Roti, kapda aur makaan

This is something that any person, especially singles, who have come to Mumbai in search of better career prospects will identify with. The rent situation in this city is not only unjust, it's appalling.

I live in a one bedroom house in Bandra (better known as 1BHK in Mumbai). My roommate & I pay twenty two thousand as rent every month. We're vacating our house at the end of this month, and the guy who is taking it up after us will be paying thirty thousand for the same house!

Landlords in the city seem to be minting money at the expense of hapless tenants. My landlords are a Catholic couple in their 50s. They are really sweet people...they are gracious enough to invite us to their house during Christmas, Easter etc. They regularly enquire about our well-being, whether we need anything, if we need anything fixed around the house etc. But they are quite fixated over money. Why shouldn't they be, you ask? After all, it's a deal you made with them...they let their house to you, you pay them rent. That's all fair. My point is - is such a high rent justified?

There are so many other expenses that single people living & working in this city have to bear. Transport costs, electricity bills, paying the housekeeper, groceries etc. A better part of our salaries goes in meeting these expenses. It seems that we earn just so we can pay other people for the services they provide us!

I'm not sure the situation is any better for couples. They might be a double-income couple but they may also have other significant outgoings, such as EMIs on cars, other durables etc.

I always thought the rent situation in the city would reach a point where it would not be able to sustain itself and rents would come crashing down. But that doesn't seem to be happening what with the constantly increasing demand for houses and tenants willing to pay higher rents than ever before. I don't know how but somehow the situation will have to correct itself...sooner rather than later.