Some time in December, Komli chose to set up it’s first India office in Mumbai. We chose Mumbai over Delhi since 90% of our clients are based here (Mumbai is India’s advertising and media hub) even though Delhi would have been an easier option since both Amar and I are more familiar with Delhi and have residential and office bases there.
I moved to Mumbai on 14th Jan, took possession of the office on the 15th and since then I’ve been juggling work, setting up and furnishing the office, and looking for an apartment. It’s been stressful to say the least. Our office came in a pretty bare-bones state, and we’ve had to upgrade the furniture, get blinds, fix electrical issues, apply for phone lines and broadband and various sundry smaller things. Thankfully it’s getting into shape now.
I took possession of my apartment yesterday after a week-long search wherein I saw about 10 properties. Once I got over my intial shock of how expensive rentals are in Mumbai, see an earlier post below, my biggest priority became finding a place within walkable distance off my office. It’s a hangover from my days in Kunming and Geneva; I just hate commuting, particularly given the level of noise on Mumbai’s streets.
The apartment’s unfurnished so I’ve also been running around trying to get basic supplies so I can not worry about my apartment and just get on with work. One of my frustrations has been that maintenance issues with the apartment and office just never seem to get over. For example, I realized this morning that my apartment’s toilet flush wasn’t working too well (I’ll spare you the gory details). Thinking it’s a simple issue with the flush and/or the WC, I called in the plumber — enough hassle as it is — who, dear man, investigated and told me that the entire drain below the WC is blocked up from accumulated debris from not having been used in over a year. Cleaning up requires major work over 2 days, including dismantling of the WC. Let’s count the problems here — not being able to use the WC for 2 days, worrying about the supervision of the work, worrying about leaving the apartment unlocked with the labourers while I’m away, bearing the not insignificant expense of the work, and arguing with the landlady to reimburse me for this work.
You get the picture? This isn’t an isolated incident. Similar complications occurred with the installation of blinds in our office.
Nothing in India is straightforward, everything is complicated. Trust me on this. India seems to obey only its own weird logic.
Oh, and I saved the best story for last: day before yesterday, I agreed to take the apartment, paid the landlady a token deposit and heaved a huge sigh off relief to have gotten this out of the way. Three hours later, I got a call from the landlady saying that I should continue my search because they hadn’t made up their minds to give me the apartment. I was incredulous. I’ve paid you a deposit, which you’ve accepted for god’s sake! The landlady then admitted that her mother, who must have been at least 70 years old, objected to the idea of renting out an apartment to a single guy! “But you yourself told me that you wanted only one person to stay here,” I said. “But my mother is objecting now. Let me talk to her some more and see if she agrees,” she replied.
The last thing I wanted to do was start another apartment search. Luckily the landlady’s mother came around the next morning and I got the deal stitched up the same afternoon but not before further drama about the lease agreement and delays on account of the lawyer showing up an hour late!
See what I mean about how everything in India is complicated?
When I look back at all this, I want to laugh. I think that’s great, because when all these things were happening, I was ready to punch a hole in the wall.
Here are a couple of snaps of our office undergoing maintenance work. They’re taken with a Treo 650 so they’re pretty low-resolution:
