IF you are a lower middle class resident of Chennai who does not own a house, you would understand the title without much elucidation!
But if you have been lucky enough that your father, grand-father of fore-fathers were native residents of Chennai, or who had flourished, or saved up tactfully, or earned well and managed to build a house or own a house in Chennai, it may be a bit difficult to EMPATHIZE with the pain and trauma of tenants like me who have always lived in rented houses in this beautiful yet bizarre city!
Chennai has always been called as the city that can give you anything and everything you want. You can dine in chennai for Rs.5000/- at the Taj, for Rs.500 at a not-so-expensive restaurant, for Rs.50 at an eatery closer to your house and even for Rs.5 at the roadside "kaiyenthi" bhavans! This has been the image that has been attributed to chennai for many years now! Doesn't that make you feel like chennai is a very SOCIALISTIC city that has got all sorts of people?! Well, it is indeed true to a large extent! The north, central and south chennai vary in every possible aspect!
The north has got the fishermen, the kuppams and the slums and the south has got posh residential areas where you can find all the aristocrats! this DIVIDE has prevailed in Chennai since eons and probably would always be there!
So it is not a big surprise if a house in Boat Club is rented out for a much higher price than a house in vyasarpadi!
But post liberalization and post the boom in the IT and BPO sectors in the past few decades, another shocking trend has also set in chennai!
A few years ago, owners of houses in Chennai used to treat bachelors like outcasts or outlaws! It used to be a herculean task for a group of bachelors or even a single guy to find a decent place to crash in. House owners used to very skeptical to rent out their houses to this group owing to fears, prejudices, judgments, perceptions and opinions of their own about them!I still remember Ads in the classifieds which used to read "bachelors please excuse.only families preferred"! The mansions in triplicane were the only abode to the bachelors in those days.
The late 90's and 2000's saw a sea of change in this regard!
As the number of IT/BPO firms kept increasing in the city,the number of bachelors who came to work from rural areas and other cities and states started rising like the mercury levels of chennai during the month of may.
A good number of these youth come from well-to-do houses and are not required to support their families. So whatever they earn goes into their pockets as a whole! And most of the times, these youth stayed as a group! So, if a house owner charges Rs.20,000/- as rent for a three bedroom apartment and if 12 people stay in the apartment( 3 in each room and 3 in the hall), all that each one has to pay every month is roughly around 1600 which is piece of cake for a person who earns Rs.25000 per month!
Would a family that has a sole bread winner be able to afford a 3 bed room apartment at 20000?! Only if he earns twice as that much!!!
This has changed the tide! Now when i open the clasifieds, i see ads that read, "3 BHK,Car parking, 24 hrs water supply, closer to TCS and HCL,Wi-Fi,Rent Rs.20000.ONLY BACHELORS, IT OR MNC EMPLOYEES preferred"! BOOM!
I went through the classifieds of three national dailies and two local dailies last weekend and i was appalled to find similar ads in all papers that cover almost all of the rental column!
The IT services industry contributes a great amount to the GDP of the country, it has given employment to millions of youth in India, it has put India in a great spot in the global market and INDIA IS SHINING!!! All that said, what about the LOWER MIDDLE CLASS people like me?!even though i worked in that sector for a year, i was never able to afford all the luxuries that the IT youth are generally attributed to be indulged in because of my family problems! that is a whole different story altogether!
But is this a good trend? probably the people who had been lucky enough to build or own houses or inherit houses from their whatever fathers are the ones who MINT money from this trend because they get double the amount from the bachelors what the would normally get from the families?!
Why isn't there a rent control department in India like in the US?! We want to ape the americans in everything starting from their food, culture, style to even their English! But we would never want to learn the good things from them!No house owner in chennai ever gives a receipt for the rent collected! there are absolutely no records!And they can increase the rents as and when they want at their discretion!
that is not all! there are many money-minded greedy landlords who impose millions of restrictions, charge you separately for after and electricity and apart from all that ask you MAINTENANCE!
We have been trying to find a new house as our present landlord has asked us to vacate!Apparently, he does not want FAMILIES in his house anymore! He is planning on redoing the house and renting it out to a bunch of bachelors!I am not against the fact that bachelors are given houses!After all, i have stayed with bachelors in other cities too! But,the bachelors coming from the other places should understand the realities of Chennai and think about the implications of their EXTRAVAGANT and MAGNANIMOUS spending spree!
A few years back, a house in Ambattur, Velachery,Avadi,OMR,Navalur, Sholingalanallur or any of the IT corridors would not have been lucrative to much! People thought that these areas are quite far from the city and the rent were very nominal! But NOW! these are the most happening avenues in Chennai and it's almost impossible to find a house at a low rent in these places!
I am nobody to judge whether this change is good or bad! But as a lower middle class boy who has always lived in rented houses, i am aggrieved!
Having lived in rented houses all my life, i made a promise to myself at a very young age that i would only marry and have kids after i own a house! that seems like such a funny and silly thing now!
The land prices in the city of Chennai have reached crores long since!And buying an apartment inside the city is like buying a piece of land in the moon!I may not buy a house before i get married but if i don't spend like a spendthrift, save wisely, work hard and toil like a dog, i MAY but a house before my kid gets married! But that's just WAY too much into the future!
MAYBE, i'd live all my life in rented houses! But that's not so bad! Aren't there millions in India who cannot even afford a roof on top of their heads?! I am sure my plight is far better than theirs! But, if the IT people and the landlords show some compassion to the lower middle class, i'd feel grateful! And if our Indian legislation EVER at least plans to come up with STRICT RENT CONTROL then i'd be the happiest person in the world!
For now, a TO-LET board that does not say "only bachelors" and a reasonable rent is all i am looking for!
P.S. the background and font color has an implicit grief, and a strong, hopeful yet helpless feeling to it!
Chennai has always been called as the city that can give you anything and everything you want. You can dine in chennai for Rs.5000/- at the Taj, for Rs.500 at a not-so-expensive restaurant, for Rs.50 at an eatery closer to your house and even for Rs.5 at the roadside "kaiyenthi" bhavans! This has been the image that has been attributed to chennai for many years now! Doesn't that make you feel like chennai is a very SOCIALISTIC city that has got all sorts of people?! Well, it is indeed true to a large extent! The north, central and south chennai vary in every possible aspect!
The north has got the fishermen, the kuppams and the slums and the south has got posh residential areas where you can find all the aristocrats! this DIVIDE has prevailed in Chennai since eons and probably would always be there!
So it is not a big surprise if a house in Boat Club is rented out for a much higher price than a house in vyasarpadi!
But post liberalization and post the boom in the IT and BPO sectors in the past few decades, another shocking trend has also set in chennai!
A few years ago, owners of houses in Chennai used to treat bachelors like outcasts or outlaws! It used to be a herculean task for a group of bachelors or even a single guy to find a decent place to crash in. House owners used to very skeptical to rent out their houses to this group owing to fears, prejudices, judgments, perceptions and opinions of their own about them!I still remember Ads in the classifieds which used to read "bachelors please excuse.only families preferred"! The mansions in triplicane were the only abode to the bachelors in those days.
The late 90's and 2000's saw a sea of change in this regard!
As the number of IT/BPO firms kept increasing in the city,the number of bachelors who came to work from rural areas and other cities and states started rising like the mercury levels of chennai during the month of may.
Would a family that has a sole bread winner be able to afford a 3 bed room apartment at 20000?! Only if he earns twice as that much!!!
This has changed the tide! Now when i open the clasifieds, i see ads that read, "3 BHK,Car parking, 24 hrs water supply, closer to TCS and HCL,Wi-Fi,Rent Rs.20000.ONLY BACHELORS, IT OR MNC EMPLOYEES preferred"! BOOM!
I went through the classifieds of three national dailies and two local dailies last weekend and i was appalled to find similar ads in all papers that cover almost all of the rental column!
The IT services industry contributes a great amount to the GDP of the country, it has given employment to millions of youth in India, it has put India in a great spot in the global market and INDIA IS SHINING!!! All that said, what about the LOWER MIDDLE CLASS people like me?!even though i worked in that sector for a year, i was never able to afford all the luxuries that the IT youth are generally attributed to be indulged in because of my family problems! that is a whole different story altogether!
But is this a good trend? probably the people who had been lucky enough to build or own houses or inherit houses from their whatever fathers are the ones who MINT money from this trend because they get double the amount from the bachelors what the would normally get from the families?!
Why isn't there a rent control department in India like in the US?! We want to ape the americans in everything starting from their food, culture, style to even their English! But we would never want to learn the good things from them!No house owner in chennai ever gives a receipt for the rent collected! there are absolutely no records!And they can increase the rents as and when they want at their discretion!
that is not all! there are many money-minded greedy landlords who impose millions of restrictions, charge you separately for after and electricity and apart from all that ask you MAINTENANCE!
We have been trying to find a new house as our present landlord has asked us to vacate!Apparently, he does not want FAMILIES in his house anymore! He is planning on redoing the house and renting it out to a bunch of bachelors!I am not against the fact that bachelors are given houses!After all, i have stayed with bachelors in other cities too! But,the bachelors coming from the other places should understand the realities of Chennai and think about the implications of their EXTRAVAGANT and MAGNANIMOUS spending spree!
A few years back, a house in Ambattur, Velachery,Avadi,OMR,Navalur, Sholingalanallur or any of the IT corridors would not have been lucrative to much! People thought that these areas are quite far from the city and the rent were very nominal! But NOW! these are the most happening avenues in Chennai and it's almost impossible to find a house at a low rent in these places!
I am nobody to judge whether this change is good or bad! But as a lower middle class boy who has always lived in rented houses, i am aggrieved!
Having lived in rented houses all my life, i made a promise to myself at a very young age that i would only marry and have kids after i own a house! that seems like such a funny and silly thing now!
The land prices in the city of Chennai have reached crores long since!And buying an apartment inside the city is like buying a piece of land in the moon!I may not buy a house before i get married but if i don't spend like a spendthrift, save wisely, work hard and toil like a dog, i MAY but a house before my kid gets married! But that's just WAY too much into the future!
MAYBE, i'd live all my life in rented houses! But that's not so bad! Aren't there millions in India who cannot even afford a roof on top of their heads?! I am sure my plight is far better than theirs! But, if the IT people and the landlords show some compassion to the lower middle class, i'd feel grateful! And if our Indian legislation EVER at least plans to come up with STRICT RENT CONTROL then i'd be the happiest person in the world!
For now, a TO-LET board that does not say "only bachelors" and a reasonable rent is all i am looking for!
P.S. the background and font color has an implicit grief, and a strong, hopeful yet helpless feeling to it!
