Week1 – The beginning of a difficult time

Next day was Monday, First day at new work place. I was absolutely certain I cannot take the local so I took a taxi straight away. Let me not get into the details of my first day at work which was really boring by the way and I have a feeling that I’m not supposed to say that. My friend - Suman (My potential roommate at that point) accompanied me in the evening in the house hunting. We saw a 1 RK very close to our office, the problem with this was it was too costly for 1 person to afford and too small for 2 people to share it, He then took us to a place which I then thought was the most sad place I had seen. God must have had a laugh there. The place had to be reached from a dark alley under the bridge; the route was filled with big fat rats running around, we saw train passing by through the view from the staircase stained with paan spit marks. We stepped in only to not offend anyone and left immediately. We then got mad at him for showing us such a place. His response was ‘Your budget is too low, increase your budget’, the budget that could get us a fully furnished 2 BHK in Hyderabad (It's only much later that I realized that comparing rents of two cities is absolutely senseless).  Our budget had increased so many times after arriving that I have forgotten what was it during this phase. I think it was 22k for a bare 1BHK flat.

All this while I was carrying the heavy laptop given by my organization on the very first day without allocating us a locker (Pretty cruel I still feel). Walking around with 2 back packs, one with a laptop in was a task in itself. I reached hotel all drenched in sweat. Too late to look for eateries then, had to sleep with a vada pav for dinner.

Suman was leaving for Lonavala the next day for her training and by this time her final posting location was not confirmed. It turned out to be a major hurdle in the process as I didn’t know what to look further - 1RK or a 1BHK. So, I started looking for both. The broker showed me a place in a MHADA colony. It was a shockingly tiny 1BHK.  But that was not the issue, the place had a strange feel to it and by this time I had no idea what MHADA was.

He told me he has run out of options after this. So I started hunting for a new Broker and on my senior's advice (Thank God, I found him) I got my accommodation extended by another week in the hotel.

Little did I know the how much more I was to see of the city and the time that it actually required to find a shelter in this world of its own!