Tuesday, October 6, 2009

House-hunting

In every resettlement, there is a step, a process that to me is at the same time very exciting and very stressful: the search for a new accommodation.

Exciting because it is the first step towards really discovering the new city not as a tourist, but as a prospective resident. You’ll visit areas and neighborhoods that you won’t necessarily visit anymore in the future; you’ll start learning the roads, directions, distances and geography of the new town; and you’ll deal with a multitude of local people: landlords, landladies, intermediaries, plumbers, electricians, candidate guardians, candidate gardeners, candidate cleaning-ladies, etc. Stressful because the search is usually affected by numerous factors (the need to find something in a relatively short period of time, limited knowledge and information about the town and the market, limited budget, etc.) that will make your choice necessarily sub-optimal…

It is in addition a process that, in a way, helps you to know yourself better, as it forces you to think through, prioritize and make choices on what really matters to you. Better a home close to work or in a green area? Bright or quiet? Furnished or unfurnished? Safe or in a lively neighborhood? With reliable electricity or in an area that doesn’t suffer from water shortages? Recently maintained or with a trusted landlord? Of course you would like to have them all, but you know you can’t…

With all these feelings and questions, I began my search today. Surinda, the ‘agent’ I have been recommended, picked me up at work and brought me with his motorbike, zigzagging in the Delhi traffic, in neighborhoods with exotic names: Sundar Nagar, Nizzamuddin East, Jangpura, Lajpat Nagar, Defence Colony, Safdarjang Enclave…

The first day of the search didn’t produce many results, but it contributed to instill new life into my spirit: I discovered new places, interacted with new people, I was forced to think quickly and take decisions… I felt surprisingly alive.

Stay tuned, updates on how the search goes soon!

4 comments:

  1. una foto del genere mi sembra di averla giĆ  vista da qualche parte... : )

    ReplyDelete
  2. silvia e mauro sulla moto, estate 2006!!!

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  3. ahahahaha... Matteo&Surinda, Delhi 2009!

    ReplyDelete