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Pleasures Of Living As A Tenant

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by HariLakhera, May 15, 2022.

  1. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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    Pleasures of Living as a Tenant

    Those of us who lived in rented houses for a considerable time and built our own house or purchased one, know the pleasure of living as a tenant. There was no botheration of taxes, repairs, and municipal laws. Not that there were no problems with the landlords but by and large it was a pleasure because we were free to change the landlord meaning thereby move to another house depending on our pockets and facilities provided by the landlord. It also gave us the freedom of accepting transfers with or without promotions and moving to another city. Owning a house restricted that choice.

    It is the same way, when you are a tenant of an ideology built by someone else, you enjoy it. It is sort of a rented ideology. You have taken it on rent, pay the rent in the form of raising slogans and flags of that ideology as desired, and move on. You have the choice of shifting to another ideology depending upon the concessions and promises given. This ideology may be cultural, social, or political. You have no contribution to the formation of this opinion. You have no botheration of maintaining and strengthening this ideology. You trust the opinion maker and follow it to the brink. Vast masses of people fall in this category.

    In hindsight, I think the soul in our body is also a tenant. It lives in our body but has no responsibility for repairing or maintaining it. That responsibility is of the owner of the body. As a tenant, the soul pays rent regularly in the form of guiding us from time to time. When the owner of the body fails to preserve its strength, the soul leaves and enters another body as a tenant. As long as it is in a body, it pays the rent and enjoys the pleasures of tenant life.
     
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  2. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:Kudos to @HariLakhera . I enjoyed reading your post. It flooded my memories. It transported mind to those days when I used to enjoy sitting over country tiled roofs inhaling the aroma of many kitchens under one umbrella .

    Tenant the very word brings allergy to some yet the word brings lot of joy to few others. There are few who lost the house to rent control act where the court order fixing the monthly rent to be charged. Many banks after quartering their employees, flatly refused to vacate and went to court and brought tears to the landlords.

    As a boy of standard four to till my own house constructed to reside, I must have stayed in about twelve to fourteen rented dwellings.

    My mom had shifted residence almost every school year but always in the vicinity of school or college. As a sequel, Over the years, I had a very large circle of friends and my mom too. Networking through this large circle of friends in later years proved to be very beneficial; observing this wide set of families and their children, helped faster maturity and familiarity in many spheres.

    It was all pleasure all the way. Thanks to my then sub tenants for Some engaged me for radio drama : one employed me in exhibition stall in summer vacations: Some one engaged me as a model student for teacher training :some one paid re one for binding her collection of Tamil serial stories .

    A few turned celebrities in later years fondly remembered my mom and thanked her for the opportunities that she provided that moulded them to be a dancer, a film producer, small business owner, a school headmistress, a college principal, recovery of a mentally depressed young wife, etc. late “VISU” & “KICCHA” were my friends from this sub tenant groups.

    Hand-drawn carts helped shifting our personal effects from one street to another just for few rupees. Some homes, we had no electricity. In some, we shared bath room and toilet. In a country-tiled home, thrice at sharp 9 p.m. I was stung by scorpion. It was a pleasure! Homeopath helped me from effects of scorpion poison. He showed a bottle of oil in which dead black & brown Scorpions soaked for eternity. That oil applied over my hand where scorpion stung me then.

    We never heard or seen shower, washbasin or wester style toilets. In many hired places, our source of water was only a narrow well from which water drawn for all purposes. Electric Lights without fans were provided for short period. Sharp 10 O’clock electric supply to tenants would be stopped. There were restrictions about entry to the buildings built without compound wall as the land lord would lock the entrance to building it as soon as English AIR NEWS was over.

    Dad hired a small portion for ₹5 a month that was close to a cow-shed. That gave opportunity to learn about cows and their food and many ways of using its dung & her urine as fuel, as insecticide and medicine respectively.

    For few years, my resident was opposite the world famous MCC - the Madras Cricket Club, Chepauk at Triplicane. I could befriend watchmen and had free access to club and shook hands with world class cricketers from different Nations. This house under rent control and the occupier was a sub inspector of police. His spouse was mentally retarded. He seemed to have married her under some compulsion. A year and half in my mother’s company, she could overcome her depression and turned normal.

    Ramanan - the eldest of family with four sisters was a eldest son of sub-tenant ; was taking me along when he sold in paper cones snacks to visitors at marina beach. Decades later, we met while I was boarding for home in the rush hour local train at Victoria Terminus. He said that he was manager for bank of India branch at fountain. Incredible for a son of a Brahmin priest.

    For watching chaya Geet on Doordarshan Thurs nights in black & white all tenants gather at land lord’s reception hall. We should remain silent lest landlord will not permit us.

    During lunch break at school, I used to reach home for food and then back to school. On a particular day, I as usual ran home for lunch and only upon reaching there, I remembered residence shifted at another street nearby. But seeing me there, the neighbour lady offered me lunch and I went back to school. Anxious Mom came to school during class hours to check what happened to me .
     
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  3. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Shri Thyagarajan,
    Wonderful memories. I lived in an ancestral home for most of my childhood. My father rebuilt it after the family grew up with four sons, each son having a two-room flat on the ground and upper floor. Then three sons migrated and my parents are no more. The youngest brother manages it but his own sons also migrated. Now he lives with his wife in an 8-room house.
    During my working life, I lived in rented houses/flats only in different cities with rent agreement so there was no problem as rent had to be increased after every three years. But inflation or land lord's expectations used to run faster than the agreed increase and used ways and means to see that we leave and he gets a new tenant.
    At last, we shifted to our own flat and lived in it for over 20 years, taking care of maintenance and repairs. We moved to the USA and found it very difficult to find a buyer during Covid times plus disposing of the items we had stored for years.
    So, both options have good and bad experiences.
     
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  4. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello: Dear Hari Sabh,
    I agree in toto.

    In the house constructed we resided with family, children and my parents in their sunset years for over twenty five years. This own house witnessed many celebrations and rituals and was venue for religious functions and festivals. The house stuffed with many heirlooms that aged easily three generations. It took fifteen years EMI payments to get it redempted completely and got the mortgage deed cancelled. All around we had coconut trees and fruit & flower yielding plants including three trees of mango producing different varieties. The soil was rich full of nutrients that gave unusual sweetness to custard apple, mangoes and lemons and rich fragrance to flowers like jasmine, PAVAZHAMALLI & hibiscus (in two different colour). We left our numerous helpful genuine family friends in the neighbourhood.

    I shifted to my daughter’s in law building upstairs at a different place and living comfortably while my son-in-law with his parents are residing in ground floor.

    My own single storied house before I could rent it out, thieves had visited and removed few items like steel cupboard, steel office executive table & revolving chair, dismantable steel cot,
    Two Stainless steel tall kitchen racks and all steel window-grilles. They even removed electrical fittings and wirings, geyser, washbasins & ss water taps etc. the security employed seems to be hand in glove with thugs. Police are still investigating since last sep,’21.

    I contemplate profoundly on your statement that soul has rented a human body and leaves it when body becomes unfit for residing.

    Who could be the broker for hiring my body to the soul? Could it be God?


    Thanks and Regards.
     
    Last edited: May 16, 2022
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  5. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    Human beings long for what is not possessed by them.
    When we lived in different rented houses from 1963 to 69
    we longed to build our house.With all the difficulties such as housing loan, property tax etc etc,we enjoyed living in our own
    small house. That sense of possession, we can't get anywhere.
    Ask the people who live in rented house.
    They have a huge list of grievances.In those days, tenancy agreements were just oral. There have been occasions when the
    tenant was asked to vacate within 10 or 15 days.They had to find out some accommodation by hook or crook.There have been heartless house owners who stopped current supply or water supply or had some unauthenticated metre readings for which the tenants had to pay the charges.Sometimes wordy fights turned into serious quarrels and tenants had to face police charges.

    Everywhere there are problems. Some are lucky to have good house owners and comfortable stay. For some it is a terrific experience.
    Some people have a tendency to always invest in lands and properties.They simply boast of their wise investments and trends of appreciation.See the Real Estate boom and TV advts.

    Investment is logic and science. You should have a deep study as to where to invest and approximate appreciation.
    Some people always act smart and safe.
    Whether own or rented, peace of mind moderate comforts are essential.
    Jayasala 42
     
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  6. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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    Managing a house when not living there is a big job. And if there is no plan to occupy it anytime soon, the best option is to sell it out.
    Soul renting the body was just over the head. Maybe the soul is the owner of the body. Maybe there is no soul. We only know about the body and have to take care of it till the end, knowing fully well, that it is not going to last forever.
    I guess, the parents might have applied for it directly with a condition that the body should come with a soul. No broker needed.
     
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  7. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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    In those good or bad olden days of verbal agreements or no agreement at all, smart tenants vacated the house at will. Then came the rent control act. I know a lot of tenants who got a huge sum to vacate the house.
    Now it is called a lease agreement of 11 months subject to renewal on conditions.
    Yes, the satisfaction of ownership outnumbers all other options.
     
  8. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    Thanks.
    I wonder while science can reach moon mars black hole in milky way and other galaxies, yet the composition of soul - physical & chemical remains unfathomable. At what stage of baby soul is sent to occupy it. Is it a battery that is not rechargeable.
     
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  9. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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    Science has not yet fully understood the body. Most of the knowledge is based on experience, like if there is a scar somewhere on or inside the body and is left unattended, it may turn cancerous and affect other parts too. But why the scar appeared in the first place is guesswork.
    Similarly, in my opinion, there is something beyond death but what? No one knows. There is something within us that tells us the difference between right and wrong, good or bad but that is again individualistic, not universal.
    The mystery will continue.
     
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