In our tradition when a man turns 60 he is reborn again. As far as i have read and understood. And the birthday celebration is not just cake cutting. Its celebrated with all homams for the wellfare and the goodness for him and the family. This is called as sashtiabthapoorthi. Sashti means 6 or 60. Abtha means age I guess. I am not good in sanskrit, so dont expect the correct meaning. Poorthi means completion. Traditionally this is a small marriage to celebrate the successfull married life the person has got during that time. Then people included another piece of tradition to render the sacred Rudram before the marriage. As it is when u listen to music or to rendering of sacred slokas our body gets rejuvenated and we are blessed by god.
So my father's star was on October 11 2008, Saturday. We decided that redering or rudrams or Rudra Ekadasi was to be performed on the previous day. It is usually performed by pandits who are well versed in rudrams. And in general the number of pandits or priests who renders it will be in odd numbers. I thought 3, 5,7 or 9 is not enough and requested for 11 pandits to render the rudras. It is for our parents and they have always given the best to us. So I wanted to return the favour. I wanted to give them the best I can. Then on 11th we had the sashtiabthapoorthi function. It was performed with making holy water (holy and not holi) with lots of slokas rendered and pooja being performed. Ultimately the holy water will be used for abhisheka of my parents. When head priest was performing the pooja for the holy water the others were performing homams like Mrityunjaya Homam, Navagraha Homam, Ganapathy Homam etc., It was so powerfull that we felt the vibration in the mandap.
On the evening of Rudra Ekadasi(rendering of rudrams 11 times and rendering chamakam after completing rudram) my father being a traditional person has arranged for carnatic "katha kalatchebam"(telling stories along with songs). The topic was Radha Kalyanam. We have also arranged for a professional photographer to cover the entire function and we have arranged for a photosession with the people who attended.
On 11th after the sashtiabthapoorthi we left the mandap tired but heart full of blessings and good vibrations. On a whole it was a wonderfull experience.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Melbourne to Chennai
My father's 60th birthday was celebrated on Oct 10 and 11. It was a grand gala function. We all enjoyed it. It is a blessing from god to watch our parents get married. I pray to god that they live long and bless us all happiness. To attend this function I went to chennai on 08th Oct. My flight was in the very early hours of 08th. From melbourne it departs at 0115. It reaches KL at 0625am. My flight to Chennai is at 1925. So there is a 13 hour transit. When I enquired in the malaysia airlines ticketing counter. They gave me accommodation in a nearby hotel. The hotel was too good. Named as Concorde Inn. I was entitled for a free lunch also. So I to the hotel, took my room key card. Yes, card and no key. To open the room you need to insert the card in the slot provided in the door and then you can open the door. it was a good idea. Then took rest. Went to the restaurant at 2 to have my lunch and then came back watched CNN(that is the only news channel available) and then left the hotel at 5pm. Came back to the airport. The security check will commence only one hour before the flight's departure time. So I was roaming aorund the airport and at 1830hrs went to for the security check and was waiting in the gate to board the flight. As usual the flight was prompt on its time to depart exactly at 1925 and we reached chennai at 20:35. Then collected my baggage and within 15 mins i was out of chennai airport. My father, my wife and my inlaws were there waiting for me in the airport. After exchanging pleasantaries we came home.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Williamstown
When god created earth and then humans he would have definetly thought that these guys are going to have a hectic life. So he wanted few places to relax and make your heart and buzzing mind cool. One such place is Williamstown south of Melbourne. We never thought we will ever go to this place. If you have read my earlier posts you might remember my first house. The land lady of that house stays here. She has invited us once to her home. But since none of us took her home we were hesitant to go the place. And since it was winter and the whether was damn chill we thought it will be more chill as the place is nearer to the ocean. We were roaming around in the CBD every week. We got really bored seeing the same places and the same shops. So we wanted to venture out. There were two options. Either to a beach or to a place where u need to pay an entrance fee. We thought the former is more feasible. So we decided to go there on a sunday.
Melbourne is well connected by trains, trams and busses. You need one ticket to travel in all these three. There are variety of tickets available. Since that is not the discussion here i am not going into it. But need to tell you all that on a sunday the ticket rate is pretty cheap compared to the weekdays. And since Atanu wants everything cheap he was not ready to travel on other days. So we were ready to travel on a Sunday. As per the trains the entire area covered by the train network is classified as two Zones. Zone 1 and Zone 2. A ticket for Zone 1, which cannot be used in Zone 2. I didnt try what will be the penalties if you travel this way. Except for the sunday ticket other tickets has to be bought for Zone 1 or Zone 2 or Zone 1 + 2 (which is costlier than everything else). There is no point in getting a ticket combining both the zones as we wont be travelling to zone 2 place at all times.
Atanu told Williamstown is in Zone 2. I had a Zone 1 monthly ticket as my house is in Zone 1. So went to check with the officers whether on sundays we are permitted. They said except for the "Sunday Saver", which can be used in both the zones, all other tickets can be used only in those zones. I thought ok we will drop the plan of going to Williamstown and choose another place in Zone 1. But when we checked the map we realised that Williamstown is in Zone 1 and the next train leaves in another five minutes. We rushed to the platform and got into the train. In the video display in the platform they have mentioned that for Williamstown we need to change to another train in a station called "Newport". Since we were new to the route, we were checking each and every stations. Siraj slept as we both were alert. Then when Newport came we all got down.
I was under the impression that there will be another train from some other route which goes to Williamstown. But then a train came from the depot and it was destined for Williamstown. From Newport Williamstown is fourth station. We got down in the station and were surprised to see a silent, quiet area. Its a total opposite to the buzzing Melbourne. When we got out of the station we were able to see the ocean and also the ships. But there was something different, I didnt realise it at that time. We started walking towards the beach. It was not chill at the same time not warm. What kind of beach is it?
After a 10 minutes walk we reached the beach and immediatly understood the difference. There were no big waves in the beach. It was silent. And due to this nature they have made it as a harbour area. We have seen this place from our IBM office. But never recognised or realised. There were couple of big ships. There was a small area like a peninsula which was full of shells. I went there and started taking photos. Atanu and Siraj didnt expect this kind of beach and they didnt come inside. Took enough photos and then came out of the peninsula. Walked towards the harbour area. But it was not open to public. So we started walking back to the station. Atanu and Siraj took coffees from the mobile coffee shop there. We reached the station. Took a train and came back to Melbourne. Even after reaching Melbourne the silent and the quiet beach was in memory. I donno whether the other two liked the place but I simply loved it.
Photos - http://picasaweb.google.com/guruswaminathan/Williamstown?authkey=tKA-W1y9Kvo
Melbourne is well connected by trains, trams and busses. You need one ticket to travel in all these three. There are variety of tickets available. Since that is not the discussion here i am not going into it. But need to tell you all that on a sunday the ticket rate is pretty cheap compared to the weekdays. And since Atanu wants everything cheap he was not ready to travel on other days. So we were ready to travel on a Sunday. As per the trains the entire area covered by the train network is classified as two Zones. Zone 1 and Zone 2. A ticket for Zone 1, which cannot be used in Zone 2. I didnt try what will be the penalties if you travel this way. Except for the sunday ticket other tickets has to be bought for Zone 1 or Zone 2 or Zone 1 + 2 (which is costlier than everything else). There is no point in getting a ticket combining both the zones as we wont be travelling to zone 2 place at all times.
Atanu told Williamstown is in Zone 2. I had a Zone 1 monthly ticket as my house is in Zone 1. So went to check with the officers whether on sundays we are permitted. They said except for the "Sunday Saver", which can be used in both the zones, all other tickets can be used only in those zones. I thought ok we will drop the plan of going to Williamstown and choose another place in Zone 1. But when we checked the map we realised that Williamstown is in Zone 1 and the next train leaves in another five minutes. We rushed to the platform and got into the train. In the video display in the platform they have mentioned that for Williamstown we need to change to another train in a station called "Newport". Since we were new to the route, we were checking each and every stations. Siraj slept as we both were alert. Then when Newport came we all got down.
I was under the impression that there will be another train from some other route which goes to Williamstown. But then a train came from the depot and it was destined for Williamstown. From Newport Williamstown is fourth station. We got down in the station and were surprised to see a silent, quiet area. Its a total opposite to the buzzing Melbourne. When we got out of the station we were able to see the ocean and also the ships. But there was something different, I didnt realise it at that time. We started walking towards the beach. It was not chill at the same time not warm. What kind of beach is it?
After a 10 minutes walk we reached the beach and immediatly understood the difference. There were no big waves in the beach. It was silent. And due to this nature they have made it as a harbour area. We have seen this place from our IBM office. But never recognised or realised. There were couple of big ships. There was a small area like a peninsula which was full of shells. I went there and started taking photos. Atanu and Siraj didnt expect this kind of beach and they didnt come inside. Took enough photos and then came out of the peninsula. Walked towards the harbour area. But it was not open to public. So we started walking back to the station. Atanu and Siraj took coffees from the mobile coffee shop there. We reached the station. Took a train and came back to Melbourne. Even after reaching Melbourne the silent and the quiet beach was in memory. I donno whether the other two liked the place but I simply loved it.
Photos - http://picasaweb.google.com/guruswaminathan/Williamstown?authkey=tKA-W1y9Kvo
Union Street House - Moved In
"Veeta Katti Paaru, Kalyanatha Panni Paaru" is a solavadai in Tamil. But we should re-write it. "Veeta Maathi Paaru foreignla with 4 luggages". Yamma, it was a daunting task. The house is in the second floor and unfortunately there is no lift also. From Friday I was wondering how am I going to take everything up into the house. There were four luggages. Unfortunately after reaching here 3 more got added. My laptop bag, then the bag given to me by the agency which was appointed by IBM to help me in getting an accommodation and my back bag. So totally 7. How a small fella like me can manage?(elders no scolding....just enjoy). Then got an idea. Anyway I need to collect the keys from the real estate agent on saturday. So let me carry three bags with me initially get the keys from them go to the house put all the three bags then again return back to the hotel and take the other things. Since, i dont want to spend money in cab unnecessarily, I tried my luck in the Melb tram on saturday. Friday I went through the tram website and understood few things like the stop number nearer to my office and nearer to the house. Since the real estate agents office was on the way thought of getting down on the way. But unfortunately, as it happens in all first time travel, I got down a stop before. And need to walk down carrying all the luggages. Went to the Agent's office collected the keys and then took a cab(didnt want to trouble my shoulders as I need to carry hugggeee suitcase in my next trip).
The cab driver was a irritating guy who doesnt even know the route and kept on saying something or the other. Then he went to his GPS and got into the correct route and dropped me in the home. Even though the meter didnt show a huge amount I guess an able driver would have taken an easier route and dropped me much earlier and for also lesser fare. Sometimes it happens. Then took rest for 10 mins(Need to climb two floors carrying three bags!!!). Then started off from the home and came back to my hotel with the help of Tram and Train. I love travelling by trams. They are sort of cute and easily accessible and they go to all the places which u cant imagine, even to the busiest shopping areas. Now in my hotel, since the check-out time was 10am, even before leaving to collect the keys, I checked-out and kept the extra luggages in the luggage room which can be used free of cost. I called up a taxi company and they did send a bigger car just because I am leaving from the hotel. Thanks to them. This driver was a capable one and he took me through the shortest route. On the way he showed me all the shops available. Once we reached the home he helped me to get the suitcases out of the boot. God bless him. I wanted to find a safe way to get into the apartment and also wanted to have the luggages safely. Found a door from the carpark and dumped two of the suitcases under the stair case. Then took one by one to the home. Taking American Tourister upstairs was the real daunting task. But managed it. Lied down in the sofa for a while then started to unpack the things. Took photos for you all.
Photos are in the below link.
http://picasaweb.google.com/guruswaminathan/UnionStreetHouse?authkey=hLJiIagS7bg
The cab driver was a irritating guy who doesnt even know the route and kept on saying something or the other. Then he went to his GPS and got into the correct route and dropped me in the home. Even though the meter didnt show a huge amount I guess an able driver would have taken an easier route and dropped me much earlier and for also lesser fare. Sometimes it happens. Then took rest for 10 mins(Need to climb two floors carrying three bags!!!). Then started off from the home and came back to my hotel with the help of Tram and Train. I love travelling by trams. They are sort of cute and easily accessible and they go to all the places which u cant imagine, even to the busiest shopping areas. Now in my hotel, since the check-out time was 10am, even before leaving to collect the keys, I checked-out and kept the extra luggages in the luggage room which can be used free of cost. I called up a taxi company and they did send a bigger car just because I am leaving from the hotel. Thanks to them. This driver was a capable one and he took me through the shortest route. On the way he showed me all the shops available. Once we reached the home he helped me to get the suitcases out of the boot. God bless him. I wanted to find a safe way to get into the apartment and also wanted to have the luggages safely. Found a door from the carpark and dumped two of the suitcases under the stair case. Then took one by one to the home. Taking American Tourister upstairs was the real daunting task. But managed it. Lied down in the sofa for a while then started to unpack the things. Took photos for you all.
Photos are in the below link.
http://picasaweb.google.com/
Melbourne
What is Melbourne? Its a city with various suburbs in it. The main city or CBD, as they call here,(Central Business District) is small. You can check it for yourself from
the attached word document. This is a map taken from the google. The actual CBD starts from Spencer St., in the left to Spring St., in the right. And from the Flinders
Street to the La Trobe street in the top. From the day 1 I have been going through all these streets to understand the CBD and now I can say, to some extent, where what
things will be available.Infact, now that I know much about CBD I can move around all alone. Thanks to my friend and colleague Atanu. He showed me most of the places and
gave me an idea of what is available where. But still we are exploring.
Just opposite to the Flinders Street station there are three Indian Restaurant where you can get everything from idlies to Chole Batura, at a decent price. If you need to
understand the price range just a small example. A kilo of surf is priced at say Rs. 60 in India, you will get the same here at 2.5% high. Initially I was converting for
each and everything. Then learnt and understood that I shouldn't. Then was worry free. Now, I dont convert for all. Incase I am checking a bigger product like washing
machine or something of that sort then I am tempted to convert and see. But since I was looking for a furnished house I didn't have to buy it necessarily. I need to mention
here about the conversation I had with my father before leaving. Since I don't know the city structure, before arriving I was saying him I will take an unfurnished
apartment and buy all things. He was for furnished apartment. I put forth an arguement like I need to buy these things only once and so why do I need to pay extra money for
the rest of the months. Both of us forgot the valid point of disposing the things I buy here.
There is a website gumtree.com.au in which you can find all the second hand products. But you need to pay extra for the transport. So, ultimately it will be almost the same
price we get in the market. And we also donno how much they have used the product. They might say it is in good condition, but how can we ensure. So, after arriving here
and doing few researches I understood having a furnished house is far better than an unfurnished house. In a furnished house you dont need to worry about getting a cot, a
mattress, pillows, tv, fridge and all day to day used items. With this understanding I refined my search. I also informed my agent that I am ok with the furnished apartment
but should not exceed a limit. He said, if you want a furnished apartment it is easy. Because most of the people buy things here and they dont even bother to dispose it
off. So, most of the house we can get good things.
In the first week after landing, I was roaming around the CBD and was checking with my agent whether any house was available. But didnt seriously do any house hunting as I
was enjoying the foreign land. I started getting tensed when the second week dawned. I haven't got a house and the 14th day is also nearing. What if the hotel guys forcibly
asks me to move out and I need to be in streets. I made up my mind and left the ideas of exploring melbourne and got into serious house hunting. Saw around 8 houses which
were within my budget and decided to go for 1 among the 4 I liked very much. Applied for all the four. Wondering what I mean by applying. Here in Melbourne you cant get a
house as easily as we all do in India. Infact when you like a house we need to fill up an application with the copies of various documents like passport, company photo id
etc.,. Then the landlord will accept or approve that we can stay in the house. Then we need to sign a lease. Then we need to apply for getting the connections for
electricity and gas and water. Then the first month rent is paid in advance and we can get the keys.
Ok coming back to the house hunting, out of the 4 houses I liked three were of walking distance from my office. 1 was 4 kms away from office. Even though it was a bit away
it was wonderfull spacious just like our indian houses with seperate room for kitchen. In all the other houses it is a open kitchen. I had a dilema whether to choose the
one nearer to the office or the one I will be comfortable. House is something where we need to comfortable relaxed and worry free. So,I decided to go for the one a bit far
away. I have signed the lease today morning and paid the advance also. I will be giving the rent and collecting the keys on Saturday and I have planned to move in on
saturday. Let me see how well I can manage everything. Its a test for me and I hope with Bhagawan's blessing everything should go well.
Now I need to hunt for groceries and other items so I can start cooking at home. Even though everything is available in CBD I dont get any Indian Masalas in the
supermarkets here. There are few Indian grocery shops near a market which is famous for fresh vegetables. Need to go there and check. Let me move into the new house and let
you know the experiences in the next mail.
Check the photos of my house in this link - http://picasaweb.google.com/guruswaminathan/UnionStreetHouse?authkey=hLJiIagS7bg#
Melbourne Map
Weekend Trip.
Spending a weekend abroad that too all alone is painfull. But thank god I have good friend here, Atanu. He is a project manager in India. Here he is my team mate. See the fate!!. But we have explored Melbourne CBD as much as possible. It was real fun roaming around. We didnt go inside any of the major buildings yet. We will be doing it soon. Infact almost the entry ticket cost are more than 20$ per head so instead of spending twice(one now and one after Priya comes), I thought I can visit all the places with Priya itself.
Why you should not convert when spending abroad? The answer is you will never buy anything at good quality. Atanu, always converts everything and says oh my god in India we will get it cheaper. But when we are getting paid in AUD we need to think of spending in AUD and should not convert in INR and spend, is my view. Else we wont buy anything we like and we end up spending those things which are of cheap quality. Whenever I am with him, I am a silent listener. He is a good friend. He never portrays that he is a people manager or a project manager. Down to earth person. Infact he is the guide for me to many of the shops in Melbourne. Since his friends were here already they have given him a fairly good idea of the entire CBD.
On Saturday, I came to CBD at around 10:30. Atanu's house is very near to the Flinders Street station(check out the photos). So, walked down to his house. Once he got ready we came back down thinking of what to do. We saw a subway(restaurant) and we went in to check what they have. Thought of having a sandwich but ended up having a cup of coffee and a couple of cookies. Sandwiches were not upto my mark!!!. Hope you understand that statement. They use loads and loads of lettuce and tomatos and onions in the sandwiches.
Then I told him that I want to take photographs of the office and we came to the other side of the Flinders Street station. And walked down across the Yarra River clicking photos and then started walking along the bank of the yarra river. We saw a spectrosphere which has been built to say the wishes for the Australian athletes participating in the Olympics 2008. Then we saw the Crown entertainment plazas which has casinos. We also saw the Melbourne Aquarium from the outside. Then crossed the yarra river and came back to the place we started. Should be a 2 km walk. Then we went to the QV Plaza in which BigW is situated. There is a bakery shop "Breadtop" in that plaza. And they have various buns which tastes really "Yummy". I had a garlic bun, a doughnut and a cheese bun. The cheese bun had a huge amount of cheese which I need to remove of before eating it. Even then it had a good amount of cheese in it.
I wanted to buy bread. So we walked down slowly to BigW and got a loaf of bread and a pack of washing powder. Because if I use the washing powder given in the hotel room then it is charged. They have given 250 gms of washing powder and charging 2.50$. My thinking was if it is the same in market i dont need to buy one and i can pay the hotel. Once I get the house I can get a new pack of powder. But then in BigW it was 3.50$ for 1KG. So why to unnecessarily use the pack in the hotel. Let them have it. Came back home after having a heavy dinner(2 Naans, Aloo Mutter and Dal Makhani). It was full. I came back to the home and put all the clothes for washing. Once the washing is over got them out and hanged it in all the places available. Since I was feeling tired, went to bed immediatly.
On sunday, woke up at 10:30 am. That too because the room service guy was knocking the door. Else I would have woken up a bit later. Then as we have planned to check out electronic items, I went to Atanu's place again. From there we started to check out digital cameras and mobile phones. He was checking Handycams also. Saw a damn good digicam from sony which is 10.1 megapixel camera with 3.5" LCD. I need to buy it before returning to India. We checked almost in 5 shops for the items to understand the price range. Then we went to Harvey Norman one of the biggest electronic chain in Australia. I saw few softwares for my compaq laptop and also few good laptops. Probably I might get one before coming down. God only knows.
Then we both went to the house of another team member Nagesh Prashanth, who is currently heading this project here. We were there for an hour and Prashanth and Atanu left to BigW and I came back to hotel after having dinner. Reached home then folded(In tamil Madikarathu) all the clothes I have hanged and then retired to bed.
Will update you more next week.
The link for the photos we took on Saturday is - http://picasaweb.google.com/guruswaminathan/MelbourneTrip?authkey=T_Uwhh5mYUI
Let me know your comments.
Take Care. Enjoy!!!
Why you should not convert when spending abroad? The answer is you will never buy anything at good quality. Atanu, always converts everything and says oh my god in India we will get it cheaper. But when we are getting paid in AUD we need to think of spending in AUD and should not convert in INR and spend, is my view. Else we wont buy anything we like and we end up spending those things which are of cheap quality. Whenever I am with him, I am a silent listener. He is a good friend. He never portrays that he is a people manager or a project manager. Down to earth person. Infact he is the guide for me to many of the shops in Melbourne. Since his friends were here already they have given him a fairly good idea of the entire CBD.
On Saturday, I came to CBD at around 10:30. Atanu's house is very near to the Flinders Street station(check out the photos). So, walked down to his house. Once he got ready we came back down thinking of what to do. We saw a subway(restaurant) and we went in to check what they have. Thought of having a sandwich but ended up having a cup of coffee and a couple of cookies. Sandwiches were not upto my mark!!!. Hope you understand that statement. They use loads and loads of lettuce and tomatos and onions in the sandwiches.
Then I told him that I want to take photographs of the office and we came to the other side of the Flinders Street station. And walked down across the Yarra River clicking photos and then started walking along the bank of the yarra river. We saw a spectrosphere which has been built to say the wishes for the Australian athletes participating in the Olympics 2008. Then we saw the Crown entertainment plazas which has casinos. We also saw the Melbourne Aquarium from the outside. Then crossed the yarra river and came back to the place we started. Should be a 2 km walk. Then we went to the QV Plaza in which BigW is situated. There is a bakery shop "Breadtop" in that plaza. And they have various buns which tastes really "Yummy". I had a garlic bun, a doughnut and a cheese bun. The cheese bun had a huge amount of cheese which I need to remove of before eating it. Even then it had a good amount of cheese in it.
I wanted to buy bread. So we walked down slowly to BigW and got a loaf of bread and a pack of washing powder. Because if I use the washing powder given in the hotel room then it is charged. They have given 250 gms of washing powder and charging 2.50$. My thinking was if it is the same in market i dont need to buy one and i can pay the hotel. Once I get the house I can get a new pack of powder. But then in BigW it was 3.50$ for 1KG. So why to unnecessarily use the pack in the hotel. Let them have it. Came back home after having a heavy dinner(2 Naans, Aloo Mutter and Dal Makhani). It was full. I came back to the home and put all the clothes for washing. Once the washing is over got them out and hanged it in all the places available. Since I was feeling tired, went to bed immediatly.
On sunday, woke up at 10:30 am. That too because the room service guy was knocking the door. Else I would have woken up a bit later. Then as we have planned to check out electronic items, I went to Atanu's place again. From there we started to check out digital cameras and mobile phones. He was checking Handycams also. Saw a damn good digicam from sony which is 10.1 megapixel camera with 3.5" LCD. I need to buy it before returning to India. We checked almost in 5 shops for the items to understand the price range. Then we went to Harvey Norman one of the biggest electronic chain in Australia. I saw few softwares for my compaq laptop and also few good laptops. Probably I might get one before coming down. God only knows.
Then we both went to the house of another team member Nagesh Prashanth, who is currently heading this project here. We were there for an hour and Prashanth and Atanu left to BigW and I came back to hotel after having dinner. Reached home then folded(In tamil Madikarathu) all the clothes I have hanged and then retired to bed.
Will update you more next week.
The link for the photos we took on Saturday is - http://picasaweb.google.com/guruswaminathan/MelbourneTrip?authkey=T_Uwhh5mYUI
Let me know your comments.
Take Care. Enjoy!!!
Searching for a house
In the serviced apartment I stay, they have booked the rooms till 14th only. As such I am eligible for 14 days stay. I was wondering what to do for the three days, either i need to get a house right away or i need to spend money from my own pocket. I spoke to my manager in IBM and she told no, it should be till 17th check with the reception. If it is not till 17th change it immly, you dont need any approval for this, as you are eligible for 14 days. I said great. The same day I went back to the hotel spoke to the receptionist and asked them to change the checkout date.
"Veeta katti paar", is a very famous saying in tamil and everybody knows it. But it should be like "veeta thedi paaru foreign landla". Pinna enna, edho vandhoma nimmathiya sambathichoma nu irukanum. In my office they told i need to seach of my accommodation and it has to be done within the given 14 days. Just think, how to search for a house and also to do work in office. I dont think its possible or even feasible. Infact my friend was suggesting a furnished single bedroom house for a rent of 400$ per week. Yes per week only. Even though it is a bit heavy on my pocket and budget i thought why not give it a try. From the realestate website i could figure that the house is pretty small. But still wanted to confirm and to have a satisfaction that I have seen a house I went there. Its a west facing house. Once you enter into it on your left hand side it is the kitchen. No doors or windows. Then a small living room with two single sofas and a TV. On the right hand side a bedroom. The bedroom too has no wooden doors, only a sliding and a folding door. Then in the left hand side, immediatly once u enter the bedroom, there was a bathroom. Inside which there is a another door which leads to the toilet. Even though it was good looking it didnt impress me much.
I am going to see one more house tomorrow which is of 340$ per week. Here the funda is you need to pay 4 weeks rent as advance or bond as they call here. And the month's rent. Rent is always needs to be paid in advance. For August you pay on August 01st and for September you pay on September 01st. So, I need to shell out a months rent as advance now + that months rent. Here there is a funny policy that if the rent is greater than 350$ per week then few landlords may demand upto 6 weeks rent as advance. For the house i saw in the afternoon they were demanding 6 weeks advance. Which means $2400.
Even though the rent is weekly but we need to pay it only monthly. There are two different ways of calculating the same. But since the landlord wanted a 6 weeks advance, it was a simple calculation 400*6 which is equal to AUD2400. So if I include the rent also which will be AUD1733. Put together it is 2400+1733 which is 4133. My company doesnt even pay me that much and more over i dont have that much cash advance. Now what to do. I was interacting directly with the landlady. So, I contacted her back and asked her whether the advance can be taken as 4 weeks. She said she will discuss and let me know and till now I haven't got a call from her. And the problem is this house is a bit far away from the office and its not that easily reachable. So, now what.
Even though my company has arranged an agent to look for a house for me, everybody advised me to do it on my own. I was searching the internet and now got a few good houses. I have sent my interests for them and they have to respond back. One of the agent has sent me an sms saying tommorrow I can visit one of the houses. This house is a bit far from the office but not that far when compared to the previous one. This is also a furnished single bed room house. The rent is AUD 340. I will feel lucky and blessed if I get this. Because in the CBD it is very difficult to get a furnished house for this rate. So, let me see what happens tomorrow.
In the office front, we all went to the client's place today and met the people there. From monday the work will start in full force and we need to complete it part by part. Will update as and when it proceeds. Its a lovely office and they provide free drinks on thursdays and fridays 5 to 7 it seems. I need to check with them whether they will give any fruit juices. Pray for me to get a good house before next saturday.
Take Care and Enjoy.
"Veeta katti paar", is a very famous saying in tamil and everybody knows it. But it should be like "veeta thedi paaru foreign landla". Pinna enna, edho vandhoma nimmathiya sambathichoma nu irukanum. In my office they told i need to seach of my accommodation and it has to be done within the given 14 days. Just think, how to search for a house and also to do work in office. I dont think its possible or even feasible. Infact my friend was suggesting a furnished single bedroom house for a rent of 400$ per week. Yes per week only. Even though it is a bit heavy on my pocket and budget i thought why not give it a try. From the realestate website i could figure that the house is pretty small. But still wanted to confirm and to have a satisfaction that I have seen a house I went there. Its a west facing house. Once you enter into it on your left hand side it is the kitchen. No doors or windows. Then a small living room with two single sofas and a TV. On the right hand side a bedroom. The bedroom too has no wooden doors, only a sliding and a folding door. Then in the left hand side, immediatly once u enter the bedroom, there was a bathroom. Inside which there is a another door which leads to the toilet. Even though it was good looking it didnt impress me much.
I am going to see one more house tomorrow which is of 340$ per week. Here the funda is you need to pay 4 weeks rent as advance or bond as they call here. And the month's rent. Rent is always needs to be paid in advance. For August you pay on August 01st and for September you pay on September 01st. So, I need to shell out a months rent as advance now + that months rent. Here there is a funny policy that if the rent is greater than 350$ per week then few landlords may demand upto 6 weeks rent as advance. For the house i saw in the afternoon they were demanding 6 weeks advance. Which means $2400.
Even though the rent is weekly but we need to pay it only monthly. There are two different ways of calculating the same. But since the landlord wanted a 6 weeks advance, it was a simple calculation 400*6 which is equal to AUD2400. So if I include the rent also which will be AUD1733. Put together it is 2400+1733 which is 4133. My company doesnt even pay me that much and more over i dont have that much cash advance. Now what to do. I was interacting directly with the landlady. So, I contacted her back and asked her whether the advance can be taken as 4 weeks. She said she will discuss and let me know and till now I haven't got a call from her. And the problem is this house is a bit far away from the office and its not that easily reachable. So, now what.
Even though my company has arranged an agent to look for a house for me, everybody advised me to do it on my own. I was searching the internet and now got a few good houses. I have sent my interests for them and they have to respond back. One of the agent has sent me an sms saying tommorrow I can visit one of the houses. This house is a bit far from the office but not that far when compared to the previous one. This is also a furnished single bed room house. The rent is AUD 340. I will feel lucky and blessed if I get this. Because in the CBD it is very difficult to get a furnished house for this rate. So, let me see what happens tomorrow.
In the office front, we all went to the client's place today and met the people there. From monday the work will start in full force and we need to complete it part by part. Will update as and when it proceeds. Its a lovely office and they provide free drinks on thursdays and fridays 5 to 7 it seems. I need to check with them whether they will give any fruit juices. Pray for me to get a good house before next saturday.
Take Care and Enjoy.
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