The Hutch connection

Moving out of a house is hard work. Doing it twice in two months is stupid, and doing it for the wrong reasons is plain insanity. Guess you can call me insane now!

The rent was 10k. There were six girls in the house below us and a ladies hostel right across the street. A three bedroom flat, lots of space, 7 guys and loads of fun. No, I am not explaining about paradise, I was just telling you about our house.

Eons back some pessimist remarked "Good things do not last". Problem is that the words were prophetic. At the end of our first year in this dream home, our owner (an a****** first degree) ups the rent to 12.5k. Owing to the dramatic change in rate realties, we decided to hold a full house meeting to sort out the next plan of action. Its a bit tough to get the full house, with 3 going for night shift, one(read me) going for any shift and the rest in day time. In the first round of talks, held with only half the participants, it was decided to follow the India Pakistan route and set a date for the next meeting so that everyone could participate rather than actually fix any issue.

Thus it was a Saturday night that we held our full general body meeting. To improve participation and to reach a sufficiently colorful plan of action it was decided to drink half a bottle of Johnnie walker before we started off. I will not get into the details of the debate. Just let me put it this way, it was in "high spirits". 4 out 7 including me, wanted to stay on paying the extra rent and 3 wanted to move on to greener pastures. In the end it was decided that we would move on. This stupendous result was achieved by the green pastures team by pouring more spirits down the opposing throats and with some backend handholding diplomacy.

The leader of the green pastures team, Mr.Prasanth Rajan a.k.a lolan agreed to scout for a new house and get things rolling. In a short time and with determined effort he found out a new house which as per him was "perfect". It was a big house in a good locality with a "colorful" environment and a rent of 10k. The owner as I earlier remarked was a big time a****** and he asked us 12k for the painting and other work on the house. We were caught in a cul-de-sac where he had our advance money, new owner needed our advance money and he wouldn’t give us our advance money without deducting the painting charges. Anyways in the end we paid the hefty sum, cursed him to his face that we hoped he lose ten times that amount and left for the new house.

The day of shifting saw half the populace going to native, one caught in office due to a production issue and three stupid guys, including yours truly, left to do the manual labor. It was a tough job, especially since there was no lift and we had to carry our beds and cots down the steps. But then I did not grumble much, my body was getting some much needed exercise and this process need not be repeated for quite some time. At least that was what I thought.

The new house was ok, it was not paradise but definitely livable. Thus I was taken completely by surprise and indignation when lolan said he wanted to shift again!!! The reason became clear very soon. It was his hutch connection. He did not get the connection in his bedroom. He would not listen to pleas of "change your connection" or "just put your mobile in the living room". The reader would have assumed by now, that this guy has a grilfriend(s) and he wants to chat in peace in his bedroom. Sorry, you are soooo wrong. The only people this crummy guy chats with are his parents!

"I have decided to move out alone" he said. We had studied in the same college. We had known each other and lived together for about 8 years by now. We were not going to let him move out alone, even if he wanted it!! For the next one month he was the butt of our jokes. For even the smallest of issues we would cry out "I had enough, I am moving out alone". But this joke attack did not cure him. He found fault with everything in the house from the ventilation to the occasional spider. One day there was no water and he took it up as a major issue. In the end we had to bow down before his whim and agree for a change lest he actually carry out his threat. But all of us declined to check for another house, and I personally declined to move any of the stuff. I would just come and live in the new house I said.

Lolan did the house hunting but he was not so successful this time. In fact he got so frustrated by the middle of the month that he was again considering moving out alone. In the end he got hold of one house, but then our owner now demanded 6 months advance for vacating earlier than 11 months. Lolan spent another 10 days cursing the owner and generally building up a high blood pressure. In then end we lend him a hand and got some new guys for our house. These new guys gave advance to the owner and we persuaded him to give back ours, which he thankfully did.

The day of the second moving was no different from the first. Again half the populace was at native and the rest at office. To make matters worse the new house was two storeys up. I had promised not to lift even my little finger for shifting into the next house. But I was moved by sympathy for lolan who had been having one tough month and decided to pitch in anyways.

The new house is small, and there is hardly any space for all of us. Most importantly it has only one bathroom (for 7 of us!) and on most days we don’t have any water!! But of course I forgot about the hutch connection. The hutch signal is strong at all points in our home, the bedrooms, the hall, the kitchen and even the bathroom. So then who cares, right!!!