Ground Reality... Sky High

Most of my friends in Bangalore (oops... Bengaluru) said, "Why move out of Bangalore man? It is the IT capital of India, and a great city to live in." Period.
And I'd reply, "One reason - Hosur Road". Period.
They had their reasons, and I had mine. And then, in the process of building up this opinion, I had started looking for the downsides of staying in B'lore and the upsides of moving to Hyderabad.
Yes, Hyderabad - the upcoming IT hub of India. The place which was first planned, then built and then populated. The city that offered a better quality of life, lesser time on roads, better roads, blah blah blah... all this and much more, at a more affordable price. Now that was attractive.
So, with all that optimism, and a li'l bit of skeptism... I arrive in the city of Nawabs - Hyderabad.
The drive from airport to the IT area, in an old Ambassador was not as thrilling as I had imagined. But half way through, the roads became wider, traffic lesser, and I breathed a sigh of relief - "How frequently do I need to drive to the airport anyways? This is good. This is good."
"Yeah right..." - Second track. I brushed my Second Track (Alter ego) aside and got back to bolstering my opinion about Hyderabad. "Do you really have an opinion dude? Or did u formulate an argument just to support your decision to move to Hyd???" - Second Track. Shusshh...
The guest house was just a 3bhk appartment turned into a guest house by keeping a tv in each room, and installing an ac. Not bad though. What impressed me big time was the appartment campus and the set-up. 8-10 blocks of appartments, with all daily aminities available within the premises. Office was a five min walk, or a 15 min drive if I were in the other office. So far so good. "See, I told you its a good place", I said to my Second Track. And so it was. But I was here on a mission - to search for a decent house at a good location, not too far from office, and of course, within my budget.
Day 1 of my search. I had clearly told the broker my requirements and my budget. Now when i think of it, I feel he remembered only the budget part. I could see that appartment from quite a distance. A gaudy pink building standing at the end of a mud road, opposite to a school. I could hear the children repeating some lessons after ther teacher, loud n clear. The house, you could make out at the first look that it was built to be rented out to bachelors. Now this is a fairly general trend these days. Buy/Build a flat and rent it out to a group of people who can collectively pay off your EMIs and give you a profit as well. This flat was a classic example of maximising the profits in such a proposition. And the rent : "thats just 8.5k + maintainance saire." "You kidding dude...???" - Second Track. Now this time I positively approved this voice within.
Next: "turn right from here saire..., next left..., right from the dead end saire..." By now we were driving in a vast topsy-turvey ground. By now I had already lost my way back, and my patience too. "Lets go back. I'm not living in this far an area", I said. "Bingo! Now you're talkin" - Second Track.
After 3 flats and some negotiations, it was clear. The criteria I had were too much to ask for from this agent. "He's not the right kinda guy. Doesn't understand my taste. All I need is a good agent who knows understands my taste."
"I have a very beautiful flat saire. Good locality, 24 hours water supply, generator backup. Beautiful lay out and beautiful security.". said Sudhakar - the new agent. "Beautiful security? U mean baywatch gal commandos ???" - Second Track. Shusshh...
We reached the place. Well, he was right. The locality was good. I was right. He understood my taste.
The flat entrance was kinda grand. Posch finishing, lavish wood work. Huge drawing and living area. Good kitchen with chimney. Two balconies. All in all - BIG & lavish. It had a pooja-room, which was so big that I could live in it and "feel like God". Hmm... "I don't really need a three bedroom flat Sudhakar, but this is good. How much is it for?"
He whispered to me, "The owners are asking 20 saire, but I can get them down to 18 for you. Its a beautiful flat with beautiful security." "Wha..." words froze in my mouth, in fact in my head. It was just the kind of heart break that Ali felt when he saw Abhishek with Bipasha in Dhoom 2.
And guess what am I doing now. If you said "looking for another house", well yes... but I've lost hope. What I'm really doing is thinking of upsides of staying in Namma Bengaluru. And there are many.
The last round of the 12 round boxing match is tomorrow. And I don't know if I really even want to win it now.
So whoever said that you get a better quality of life, lesser time on roads, better roads, blah blah blah... all this and much more, at a more affordable price, was grossly wrong. I (Ok I confess) was grossly wrong. You can get all that's mentioned above, but at sky high prices. "So why move then, when the ground reality is sky high?" - Second Track.

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PS: And by the way, Pavan, manager of the appartment that I'm in, called up. "A 3bhk is available." My dream home I thought. "The owners are asking for 30, but we can get them down to 28 for you." Phusssssssssssss… So, even sky is not the limit.