Renting an apartment is a difficult job these days. The rent is high. It is a tiring exercise to get the one that one can afford. And in a span of years, the rent climbs even higher.
You think of meeting the landlord, but he’s not easily accessible, and to make a humble plea over phone is vain. Your immediate contact is the ‘harish’ (building guard), a grim worker, who does odd building chores, and washes tenants’ vehicles. Like his landlord’s deputy, he gives an unemotional look, and in a plain tone, speaks his boss’ language ‘O, yea, there’s going to be an increase in rent.’
Gone are the days, or years, when one could rent a spacious apartment with balconies, without hassles and at a price that one could afford.
Now, one has to settle for apartments with small rooms, smaller kitchens with “toy” cabinets, or no cabinets at all, cheap fittings, paint that peels off in no time, and rent that is many times more than the “good old days.”
One fails to understand what motivates the landlords to raise rent abruptly. In fact, there are landlords who keep increasing rent every year. The helpless tenants have to either pay up, or go apartment hunting once again.
With a fixed income, which, more often than not, remains “fixed” for years, the tenants are in a dilemma, as they have no choice but to grin and bear.
Landlords have come up with a novel idea. They are renovating and partitioning old spacious apartments into two, and renting out each at high prices. Also new buildings are popping up here and there, with rents as fixed as concrete. No negotiation. If OK, make a down payment, and move in. One wishes the landlords, who raise the rent annually, would think of what the tenants have to go through.
