Shifting houses - Seems like all pain and a slowly disintegrating gain :/

Since the time I lived on my own I have had numerous experiences shifting residences... Just about till the point where I was ...WAS... gonna declare myself an expert!... Only just.. If you deal with agents the number of times that I have had to, its gotta count as some sort of expertise for sure!

Following are some basic and handy thumb-rules you have to know before you deal with house agents:

1. They are A******s...! 
2. They are trained to bluff (no 2 ways about it).
3. They are on the look-out for idiots... complete and utter ones; and if you show hints otherwise - they will  be downright rude, and the language eventually be something equal to a boxing mid-fight talk.
4. They are after your money. The moment it goes off your hand, kiss it goodbye!
5. Security deposits are weapons of threat! It is not just a measure of covering damages inflicted by the tenant on the house; but more importantly and especially ( if you are a sane tenant whose left the walls, equipments and fixtures of the house intact) its a motive for both landlord and agents to start using imagination in a WILD manner!

To counter the above, prepare yourself with the following:

1. Give back what you get. (Has worked EVERY time for me!) - If the agent yells, yell in a manner that he would need hearing-aids next (or simply ask him to mind his/her tone) - if he threatens you, threaten back - sometimes if they are being unreasonable, just walk out beforehand ( if you still are to sign on the lease). And if fighting it out is not your scene, seek out alternate agents from the agency itself - and if they also do not help; just find other accommodation!
2. Read the lease agreement with a magnifying glass! - Do NOT , not not not sign it until you know what you are getting into. Clarify all points and bug them numerous times even if they show signs and indications of extreme irritation. Else, the moment you default on anything - you surely shall be made to remember the sneers when they point out things from the lease they can screw you over for.
3. Clarify ALL deductions that might possibly be done from the security deposit. ALL! 
4. Know your alternative solutions (in case of extreme necessity) - police cases, legal issues for example. 
5. Discount everything an agent says by 60%.
6. Check on the plumbings, fittings, cooking gaskets, the heater, water supply, security and check whether the door/windows, grills etc work smoothly without getting stuck.
7. Know dead-lines for payments and do not default. Date and time!
8. Never take shit! Do not be meek and never ever hesitate to ask a zillion questions that are related to their handling of situations, previous tenants, news on the area etc. ( Even if they mention that its non of your business - coz it is!)

Now, why am I writing this post?! I am shifting residence in South Africa from one area of Midrand to another. And we are dealing with a really weird/difficult house agent. I am sure to write about him soon, once things are done. Do look out! :)

:O didn't write anything in July

Ahh I kept wondering and contemplating topics to write on ALL July! :O ... not mere procrastination but just a general sense of auto-editing on what might be appropriate to write. And today it hit home that perhaps considering its MY blog and hence, completely MY domain... I should be able to blabber whatever I want, whenever I want ... and two hoots to anybody who thinks whatever they want to think( errmm I brewed up a weird concoction in my head about what all can be thought by others)  :D ... hehe... so well.. Hello again nameless readers ( don't tell me your name just yet, I will automatically start wondering what is/must be going on in your brain .. :D..)... I am a girl, what did you expect :P... Here, I'd like to say that I am kidding.. but I am not sure.. maybe I am / maybe not... who knows. :)

:D

OK I was getting super bugged being alone at home Fri evening :/.. hence changed the look of my blog :D... I know, it radiates the need to wear shades when looking at it :P... but it is providing immense amusement for the moment and hence shall keep it! 

Oh also, I started reading "Ground studies for pilots", "Treasures of the Pharaohs" as well as "Essentials of Financial Management" all at the same time. Don't ask me why! :)

"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins

Just finished reading this extraordinary book, a tell-all tale of a guy who worked as an 'Economic Hit Man' (EHM) for the United States and went about helping the US screw countries like Ecuador, Panama, Saudi Arabia, Peru, Iraq and Venezuela (basically oil rich countries). He was trained to, and asked to make humungous growth forecasts for these regions and convince their respective leaders and world lending banks into letting the US infuse money in the name of modernization; wherein money was lent by US based organizations and the all round construction work finally granted back to a corporate from the US itself. 

Hence, lending and routing the money back to the US and in the process of which they would laden the region with debts that the latter cannot handle. Further favours would be granted to the US by these countries because of the debt and hence slowly US would try and take over the region itself or try to etch a deal which would solely benefit USA and its foray in being the most powerful country in the world.

 ..... Makes one imagine how less we know as naive citizens of other countries staring at the glossy image that media paints. Donno whether citizens in the US itself are aware of what happens in the political circles of their country, the inside details or are we all totally misled in just about every aspect of life. Leave alone the US, maybe all other countries are also up to such stratagems. Just about makes me more cynical, than I already am! 

Religion and me

My folks got me into a convent Christian school for my junior school studies, and hence before they could properly get Hinduism ingrained me, I was introduced to Jesus! :) Now, my folks are reverent to Indian Hindu gods and do their chants and prayers and ceremonies without fail etc. etc. but they are not obstinate with that at all... thankfully! So, though they encouraged me to know Hinduism, they didn't thrust rituals.... That let me free-float with what I thought should be my sort of god! ..... The initial days were a bit scary for my mom, I know. I would learn all Christian hymns and sing 'em out in front of Hindu gods such as lord Ganesha, goddess Saraswati, goddess Parvati :D and well a zillion more gods... I would be corrected by an 'almost' panicky mom but I am pleased to inform that she would more or less burst out laughing rather than cringing in non-acceptance!

With this leeway, I grew up observing and making notes on various religions and conclude towards my potentially final deity to follow ...... goes without saying, I am nowhere close to that! :)

Religion I would say got summed up in a quote I read which goes went more or less like this : Prayer may not cure a problem but it heals the soul. ( I am very sure I messed it up - the quote i.e. - but it was something like that).

Well, here is what I think about it : 

Religion is just something which holds us together and channelizes positive energy throughout our body, mind and soul! - Short but simple... only it seems nobody understands it, or tries to decipher the meaning. For this purpose we invent figurines, images etc. for the masses to comprehend it. But it is just not that now, is it?! People stick to the outer commodity, the story invented to make-believe the idols - The concept itself, not the meaning in it.... I am very sure, majority of the Hindu's in general haven't read the Vedas, nor have the Muslims read the Quran, nor have any Sikh read the whole Guru-Granth, neither the Christians read the whole Bible ............ So, how did they really make opinions on everything? - Answer: From hearsay and complete lack of brain usage!  - I am mentioning the majority, exceptions ARE there, and if they are, they would have already understood what my premise is!

But the ONE thing I think religions achieve to do (even if not understood in its entirety) is to get people focused. It is known, that concentration improves when we think on a single track. It also soothes our frayed nerves to know that apart from out own efforts, there are external forces helping us in our cause! - Now, that is a comforting thought! 

There was a time in Mumbai ( when I was working in that city in India) when I accompanied a dear friend and also my flat-mate to Church ( This was not my first time, my junior school had a chapel and I along with my sister have visited Churches in gen - no bias, just reverence in faith in gen and loads of curiosity). What I really enjoyed in the sermon ( majority of which was simple preaching) is the act of showing at least one acknowledgement to the person standing on left and right they do somewhere in the end of the sermon. That was really nice - its an act of acknowledging someone else with a positive move! 

I have also visited a "Gurudwara" which is a place of worship of the Sikh's in India. What I love about their culture is the fact that they worship  a book - not a person or an idol or something which is just a fable for all its worth. They revere a Book which tells them what is right and wrong!! I agree with it as well...

Buddhism is immensely attractive to me... but I should confess, I don't know much about it. But from the looks of it, simple meditation sounds a 1000 times better than anything else.

I conclude this by my eternal feeling of window-shopping for my sort of god... I'd rather watch from a distance than get in half-heartedly. Coz faith for me is just not disturbing a single other soul, its about protecting my interest without harming anybody else. Its also just simple believing in ME!... 

I also wonder, how would my personal concept of faith help me if someone tried to harm my loved ones or something very wrong befalls me. I guess the answer would be somewhere in the lines of being proactive and helping where I can positively, of holding myself together and being a force to stem the negative. Sounds too big aye?! :) I guess being smart and not stupid is a part and parcel of believing in oneself. I also should confess, the concept of revenge is something I am yet to sort completely in my head. Sitting passively is not in my book, but neither is simply harming someone who harmed me. I donno, I still have to think more on it ...

(PS: I know i acknowledged far few religions and gods in this post. But its just what came to my mind at this moment. I am sure, if I sit around and think about it, i will come up with more of them). - Again, hope none of it offends anybody :) Peace!