29.09.07 –Saturday:

HOUSE HUNT

It’s been 4 grueling days… Aditi (my roomie) and I are exasperated! Our routine has been – an early morning, a quick shower, a heavy breakfast, walk to the tube station, travel the lengths and breadths of London, approach estate agents, watch them smirk at our budget, be shown the door, look out for the next agent… a vicious circle! A typical conversation goes like this –

Agent – “Hello there!”
JJ – “Good morning/evening” (depending on the time of-course!)
Agent – “How can I help you?”
JJ – “We want to rent a 2 bedroom apartment.”
Agent – “What’s your budget like?”
JJ – “250 pounds a week”
Agent – With a genuinely flabbergasted look - “Uuuuh.. Sorry ladies, I am afraid we don’t have any at the moment. I must say, it’ll be very difficult to find one in that sort of budget. Maybe you can leave your contact details and we will get back to you in case something comes up… What’s your name and telephone number?”
JJ – “Its J-Y-O-T-I, xxxxxxxxxx” (note that “zero” is called “O”)
Agent – “Ah! And how do you pronounce it?”
JJ – “Jyoti”
Agent – “Oh ok… So it’s jotiiiii… Great! Bye bye…”

It was the same script over and over again! (Of-course later both Aditi and I had a hullabaloo emulating the Brit accent, but at that moment it was frustrating!) We met over 40 agents in 4 days… one of the days we split to cover different areas simultaneously… walked more than 4 hours everyday… braved the cold and the rain… only to feel disheartened and disconcerted every time!

By Saturday we had identified 3 properties in 3 different parts of London! We had prepared a checklist of things to observe while viewing a property – one of them being that there should not be any council homes near by (council homes are Govt provided accommodation for the homeless)

We left home at 9 am on a rare sunny morning. We reached Surrey Quays (pronounced as Surrey keys) at 9:30. As we walked with our agent towards the apartment we inquired if there were any council homes nearby. He showed us a bright red building and identified it to be one. We were quite surprised as it looked neat and well maintained! And then as we turned into the building where we were supposed to stay, both Aditi and I were horror struck! It was a dilapidated building with paint peeling off everywhere, cigarette butts strewn all over the staircase, no hint of any kind of security system, creepy looking people walking here and there. The entire area reverberated with negative vibes and I just shuddered at the thought of living there! We knocked the door of a second floor apartment but no one opened the door. The agent called the landlady and asked her to get the keys. We waited long-sufferingly till she came and opened the door for us. The place was more of a mess than a house! As we climbed towards the bedrooms, it suddenly dawned upon me that the tenants were actually there inside! The landlady knocked at the door and one of the doors opened… I was too repulsed to even take a peep!! (Later Aditi told me that the guy inside was doped and had waist long hair with his entire body tattooed!) The agent asked us if we liked the place…. LIKED?????? For the love of God!!! I tried very hard to keep a straight face… but I am sure I had a look which said “Oh… I love the place as much as Bush loves Osama!!! Duh!” Anyways – bottom line is that both Aditi and I fled for our lives… literally… we RAN!!! (In case you have not figured yet… it was a council home waiting to be re-furbished!!! hehehe!!)

Luckily, by the end of the day we found our home! Ah… it was such a relief! We hugged and chortled and giggled and behaved like 2 preposterous asinine school girls… but who cared! We were just euphoric… to hell with what the world makes of us!

Looking back at entire ordeal, I can’t help but smile! Through all the thick and thin, it was a whole lot of fun… The whole pendulum of emotions… the peaks of anxiety tempered with our faith in God and the support of friends and family… It all seems worthwhile! We got to travel extensively all across London and see places which we would have never visited otherwise! Each area has a different feel… from Victorian houses to modern day blocks of concrete, small shops along the roadside to colossal shopping malls – we doused ourselves in the sights and sounds of London. And as we learnt from our bloopers and inanity, we landed up finding a home as well as finding each other!