...A Long, Long Road

Pox Watch 2007 continues. No new spots to report but I'm not sure we can really say they are disappearing either.

So, if you've been sick for 6 days, stuck on the world's most uncomfortable couch, and trapped in apartment complex, why not stir the pot and go looking for a new apartment?

Now that we have other ex-pat friends who live in the same apartment complex, and seeing as this is India where it is totally acceptable to discuss monetary matters such as salary, rent, etc., we have been asking around to see how much we are overpaying for our place. We knew we couldn't be paying a normal rent but were a little shocked to find that we are actually paying double (yes, double) what others are paying for comparable places. Even though it's not really coming out of our pockets, nobody likes paying more than they should. So Sir has been doing some recon with the internets and found a realtor who had some apartments in our complex - some in our building - for half what we're paying. Maybe we're just asking for trouble but why not at least look?

We were supposed to be meeting someone by the name of Dennis to show us a few places. He showed up the typical 30 minutes late and with a friend. George had emailed him and was pretty specific about what we were looking for and was told that there were a few places available. He took us around the corner to a completely empty apartment but with the same set-up as our current place. We told him we needed it furnished and he said, "yes, that is no problem. Let us know what you'd like." We asked how long it would take to get it furnished. "Three or four days." There is no way it would be ready in 3 or 4 days - not that it matters as we would still have to negotiate out of our current lease. We saw a very furnished 3 bedroom place that I would never want as a permanent residence but for a year in India, it would be fine. It was very "Indian" looking. There was this large wooden structure hanging from the ceiling - it almost looked like a coffee table hanging upside down and there were small gold statues by the door.

George asked if Dennis and his friend work together and we got a very dodgy but not all surprising response. "Well, not for the same company but yes, we work together." His friend seemed very interested in renting us the unfurnished place but Dennis kept saying he had other places to show us. When we arrived at the third apartment, a man who appeared to live there, opened the door to let us in. There were also two women in the apartment - one was the maid and the other, I assumed also lived there. It became clear, however, that the man who answered the door actually knew (and may have been working for) Dennis. The man who answered the door told us we could switch the furniture if we didn't like it or rearrange things. They then called someone else and said there was another place we could look at but we had to wait for 10 minutes. We came back downstairs and looked at one more place that I also liked.

I don't know that we really are going to move. George has been in touch with our landlord and the people who were responsible for our "relocation" and has asked why we are paying double the going rate for similar apartments. Even if you consider the dryer (that still doesn't work), the water-cooler and the miscellaneous items we've asked for, it still doesn't add up to what we're paying. Everything else they are providing, including the maid staff, is standard (for half the price). So, if we can renegotiate our rent, then we'll probably just stay where we are. Sir is going to have to do some hard bargaining but we figure we have nothing to lose. It's not like they can send us a worse maid-boy and if we never have a working dryer, I guess we can live with that.