I was enjoying my last long holidays when I got an email from the company I was going to join that I will be posted in Mumbai. It came as a shock as I had taken for granted that I would be in Delhi. Anyways, couple of things went through my head at that time. One of them, the insane amount of rent I would have to shell out of my meager salary. I had heard that finding a place of your own in Mumbai was tough, except for me of course, or so I thought.
Fast forwarding about a month or so - I was in Mumbai, the city that never sleeps embarking on an important journey, taking the first steps into the 'real' world. In the real world, there are no parents to provide you shelter in the night. I was on my own, well not exactly, I crashed at a friends place. I remember telling him that I can stay in any house and it won't be long before I'm gone. It has been 3 weeks running and there still seems no sign of me moving out.
To be honest I had my chance. After looking through houses of various size and shape, making innumerable calls to brokers, I finally found a place that would suit my needs. The problem was that my friends who were going to stay with me weren't around to see the place. I had to take a call on my friends' behalf, otherwise this 'wonderful' place would elude us. I convinced my friends over the phone. I still can't believe those guys trusted me. So there you go, we finally had a place to stay. We did not have to live out off a suitcase. There was a sense of relief amongst all three of us.
I announced to the world, that I had found a place to live in. The boy had become a man and had done something worldly for the first time. I congratulated myself and even gave myself a pat on the back. All we had to do now was to fulfill the legal requirements and sign an agreement. How tough could that be? When you have a businessman sitting on the other side of the table, it can get a little tricky. Unfazed, I invited one of my friends to 'our' new home. I showed him the place very proudly as if it was I who had built the place. That proud moment was to last for a very short time.
After spending the night, I went to the owner's house to ask him to make certain changes to the agreement. So what, if this was the first time I was doing this, I was going to stand my ground. The guy in his late forties was in no mood to listen. I sheepishly walked out, and told my friends what had happened. To my surprise, one of them was adamant and would not budge from the terms we wanted. Talking to him at length did not help sort out the issue. It was agreed upon that he would not stay with us and we should look for a new flat mate. You would find it surprising that in this city where one can find people everywhere, we could not find a third guy to stay with us.
I thought it would be polite to tell the owner that we were not interested to stay anymore. Unfortunately, this did not go down so well with him. To be honest, I wouldn't have cared a hoot about his opinion or feelings if it wasn't for our Rs 1.21 lakh that were in his bank account. The prospect of losing that kind of money before earning was not something that excited me. After an hour long conversation with the owner in which he accused me of insulting him, and god knows what, it was decided that he would keep a share of the above money. Thankfully, we got back the 1 lakh. I shall wait and hope to retrieve the remaining sum as well. It was an unforgettable experience and I had to be satisfied with a One Night Stand only.
