I think, therefore I write

Year: 2015 (Page 1 of 10)

Buying a flat – Demystifying the experience

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Image Source:indianpropertylawyers.com

Who doesn’t have the desire to own a home? Everyone desires a place that they can call it their own, be it lavish or utilitarian, splashed with aesthetics or a low-key utilitarian. I am no different. I have always wanted a place of my own. I very well knew that I would end up taking a hefty loan and the place wouldn’t really be “mine” till I pay off the loan. But this is an illusional world we live in. We are provided with EMIs which make us indebted on the stake of money which we are yet to earn. Anyway, I digress. I followed the world and clinched my desire by booking a flat. I had very little prior experience with respect to all this real estate, flat construction but there has to be a first time for everything. I started my learning process with this positive thought.

As much as I love our new place, decorating it up, settling in, relishing that I have reached my dream, there are certain ugly truths that I need to face and that’s what nudged me to write this post. In this process of getting it constructed and moving in, we have shed tears, blood, sweat and what not. There are certain dirty clauses that lay hidden in that construction, sale agreements that you sign with nothing more than a skim-read. Behind all those flattering words and smiles, there are certain cunning layers to that marketing guy trying hard to make you book a flat with his firm. There is a certain table left to be turned once you cross that threshold from being a prospective buyer to a trapped customer.

Here are some samples for you to ponder on:

1. Ever wondered how the director of the constructions firm is coming down to meet you just because you wanted to clear some doubts before you hand over that cheque? You might have even wondered whether you commanded that kind of a respect. I request you to stop right there and throw away that narcisstic thought. It is the cheque you might hand over afterwards that commands the respect, not you. Never you. Yes, there’s only a 50% chance that you might book the flat even after you get your discussions done, but that 50% chance is one that’s worth taking for them. If you don’t believe me, wait till you pay up almost 80-90% of the cost as the building progress and see how they behave when you want the interiors finished soon for the rest 10% of the cost. You will see quite a personality change!

2. Possession in xx months – the xx will vary depending on what state of construction the building is in. The maximum quote for a normal apartment at the initial stages of construction would be 14 months + 3 months of grace period. When they say this, stop them right there and read the sale-construction agreement again. There will be a clause that will save their asses from fire when they go beyond the grace period. All possible reasons will be cited such as materials unavailability or labour unavailability. This clause will be used as an excuse again and again till your ears bleed.
If you are smart enough to get a rental penalty clause inserted,(Many builders safely do not insert this clause, assuming we are that dumb. Not to blame them, some of us are.) then miraculously all their labour and material problems will be solved in a minute and your flat will be hurriedly made into a ready condition – one that is just enought to move in, leaving you to wonder about the quality of the work when done in such a hurry. Needless to mention, there will be an aftermath of such hurry where you have to deal with new problem every day. A new day and a new problem, Yay!

3. Quality – Shortly said, when you book the flat, you will promised out of the world quality, but you will get quality which will really make you want to go out of this world. Only way to get this right is to follow up like an obsessed maniac and look at the materials used, read up on internet and so on. You will become a civil engineer short of the educational degree.

4. “We will be completing this task in another ten days” – The most infamous phrase used by the builders. Never trust this excuse. The ten days will span across weeks, months and even over an year. If I had given my rental notice to vacate on the date promised to me, I would have been living on the roads. Do your planning and keep a buffer of minimum 1-2 months.

5. Amenities – This is a huge looting booth for the constructors. The amenities promised and the ones delivered hardly match up. For example, you will be promised a world-class roof-top swimming pool and you will be provided with a bath tub sized one which is too small that it can’t even be called a baby pool. Also,the amenities will not be constructed in the promised time frame but will be in progress even a year after you move in, however, we will expected to cough up the cost of the flat, inclusive of amenities, the moment you move in.

The list goes on…They say that there are good constructors who don’t loot us. I am yet to come across one. I agree that I only talk of the experience of closely witnessing a couple of flats getting constructed in the family and then getting my flat constructed. But believe me when I say, getting one flat constructed will give you enough picture about this. So what should we do about this?

For one, don’t believe a word they tell you when you are a prospective customer. Do your research. In spite of your diligence, there will be mess-ups and that’s life. But the more you do your research, the less ignorant you will be of the scams pulled on you. Before you book a flat, make sure you have the time and energy to closely follow up with the project. Be prepared to make that project your life for that span of time. You will have to think about it literally every waking moment and sometimes in your dreams too. I had many a reminders about things to be done for my place in my dreams. I also spent many sleepless nights pondering over lists to go through, check boxes to be ticked, things to buy and so many other things.

In spite of all this, don’t get shooed away from the dream of owning a place, if that’s what you want. Don’t get pushed into it by the societal pressure that you must own a place once you are at a certain age or stage in your life. If you want to own a place, venture into it well-prepared, armed with some prior research, some know-hows and a lot of energy. You will have a life experience that will teach you many things that you wouldn’t have dreamed of.

Until later 🙂

Quote Challenge: 3/3

if-you-love-sombody-let-them-go

Image Source: soulmatequotes.com

This quote resonates with a life lesson I never thought I needed but I was wrong, but all that is done and dusted now. But the essence of this quote defined and still defines a major life decision and I carry the lesson with gratitude. There is just one too many things when it comes to love, but often we forget to stop and see if something was ours to begin with. If it was indeed, nothing in the world can take you apart. But if it is not, well.. we’d learn to live without it eventually, if not immediately. I am just happy he was mine all along and I was his all along. So many things happened to conspire against us but like it goes, the universe conspired to bring us together. And today, we live as the solid proof with 23 years of acquaintanceship, almost 12 years of a romantic relationship and nearing 2 years as husband and wife.

This quote challenge has been fun for me, I hope it is the same for the writers I tagged. In fact, I had too many quotes shortlisted and picking just 3 was a quite a task.

Today, I tag:

  1. Shailaja @ The Moving Quill
  2. Aathira @ Bewitched by words
  3. Nisha @ Teeth that sparkle

What is the 3-Day Quote Challenge about?

1. Post one of your favorite quotes on three consecutive days. The quote can be from your favorite book, author, or your own. (You must post 3 different quotes in all)
2. Nominate 3 bloggers each day to challenge them.
3. Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

Until later 🙂

Quote Challenge: 2/3

I had scheduled this post for yesterday and another for today since I would be busy with Varalakshmi Vratham celebrations at home but wordpress scheduler just got knackered and didn’t post them. So here goes..

~Courage is not the absence of fear, it is going ahead in spite of it ~ Author unknown

I read this on a calendar when I was 12 and the quote has stuck with me ever since. Whenever I was hesitant about trying out something, this quote reminded me to just go ahead. I would take the plunge before I could change my mind and it has only resulted in good. So this has come to be the motto of my life many a time.

For today, I tag the following bloggers:

  1. The other side of me
  2. The girl next door
  3. Shantala

I am loving this, thanks to Leo for tagging me on this one.

What is the 3-Day Quote Challenge about?

1. Post one of your favorite quotes on three consecutive days. The quote can be from your favorite book, author, or your own. (You must post 3 different quotes in all)
2. Nominate 3 bloggers each day to challenge them.
3. Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

Until later 🙂

Quote Challenge : 1/3

I know, I know, this is long overdue. Forgive me, for I had been psyched about doing this challenge when the Lioness tagged me but then got immersed in the house-shifting activity that I totally forgot about this one. So let me do this now.

It’s a known fact among my friends and family that I love quotes. I collect quite a few too. Although not as exhaustive as The Lioness. So I was so excited when she tagged me in this quote challenge. The only sad part of it is that I can only name 3 quotes I love the most. Only 3, Sigh!

Anyway, here’s my all time favorite:

 

mappendantcomImage Courtesy: mappendant.com

I am a great fan of Dumbledore quotes from Harry Potter and would often be using them as my status on messengers. This one is my absolute favorite and has quite helped me during some hard times. The wisdom in those words is very deep yet gets across so easily.

Often, there come times when we would be down in the dumps or at least believe that we are. Such is life, none can escape it. However, the actual answer to all our problems is not the problem itself but how we react to them. We have the happiness within, the key to solve the problem, the light to our darkness, but hardly do we remember it. We keep searching the happiness outside, in others, until we get tired and give up.

I know that this is easier said than done and that I don’t quite follow this fully, but that does not mean I should give up trying and forget that the happiness I am searching for is within me. My husband follows this diligently and has pulled me up a lot of times when I was upset, with this simple logic.

Today I nominate 3 of my favorite bloggers, those who have done this already can choose to start again or ignore:
1. Visha
2. GB
3. PeeVee

I cannot thank Soumya enough for tagging me in this. We both share a common love for quotes and I enjoy digging her quotes collection posts and reading them time and again. Thank you Leo!

What is the 3-Day Quote Challenge about?

1. Post one of your favorite quotes on three consecutive days. The quote can be from your favorite book, author, or your own. (You must post 3 different quotes in all)
2. Nominate 3 bloggers each day to challenge them.
3. Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

Until later 🙂

Book Review: The Cuckoo’s calling

I have been holding off on this book since I couldn’t imagine Rowling’s style of writing in any other way than the Harry Potter series. Being a huge HP fan, I didn’t want to be in a prejudiced state of mind when I read this. However, curiosity got the better of me as I started reading more reviews about this book and most of them rated the book above 3.5. And they were right, I like The Cuckoo’s calling to bits.

When I started the book, I immediately felt comfortable with the author’s writing style and wondered if it was my prejudiced knowledge of the author. But, as I read page after page, I realized that it is not so. This book was in a different league from the fantasy fiction of Harry Potter, it had a unique writing style that made me fall in love with it. The descriptions of characters, situations, places – everything kept me hooked to the book and that’s exactly what any reader would look for in a crime fiction. Cormoran Strike, the protagonist takes the reader through the case with ease and keeps us guessing what’s next.

When the famous model Lula Landry falls to her death under suspicious circumstances, none except her brother thinks there’s something fishy about her death. Even the rigorous rounds of police investigation concludes that it was a suicide. But there is a witness who overheard an argument seconds before Lula Landry fell and there’s a CCTV footage of two men running away from the scene of crime with their faces covered. These evidences are proven to be false or insignificant to the case in the police investigation. However, John Bristow, Lula Landry’s brother is not satisfied. He brings in Cormoran Strike, a war veteran resigned to private detective after his leg injury, to investigate the case further and find justice for his dead sister.

Was it indeed a suicide? Was Lula capable of going from perfectly happy to suicidal in a span of few hours? Was there a motive for someone to murder her? All these questions are strewn across the plot as Lula’s complicated familial and upbringing situations are analysed. The book effortlessly navigates through a detective’s analysis and keeps us guessing about all possibilities. However, I was a little disappointed about who turned out to be the criminal since this had been done and dusted a little too many times. The story could have been twisted into using a different leg but that opportunity is what I felt is lost towards the climax of the book. Also, the title of the book is derived from a very insignificant plot or phase of the story. It could have been more relevant and provoking.

Otherwise, The Cuckoo’s calling is an unputdownable book that is immensely enjoyable. It cost me my weekend for the most part as I started it and I was compelled to sit and complete this, instead of doing the household chores. I am planning on buying the sequel The Silkworm soon as I cannot wait to read more of Cormoran Strike and his investigation tactics.

My rating: 4/5

Until later 🙂

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