You have got your dream job in a city like Kochi. Maybe, it is the first time you are staying away from home. While you are excited, there are some basic issues that you will have to face. Starting with accommodation. Here is a list of likely situations you may face.
There are hostels, there are paying guest accommodations and, if you are willing to pay that extra dime, you can take a house or a flat on rent, subject to conditions, of course. Kochi’s bachelor life is quite an experience even if one does not often fetch the conveniences worthy of the money being shelled out.
The walls outside the railway station on either side are filled with posters of hostels. All carry phone numbers too. As one notes down the number and starts calling, it heralds the beginning of Kochi life. There are those who argue that Kochi resembles Mumbai of the sixties when it comes to the matters of job opportunities and accommodation. As people pour in in the tens of thousands, hostel/ paying guest is a booming business in Kochi.
So near yet so far
This is an example of what you may have to face. The advertisement said hostel facility in Panampilly Nagar . On calling the number and asking about directions came the reply, take a left near the hotel in Panampilly Nagar, go some distance, take the right, then left, finally the location turned out to be in Elamkulam; a good 2.8kms away. Like this ads might proclaim Panampilly Nagar and behind Passport Office where as the actual location could be far removed from these.
Houses are often taken on rent and converted to hostels. Three rooms in the upstairs floor. A couple of wrought iron cots. Just the bare minimum. The bedding and anything else you need, including buckets have to be sourced on one’s own. Women’s hostels might have bunk beds. Three such in a room means accommodation for six. A dust-laden darkened fan. A tiny bathroom. Then there is this boast about ‘free Wi-Fi’. This is the only luxury in most places! This is the usual story in most of the boys-girls hostels.
Food is pathetic
Food? Pathetic is the word if you ask most people who stay in hostels. The demand is more for hostels which are clean and provide good food. The rent is naturally steeper. Some places provide packed lunch in tiffin boxes. Rice, rasam and cabbage thoran… thus goes the tale of woes! A dip in the quality of the food means higher profits for the landlord. Hence it is necessary to keep the quality always low. The afternoon rasam and sambar are just so-so, contends everybody. Most seek solace in outside food at least once a day. Those who cannot afford it have no option but to bear this.
Another way to solve this issue is to see the hostel merely as a place to grab a night’s sleep. Take off early in the morning. Take afternoon food at the office. Return only after nightfall. Have something light and hit the bed.
Most people who stay in such places do not wash clothes. Instead, these are bundled and taken home in bags on the weekends. Some places have restrictions on using water for laundry purposes.
You gotta pay extra
Some hostels have seven or eight stories but the lift functions only during lunch hour. Time is regulated for usage as morning, noon, evening and night. Lift is to be used only for going up. Do not use it for going down. Use the stairs at other times. Stranger still is the absence of plug point in the room. A few plug points are provided downstairs. One needs to stand in queue for charging the mobile. This is where one needs to go for ironing also. Everything carries a price - Rs 3 for mobile charging, Rs 5 for laptop charging and Rs 10 an hour for using iron.
It all comes to an end by 10 pm. Most people take care to charge their mobile fully at the workplace. Many carry power banks. Some places do not allow laptop charging. There are places that charge an extra Rs 200 a month for allowing the use of plug points in the room.
Show us the payslip
Most places charge Rs 4000 as rent for accommodation with food. The rent comes down to Rs 2500 if food is not required. Rates are lower in places having lower standards. Rents vary from Rs 3500 to 5000 for accommodation with food. Whether bathroom is attached or common is also a factor. Deposit is extra.
Some women’s hostel decide rent based on salary! Payslip needs to be produced here. A salary below Rs 25000 merits dormitory. Those who earn more than that are eligible for a room with two beds. Rent increases in proportion to salary. Paying guest facilities require women to be back by 6.30 pm. But the time is extended based on the nature of the job. Work ends much late for those in the IT sector. Kakkanad has many such hostels.
Women travelling to the city from Kakkanad have to invariably rely on online taxis. Availability of the driver’s details including photograph and phone number in the mobile ensures a sense of security. No haggling is needed over fares. Often it is lesser than auto fare too.
Marriage spells liberation
Marriage spells liberation for boys and girls living in hostels. Girls long for this liberation from bachelor life more than boys. They dream of a happy life with a husband in a rented flat, freed from the tyranny of trashy food.
Boys and girls working in Kakkanad are in demand in the matrimonial market. It is a convenient match for them to come together. Many love affairs even thrive here, keeping an eye on such practicality. Chatting and meeting are no big deal at all in the age of Whatsapp. With marriage comes the time to take a house or flat on rent. Furniture is bought, the wife learns to cook and so on. Honeymoon days thus becomes a declaration of independence from the prison of hostel life.
Thank God it’s Friday
Kakkanad is chock-a-block with flats. Three or four people together share a flat. Two to three bedroom flats come at a rent of Rs 8000 to 15000. Two or three people sleep in a room. IT employees are very late in returning in the evening. Then they set out in groups for dinner. The night is spent chatting away or at the cinemas. Shows after 10 pm are preferred. They take their vehicles and head for the malls for this purpose.
None of them are in the flats on the weekends. They clear the place on Friday evening. Their homes could be in Kottayam or Kozhikode or Palakkad or Chengannur. They enjoy homemade food from mothers’ hands and wash, dry and iron their clothes and come back fresh on Monday morning. Another busy week awaits them. Not for nothing do messages float around in Whastapp decrying Mondays and extolling Fridays. Thank God it’s Friday!
A scary day called hartal
Hartal is the nightmare of hostelites. The day is especially tortuous for those hostel inmates who eat restaurant food. Not able to go to work, all they can do is head for Fort Kochi in the morning. They roam around during the day and have something from there. The pavement shops of Fort Kochi are said to be active even on Hartal days. The path to a rosy future may be paved with stones and mud. Those who thus count this as a passing phase of struggle take it in their stride. All this misery could become nostalgia in future.