Down to Earth

Sanjay Deshmukh whizzed his motor bike into the small non-descript alley. After driving across a few blocks he slowed down and stopped in front of an old low-rise apartment about four-five floor levels high. He got down, parked his bike near the gate and looked at the dozing watchman. It was about three in the afternoon and the winter sunshine felt sweetly warming. Sanjay smiled sardonically as he passed the watchman and entered the compound of the apartment block without any hindrance or interrogation. He took off his goggles and looked around as he leaned his tall and lanky frame on the wall, waiting for the elevator. The place looked shabby and decadent. When the elevator did not arrive even after three minutes, he deduced that it must have been blocked somewhere and decided to take the stairs instead to the second floor where he was visiting a prospective client. Sanjay Deshmukh was a real estate agent in a big city in western India and mediated between potential buyers and sellers to earn a living.

He ran up the four flights of stairs to the second floor, approached the door of his client and rang the bell. After a few seconds, the door was opened by a bespectacled man of medium height and built in his early thirties who looked at him enquiringly as he asked “Yes?”

“I am Sanjay Deshmukh. I hope you remember that we had fixed an appointment this afternoon?”

The facial expression of the man relaxed as he said, “Oh yes, yes. So you are Mr. Deshmukh. Please come in.” He politely stood aside and closed the door after Sanjay had taken off his shoes outside as per the local customs and stepped inside the small sitting room. The man waved him in to a couch and himself occupied a sofa. Shortly, two young women came in and sat on two chairs kept perpendicular to the sofa and facing the couch. The man moved his chin towards the smaller, dusky complexioned woman with her hair braided behind her and said, “This is my wife” and then he looked at the larger girl wearing loose, shoulder length hair and said, “And this is my sister”. Then he motioned with his hand in Sanjay’s direction as he looked at the women saying, “This is Mr. Sanjay Deshpande, a real estate agent whom I had contacted a week ago.” The man, who was the husband, then turned to face Sanjay.

“Well Mr. Deshpande, any news?” he asked.

“Plenty”, Sanjay replied. “I looked up all the available properties on my hand and filtered them according to the personal and financial information about yourself that you had provided me when you filled up the application form that I gave you. I have sorted these potential matches according to their popularity and price. I understand that you are currently living as tenants in this apartment flat that you are occupying?”

The husband replied “That’s right. We have been tenants in this flat for the last five years and now we want to buy a residence instead of signing another annual lease agreement after three months. After all, everybody needs a place that they can call their own. Living as tenants, we have limited rights and freedom and the owner of the property keeps increasing the rent every year when we renew the lease.”

“Oh, I see. So you are in a kind of hurry to buy a property if you have only three months’ time on your hand.”

“That’s right. We have been searching for a suitable property that fits our expectations and the pocket for quite some time now but we have not been able to find one so far.”

“Well, let’s see if the ones I have on my hand would be good enough for you” Sanjay said as he took out some papers from the leather bag that hung from his shoulder. He looked at the husband and said, “I shall start with the high priced ones first and then go down the ladder if you don’t find the earlier ones agreeable. You had indicated a budget of four to six million rupees and I have selected the properties mostly within that range. However, the topmost property in my list is worth seven million but it is really worth it if you can make the effort to buy it. It is an independent house, with three bedrooms, one living room attached with dining hall, three bathrooms and a garage cum outhouse. It has a small front garden of about five hundred square feet and its own independent water supply through a bore well fitted with a pump in a corner of the garden. The total property measures about twenty five hundred square feet stands in an alley on the Ashram Road, which is one of the prime locations. You would not get this kind of a property so cheap in this city except that the owner is in a hurry to sell it off as he is lives in the United States. His mother used to live in this house with an attendant but she died recently and her son now wishes to dispose of it before returning to the US.”

“I am sorry, but we simply cannot afford to cough up seven million just now. You see, I am the only earning member and my wife and sister stay at home. We might even bring my parents to stay with us shortly as they are getting aged and also to economize the costs of maintaining two establishments.”

“In that case, I know of another independent house that costs a little less than six million. This would be in your budget and you could have your independent water supply, a small garden and three bedroom-kitchen-hall with two bathrooms. But its area is quite smaller than the earlier one at about only two thousand square feet and is located in Khetwada, which is a rather remote suburb.”

The sister petulantly cried out, “No, no, I don’t think we would like to stay in Khetwada. The place is as you say, quite remote and the locality is not a decent one. The newspapers keep reporting of various crimes being committed there on a frequent basis. Besides, I am still studying and have to move about a lot; attending my college, going out with classmates, visiting cinemas and theaters, eating at the restaurants. Life would not be as comfortable and pleasant in that crime infested village as it is here in the city. Please show us something within the city confines.”

The wife looked at the sister and tried to reason with her in a low voice, “But dear, that could be taken care of. We could buy you a ladies’ gearless scooter, with which you could move around easily. Besides, your brother could always go and pick you up if you called him up on his mobile. As for the crime rate, it is as bad as any other suburban area. But all the current property development is happening in these places only as the city is saturated and a lot of well-to-do people are buying these properties and settling there. I know of a lot of family acquaintances living in these areas. So, if we get a low-cost independent house there, it is worth considering since all said and done, independent houses are far better than apartment flats because of the increased privacy and superior personal freedom they provide”.

The sister looked disapprovingly at the wife. “No, I don’t think we should settle in such a place. After all, this is a one-time investment. We are not going to buy another house again very soon. Just now, you may think that the locality problem can be solved by buying me a vehicle or somebody collecting or dropping me off but I could still face trouble if my vehicle ever broke down in these remote villages with no repairing garage nearby. Besides, later on with passage of time you would become used to the area and might even resent it if I called you up during odd hours. No, thanks. I prefer to stay within the city itself.” With that she turned away with an air of finality and looked at Sanjay. The wife merely threw up her hands wordlessly and darted a despairing look at her husband while the latter deliberately kept his face impassive.

“What’s your next offer, Mr. Deshmukh?” the husband asked.

“The next offers are from within the city borders but these are all apartment flats. However, I am warning you that the prices of the properties from within the city are very high as compared to the ones in the suburbs – nearly three to four times. The first property was an exception because of the unique personal urgency attached to it. I am now starting with the ground floor. This is an attractive four storied building by a busy roadside in the posh C. G. Road area. However, it costs a little above six million and has only two bedrooms and two bathrooms besides the kitchen and the hall.”

This time it was the wife who shook her head in disagreement. “I don’t think that would do for us. The price tag is anyway higher than our budget but apart from that we need a minimum of three bedrooms and three bathrooms as we need that much space if we get my in-laws here to stay with us. If my in-laws occupy a bedroom, my sister-in-law another then me and my husband would need a third bedroom. The bathrooms needed are also at least three in number – one for the common use by everybody in general, one for private use with the master bedroom, and another one that can be used for doing laundry etc.”

Sanjay turned over to the next page. “In that case, how about a flat on the second floor? This one has three bedrooms and three bathrooms apart from the kitchen and hall. It has four balconies too, one with each room and the hall and it would cost you about five and a half million only. It is in a high-rise building with a total of ten floors and is located near the university area.”

The husband shook his head and smiled at Sanjay. “I am sorry but that would not do for us either. We can’t think of living in a high-rise building after living here for all these years. The high-rise buildings are very crowded and there is a lot of competition for parking space. We already have a car and a scooter and my father might buy my sister a two wheeler in near future. With so many vehicles of our own, if a guest comes visiting, we won’t be able to provide them with any safe parking space. I am a marketing person and hence I have to socialize a lot and many people come to see me at home.”

Sanjay looked quite surprised. “You think so? There are a lot of people living in the high-rise buildings even though these appear crowded. Arrangements are made and people come to some adjustments. But then it is your choice. I thought that this was a very suitable offer as it meets most of your requirements while fitting well within your budget.” Then he shrugged and turned over to the final page. “This is my last and final offer. This is a penthouse flat on the topmost floor of a five storied low-rise building. It has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, kitchen, hall and a balcony with the hall. In addition, to all this you would get the terrace that roofs the flat for yourself. The price tag for all this is about five point seven million. The building is new and good-looking. The basic amenities are all there, round the clock water supply, an elevator, a small garden with benches within the compound, proper security personnel and ample parking space. I think this offer suits all your needs.”

However, Sanjay was amazed when all the threesome of the husband-wife-sister trio chorused their objections almost simultaneously. “No, no. Not the topmost floor.” “Have you forgotten that this city is located in western India? It is very hot here for most of the year and the summers are simply scorching. The top floor flats are simply burning ovens in the summers. We are sorry.” “This won’t do for us. We don’t want to pay heavy electricity bills for air conditioning the whole house continuously. Besides, how do we climb up five floors whenever the elevator breaks down?”

Sanjay gave a wry smile and slowly shook his head. “Unbelievable” he muttered to himself. “Well folks, those were all the offers I had. Five nice offers and I am sorry that not one of them worked out for you. It seems to me that you don’t care about running out of time before the next lease agreement is due. In that case, I take my leave with a piece of advice – It would be better if you quit trying to buy a house and continue with your tenancy here because you shall find it very improbable to get one that would simultaneously satisfy all your numerous criteria.”

As Sanjay climbed down the stairs, he saw two electricians trying to repair the water pump in the compound. Some other people, probably the unhappy residents of the apartments, stood around it discussing the situation hotly. He passed an old gentleman sitting on a bench near the compound gate, reading a newspaper while the watchman himself was nowhere around. On coming out of the gate, Sanjay saw that some stray dogs, who were fighting amongst themselves nearby, had dirtied his motorbike and knocked it down. The vehicle was lying on its side and most of its fuel had spilled out of the tank into the street. Sanjay could not bear the callousness of the place anymore. He hailed the old gentleman sitting and reading near the gate and asked him as to why nobody had bothered to drive the troublesome animals away even though he had parked his bike in the visitor’s zone.

The old gentleman looked amused, “Who are you?”

“Me? I am a real estate agent visiting a client here.”

“Well, that explains it. You are new here and so do not know that nobody here cares a damn about anything. You should have parked your bike beside that tree there; then it wouldn’t have tipped over.”

“But aren’t you paying the watchman to do his duty?”

“That’s altogether a different question that lies with the people in charge of the administration here. But I guess, as they also are a part of this system, so they also don’t care. Nevertheless my piece of advice to you, my young man, is that when you cannot change the world, you must change yourself. Otherwise you’ll get stuck in all sorts of mess everywhere you go.”

With that the old man coolly went back to reading his newspaper. Obviously, he too didn’t care.