Hunting for a House…Again

Somehow this seems to have become a recurring activity in my life. Have hunted for a roof above my head about five times in the past two and half years. And if that wasn’t enough, it has been in a different city each time. I am now going through the whole crazy process once again in a sixth city. And what have I learnt so far?...well nothing much except that…if you are a single female looking for accommodation, the same issues will hound you…no matter what the city.

You living alone is unthinkable for your parents and also for many landlords who will be scared away by the idea of a single woman wanting to rent a house all alone. The only other option is to look for a shared living and that is just the beginning of all the troubles. If the house is good and affordable, the locality is probably seedy. The path to the house is bound to be through alleys dark enough to freak you out of your wits. If the locality is good, the house is probably a dump and you end up paying a premium just for the “posh” locality. If you are lucky enough to find a good house in a good locality, you find that your flat mates are the kind that will drive you nuts.

I once visited this all ladies hostel …a hostel that was ‘recommended’ by someone. It was past 8 PM in the night and I took along a male friend. We finally found it after passing by a series of shanties with people looking at us suspiciously. A depressing place dimly lit by incandescent lamps. At the entrance my friend asked me to go ahead and take a look while he waited outside…the obvious thing to do…after all it’s a ladies hostel. Well, surprise… surprise, he was actually invited in to come along and take a look. Once in, we see another guy loitering about in the area chatting with the girls there. Maybe he worked there…well we didn’t bother to find out…fled the place.

Another time I went to take a look at a flat recommended by a broker. Everything seemed fine until we asked him about the bathroom. Imagine my surprise when he took us to an area that resembled a balcony with a tap on one side. Seeing the incredulous look on my face, he says, “Don’t worry madam, we’ll cover this area using sheets”. Help!!!

Some things never change. Looking for accommodation is the biggest bane of a job that gives you opportunities to travel. Its probably a very pessimistic view but I have come to a conclusion that you can never find a perfect place to live. It is always a compromise of sorts

Yummy Yum Cha

Chinese cuisine to me has always meant spicy ChowMein, Manchurian and Fried rice. Last week however, I was introduced to the concept of Yum Cha, a Chinese custom of eating small servings of different foods in a tea bowl with…chopsticks…help!!! Unfortunately it happened to be at a team lunch with a group of Australian team mates who could dexterously work magic with their chopsticks and tiny tea bowls. The food to me was incomprehensible. The dishes looked like nothing I had ever seen before. Everything looked revoltingly raw or undercooked. Urged by my team mates I proceeded to try a dish that looked like bacon. Using one my chopsticks I tipped a few pieces of the bacon into my tea bowl. Using a fork (that a waiter kindly brought) I proceeded with first bite…surprisingly it was quite good. Encouraged by the good start I looked towards the table that was already laden with an assortment of unusual dishes. Slowly I started working my way through a few equally gross looking dishes that turned actually out to be quite nice. Somewhere along, came a plate of dimsums and for some godforsaken reason still unknown to me, I decided to pick up a dimsum using my chopsticks (which I had abandoned, thanks to the fork). I jammed the chopsticks between my fingers and heroically proceeded to pick up the pale dimsum which turned out to be a lot more slippery than it looked. Imagine my horror when one of the chopsticks swooped out of my hand, narrowly missed hitting the guy sitting next to me and fell onto the floor. All I wanted at that awfully embarrassing moment was to disappear into the bowels of the earth. Any way, that ended my vain attempt to show off my non existent skills with chopsticks. I went back to work with my good ol’ fork and thankfully the rest of the meal passed on quite uneventfully. As it turns out my first experience with Yum Cha was pretty good. Discovered that there’s more to Chinese cuisine than Chilli Gobhi and Chicken Manchurian. Although the food may not look too appetizing, it’s all about gritting your teeth and taking that plunge…the first bite. And yes, chopsticks are a lot more trickier than they look. If your not sure of using them, you'll be better off using a fork.