me hi bethe rahenge aur jis time tum aap (she didn’t dared to refer her as tum after her answer to the question ”kitne paise logi and kya kaam karogi”) aaogi us time bartan hi nahin hue to??”

Maid: “Wo aap dekho, kaam karwana he to karwao….humare pass itna time nahin he.”

Palak was astonished with this whole scene as she was new to the locality of Indirapuram. I was a silent listener till now but I took the opportunity to speak when Palak was searching for words. Telepathically we made decision that we are not going to hire her but since she was standing there like lady Dabang I played Sunil Pal’s laughter challenge joke.

Me: “    accha wo sab thik he. Hum tumhe 1200 rs/month denge jisme tumhe saare bartan saaf karne   

             he, matlab, jo gande he wo aur jo  saaf he wo bhi.

Agar tum hume pehle se bta kar chutti karogi to tumhe 50 Rs inaam denge.

Agar tum aayi aur ghar lock hua ya humne darwaza nahin khole to hum tumhe 100 rs as a penalty denge.

Subah ke time kaam karne aaogi to chai and breakfast denge, lunch k baad kaam karne aaogi to lunch denge.

Tyohar k dino me tumhe ek saari or tyohar ka inaam alag se denge.

Bolo manzoor he. Karogi kaam?

”

(Palak’s astonishment level was high as compared to the conditions put by that maid and conditions put by me. She thought I have completely gone out of mind. She was looking at me like her eyes will pop out from their place). The maid replied to my offer

Maid: “Kya Sahab, mazak kyun karte ho…aisa koi karta he kya?”

Me: “Shuruat kisne ki?”

Palak burst in to laughter making a embarrassing moment for her. She left right away.

This maid hunt started right from the day when I and Palak came back to our home after marriage. Palak asked me very enthusiastically to let her deal with the maids as I don’t have any experience in this stuff. I laughed and said Best of luck to her. After above incident she might have known the reason behind my smile on that first day of ours as a nuclear family.

Days started passing and both of us kept an eye to the maids who are coming in society. I asked few maids whether they are free to hold one more house, some said “Time nahin he humare pass K”, some said “humare pass to pehle se hi itne ghar hein karne k liye…ab kitna kaam karenge hum :0” and some said “thik he dekhte hein, ghar ka number bta dijiye, baat kar lenge wahan jaa kar ”. Those who visited our home for demo or talk left an unforgettable scene to us.

Maid 2

Maid to Palak: “haan batao kya keh rahi thi tum?”

Palak: ”Maine kahan kuch kha, kaun ho tum aur aise kaise baat kar rahi ho”

Maid: “Baat to hum aise hi karte hein, kaam karne k liye bulaya tha na tumne, karwana he ya nahin??”

Till now Palak become aware how scurrilously these maids talk and they have a union in this society to not to take less than 800 rs for cleaning dishes and moping so she said

Palak: “haan karwana to he agar tum theek se karo to, aa jao…”

Maid: “Didi!! Kaam hum A1 quality ka karte hein haan!!!!”.

Palak: “Accha thik he, karo to sahi aur ye chappal to bahar utar do”.

Maid: “Chappal nahin utarte hum, per(legs) gande ho jaate he humare”.

Palak didn’t hired her. She told me that that maid was sweeping floor as she was trying how high she can lift the dust in air and after finishing her work she went to wash basin, used soap to clean her hands (wow!! how hygienic she is, first she didn’t removed her slippers and washed hands with soap) and used our hand towel (e..e..aan…that’s something unusal).

Maid 3

Maid: “Wo neeche Bhaiya ne bola tha ki aapko kaam karwana he”.

Palak: “Accha, lekin tum kaam karogi ya phir koi aur”.

Shades on her eyes with head phones connected to her mobile around her neck, this lady was not looking like a maid at all. She entered in our home, threw  her duppatta on the sofa, placed her shades on center table. Plugged head phones in her ears and started looking for broom.

Maid: “Ye jhaadu badlo didi!!, mere ko nya jhaadu mangta he”.

Palak: “----------”.

Maid: “Dekh lo, is jhaadu se thik safai nahin hogi. Baad me mere ko mat bolna ki kaam thik nahin kiya”.

Palak: “----------”.

She was not listening what my Palak was saying as she was busy with the song sequence playing in her mobile.

Maid: “Didi!! Aapke pass wo dande waala pocha nahin he kya?? Main jhook kar pocha nahn lagayegi, mere ko kmar dard ho jaata he”

Palak: “Nahin wo to nahin he…isi se laga do”.

Maid: “Nahin, is se main pocha nahin lagaongi. Waise hum ye kaam karte nahin he….mera to catering ka kaam he”.

Palak: “To phir kyun aayi ho?”

Maid: “wo to subah ka time khali he isiliye, mera catering ka kaam to 11 baje se start hota he”.

She didn’t come from next day. This maid was throwing tantrums like in few days she is going to come by  Tata Nano J.

We were wondering if these maids in our society have some requirement document which make them to stick to a home.

I told Palak that here in this locality demand of maid is high and supply is less so these maids have their monopoly or I should say Dadagiri. These are like God to housewives so please do not supervise them or ask them to work in a particular way. We need them, they don’t need us, so, we have to make adjustments.

With such more scenes and experiences we finally got a maid who is not that much tantrum throwing but having the habit of not revealing her exact time and declaring her unexpected leave. I believe this is a “Kahaani Har Ghar ki”.