Shifting woes...

We've been in the middle of setting up house for the last couple of weeks now and end just doesn't seem in sight. Some random incidents during our shifting which makes me wonder if everyone goes through this kind of stuff...

1. Our movers & packers were most unprofessional
First, they walk in empty-handed, without any packing material. When we asked them, they said "tension nahi". In my last year's experience I know that people who say "tension nahi" are invariably cause of huge tension and stress. Anyway, they ran out of packing material pretty soon, given that they didn't have any in the first place. At this time, my sis caught one of them trying to stuff things in my handbag in an attempt to pack quickly. Items recovered - AC remote, one pair of scissors, 4 batteries, TV remote, domino's coupons.

After a while, I was on my way to go to the new place in a rick. One of the packers tried really hard to convince me to take the car since it was very hot. But obviously I couldn't due to my limited driving skills. Not wanting to share my life's deepest secrets with him, I quickly walked away. Soon I heard someone from back call out to me. It was this same person running towards me with 2 seemingly heavy bags. "Madam", he says "yeh do bags mein saara glass hai. Aap auto mein le jao, nahi to truck mein to guarantee hai tootne ka". I gave him a piece of my mind, but I did carry the bags with me :(

All this while, Abi was fighting with them to pack the books in a carton. How else could they carry it you might wonder. Their plan was to dump the books with the bookcase in their truck!

Anyway, most things reached safely. Or atleast, things that reached were in one piece.

2. Plumbing is a complicated affair
We were first to move into the building. So naturally, we were guinea pigs to test out any flaws in the plumbing system. Flaws identified so far - (a) Using the flush in one of our bathrooms opens a leak in another flat. And it opens a leak in a different flat every time. The plumbers are at it now, occasionally coming in to flush our toilet and then run around the building to find the newest leak (b) Using the heater in our master bedroom causes a pipe to explode. This apparently is because of water pressure being very high due to other flats being empty. So it should be fixed in a few months. I am hoping other people move in soon.

3. Abdul Breadwala and Coconut Venugopal
As soon as we moved in, tons of domestic support staff came knocking at our doors - milkman, newspaper delivery, grocery stores, ironwala, dry cleaners and the funniest of the lot - Abdul Breadwala & Coconut Venugopal. This breadwala concept is quite new to me, when I have lived in Mumbai most of my life. We were about to turn him away because Abi felt it's a bit luxurious to have a person to deliver bread at home when the grocery store is next door. But Abdul educated us that breadwala is more than just bread delivery. He is essentially bakery on the move. Not a bad proposition at all and pretty good timings. Calling him before 6pm will ensure delivery at 8:30pm on the same day. My favorite though is Coconut Venugopal. He hands out free samples to get consumers. We had barely settled in, when he stood at the door with coconut in hand offering free delivery at anytime of day or night. Since then he has been unreachable though. I just got to know that his cellphone fell into the gutter and services will resume in a week. Looking forward to it.