Story by Moutushi Ghoshdeysarkar

Soumil and Mohona just sat there hand in hand contended. There was nothing to rejoice only contentment – one that comes from being unburdened. A chapter came to a close.

This chapter started nine years back when little Raspy was little indeed.

“Raspy don’t, you’ll get hurt!” Ruchi came out of the kitchen to witness the brave feat, Raspy was getting ready to jump from the handle of the sofa and even before she could finish the sentence he jumped – and got hurt – blood started oozing out from his teeth and lips.

Soumil entered through the main door right in time to witness the ghastly scene. “What the hell!” he screamed. Ruchi gave him a troubled look and went about doing the first aid “We need to take him to the hospital Soumil” she finally spoke, “He’ll possibly need stitches.”

It was a long night ahead. A small surgery was required on the nose and lips. Exhausted mentally and physically the hapless parents finally sat down beside a sleeping Raspy – the apple of their eye.

“We should put carpet all over the floor” Soumil blurted out looking far into the corridor. “We should buy some floor” Mohana quipped.

The conversation went on in parts for days, down dark and bright alleys, through an eminent separation which by the way is only a by-product of Mohana’s sentimental turmoil and romantic notion and has no practical bearing – it keeps coming up every now and then and is not dependent on any particular event or topic.

The matter of possessing an abode had many considerable facets, the major being – the notion of moving back to their native, the non-availability of such flats within their means which they would love to call home.

And then one day in her characteristic style Mohana declared, “I have shortlisted a few properties, we cannot buy one to live in but we can procure one for the sake of investment.” Soumil knew she would do it, always the decision maker – it was hard to persuade her to do otherwise but in this case as in most he felt she made a good point.

“Now this is a place we could want to live in, let us go for a three bed room instead of a two Mohana” Soumil really liked the prospect of the neighbourhood that the brochure promised on the now vacant 22 acres of land. “But the price is beyond our budget Soumil, how will we afford this?” said a sceptical Mohana, as she had been the one to handle the finances ever since they got married.

“Well we don’t have to pay all the money in one go” Soumil tried to justify. “Yes Ma’am, the bank will release the money as and when the builder raises a demand and since the project completion is three years hence, it will be a slow and steady rise in the monthly equated instalments (EMI) that you need to pay to the bank.” The customer care guy chipped in.

The proposed apartment project that was to have 19 towers of 19 floors each was adjacent to the builder’s villa project whose second phase was nearing completion. People had started moving in to the first phase.

“I’ll show you the interior of a villa to let you understand the quality of the material that will be used in the apartment flats as well, we will then take a round around this project so that you get an idea about the amenities that will be provided for our apartment project as well.” The eloquent customer care guy said, he had an air of superiority.

Having lived in individual houses and stand alone apartments that were mostly situated in dense neighbourhoods with shops and garbage and noisy places of worship and the dwellings of very poor people thrown in here and there as if in a jamboree, this planned layout with manicured lawns and gardens, cobbled pathways branching out from them to meet the tarred roads lined with trees, the little water bodies placed artistically with sparkling water and decorative plants, the various courts for various sports, pet park, amphitheatre, jogger’s track and what not – it was the place for Soumil and Mohana – and the executive sensed their excitement.

He bargained for a price higher than required and the couple happily agreed.

Once the ball got rolling, the mivan technology that the builder had been boasting about was shaping the towers fantastically and milestones were being achieved as projected – periodic updates about the project started flowing in as promised. The anticipation of the Promised Land (flat) brought exhilaration to their lives.

“I won’t go to the swimming pool.”Soumil said casually over breakfast one morning. “Why? Swimming is a good exercise.” Mohana’s tone was angry. “No no I am not comfortable. All these club house activities – the gym, indoor sports and all of them are not for me. But it would be good to walk along the tracks, or cycle peacefully.” Soumil was in a contemplative mood.

“Raspy will get a beautiful life. A good community to bloom in and even if we don’t he may utilize some of the amenities like basketball court, of course the pool and may be some more.” Mohana smiled in delight. “Also young affairs are on the cards” Soumil winked.

The EMI’s had grown and got fixated as the project was nearing completion and so had Soumil’s salary – thus it didn’t pinch much though it had been a bit of a stretch, another 6 months or so and the uber living that the couple had dreamt of was going to be a reality. But with that looming ahead the logistics of the transition started bothering Mohana.

“The interiors are going to take at least 2 to 3 months, but that will be midsession for Raspy.” A concerned Mohana opened up the forum for discussion one Sunday morning. “Hmmm, also the work will need close monitoring, remember Sony aunty? She used to travel everyday to watch over the interior guys.” Soumil added. “Even then they did one or the other mistake, why even dad was complaining the other day, the new bathroom in our village house is not uniformly laid it seems, for lack of monitoring.” Mohana continued.

The discussion yielded the need for a shift to the locality even before the handover, which meant a frantic search for a house and a school before the beginning of the next session.

“Monu bhaiya this is only a temporary residence, hardly 6 months may be even less so we are not using very good material – eventually we will put this up for rent or may be sell it off.” Mohana was instructing the interior guy on how and where to put up the wardrobes and kitchen cabinets so as to make maximum utilization of the available space – it was no mean job to fit in her 3 bed room household into this 2 bedroom flat that they had bought as a stop gap arrangement.

This apartment was very near to the site of the dream home and also being a distress sale a wonderful bargain.

“It would be easy for you to commute to the site everyday to check on the interior work, may be you could drop Raspy to school and go on and pick him up while coming back. Do pack your laptop and don’t forget the lunch. I’ll do the weekends.” Soumil was upbeat he liked this stop gap arrangement, where he was not bound by time to change addresses. It was rather a hassle to time the changes exactly as required owing to the work pressure in his office. This being his own place he could take time to do the needful.

The new standalone apartment with 80 flats, one of them on the top floor being Mohana’s was a small delight in itself. Most of her neighbours were from small towns and eager to mingle missing their familiar surroundings and family. Inside the flat space was a bit of a constraint but with a huge terrace and a long parking lot at the ground floor there was ample to take a walk, to cycle and also celebrate various, hitherto unknown to Mohana, festivities that brought abundant cheer.

The first phase that consisted of 11 towers was almost done – tower 10 had till 12 stories and tower 11 had till 7 stories completed out of the 19 for each. “But the balcony is like a blindfolded horse.” That was Mohona’s first impression looking at their flat on the 8th floor. “Undoubtedly – was it like this in the brochure?” Soumil was also taken aback. Both were displeased but not much could be done at this point.

One fine day after the new-year celebrations were well passed, came a regret mail. The project had run into some technical issues and would get a bit delayed. The ‘bit’ turned into months and months turned into a year and after lot of deliberation the fact surfaced that the builder had run out of money. The dual challenge posed by RERA that barred them from using funds across projects and demonitization, paired with some bad investments left them dry. Being a huge project there were around a 1000 miserable customers who came forward to demand explanation, money and assurance for the future.

“There is an invitation for a meeting with the customers.” Mohana had got a mail. “It is on a Saturday at the building site; maybe we should go and hear them out.”

The meetings vastly comprising of arguments and counter arguments continued. Suddenly, after a couple of months the builder started advertising aggressively and hope returned.

“Mridul was saying that people are being given offer to shift from phase 2 to phase 1 as it is almost completed. Phase 2 as we saw is only dug up and a bit of the foundation raised.” Mohona was updating Soumil. “He also said that we can also change our flat, existing customers will be given a lot of discount it seems.”

“What options do we have? I really don’t like the balcony.” Soumil asked. “I was looking at the duplex penthouses. We can make the upgrade if we pay up a little more.” Mohona had already done her research.

To make the upgrade another loan was added to the existing loans of the dream home and the 2 bed room flat where they were currently residing. Plans were drawn up to decorate and populate the interiors of the two storied penthouse. Mohona loved the concept of a staircase going up from the hall way to the next floor. Soumil rejoiced the 2000 sqft. They both loved spacious interiors overlooking vast expanse of uninhabited land or water. The penthouse was supposed to have a lake facing front – a ridiculously lucrative prospect.

By 2019, all was quite on all fronts. L n T the construction company had pulled out its cranes, there were no labours at the site and even the skeleton staff at the marketing office onsite was gone. Government had taken over the project on an interim basis, the director of the building company had been suspended and a resolution professional (RP) along with her team had been appointed to help; their fees was supposed to be paid by the customers. Guards were appointed by the RP office to secure the project site.       

Cases were being filled by individual customers. “Soumil the association is hiring a lawyer to make a joint petition in court. Should we join in?” Mohana asked Soumil. “We can but do they have any terms?” Soumil was thinking aloud.

A clause in the form for joining the association stated that one has to pay money as and when asked for, Mohana and Soumil were not comfortable with it. They did not file a case individually or through the association, but when the resolution professional (RP) asked for forms to be filled related to claims, Mohona did so duly. The RP filled the cases in NCLAT/NCLT etc.

Little Raspy all of 12 by then, was due for a puppy as promised long ago. Mohona believed that every child is entitled to unconditional love. In April a puppy came home, it was showered with love all over. Mohona also brought in two turtles – a third of the size of her palm, thus came an aquarium too.

“He likes to be alone.”Mohona reflected on the behaviour of the puppy they had named as Dogmatix. “That is why I wanted to get two together, so they are familiar with each other from the very beginning, hard luck that cheat took away all the money and gave only one.”

As time went by Dogmatix grew in size – a well nourished puppy of 5 months, looking like an oversized adult Shih tzu (the puppy breed) – but so grew his temper, he responded to Raspy’s cuddles with snaps and bites if persistent. The little boy was disheartened.

In October came Zhauwu, the naughtiest little devil that ever could be. “Mamma he loves to be cuddled and keeps wagging his little tail and drowns me with saliva. Now that is what I call a pet, my brother.” An overwhelmed Raspy gave his verdict.

“Soumil, we have a huge family now that can only fit in a 2000sq ft.” Mohona was going to propose something and Soumil knew it. He laughed and said, “Which by grace is in the air. At least the 3 bed room flat with its ridiculous balcony was tangible our duplex penthouse is still on paper.” “True but we can’t go on living in this – it has been three years – we came here for a maximum of 6 months!” Mohona was visibly annoyed.

“Well then say what you have to say, am sure you have a proposal.” Soumil tried to calm her down. “We will shift to a suitable place on rent and put this up on rent.”Mohona said in a determined tone. “So be it. Do you have anything in mind?” Soumil asked softly. Mohona nodded her head in negation. “My colleague keeps praising his complex, it is about 5 kms, he has invited us many times; we could visit him and see if anything suits us there.” Soumil added as he playfully pulled her ponytail to cheer her up.

A visit was soon arranged; Soumil and Mohona loved the vibe. The complex was situated on a sprawling 40 acres of land. Wide roads lined with trees and the 26 towers interlaced with gardens were a sheer delight. It had a basketball court and a cricket pitch and plenty of open space. A huge clubhouse housed many indoor games and a swimming pool. The community was not posh but very neat and organised. They came back with a delightful experience. By November an opportunity to shift into this community presented itself and the couple grabbed it.

“Wowwwww, this is so big” Raspy reacted as he entered the flat they had rented in the new community. It was a sprawling 2100 sq ft, 4 bedroom flat. “Something similar could have been ours and we are paying for it and yet.” Mohona sighed. “Oh come on, let us forget about it. You are the one who keeps telling us to enjoy now and not cry over split milk.” Soumil tried to cheer her. “But I feel guilty; I pushed us into this mess.” Mohona was feeling really low. “Not at all, I was very much a party to it. We decided to go for it together.” Soumil was earnest.

The couple settled well in their rented flat and the new community – enjoying the walks sometimes with Dogmatix and Zhauwu sometimes just the two of them, they took to cycling at times and little Raspy was delighted with the basketball court and the swimming pool, both of which he frequented.

It was a lifestyle Soumil and Mohona had dreamt of for themselves and Raspy.

The two bedroom flat was put up on rent and fetched a good fraction of the rent they had to shell out for their own rented flat. As for the ‘penthouse’ court cases were going on and results were awaited. “The 22nd COC meeting is to be held coming Saturday” Mohona declared at breakfast one day and the duo laughed out loud – it was both pensive and hilarious as the same time.

Mohona and Soumil had accepted the stalemate situation, they would often humour each other by cracking jokes about the ‘penthouse’ but Mohona desperately wanted to get rid of at least the EMIs which were considerably huge – And with time it happened.

Soumil earned and Mohona managed, they both did well and finally one fine October day in 2022, 9 years after the ‘searching for a suitable home to buy’ episode had begun, they walked up to the bank, having parked the car at a nearby shopping arcade, otherwise it would be 25 kms of walking, a bit too dramatic even for the end of such an episode.

Cheque after cheque they gave as their weird issuing bank with a weird rule didn’t let them pay the entire amount through a single cheque.

“So it is done.” Said Soumil holding Mohona’s hand as they sat at a coffee shop. “Yes it is, after paying a fortune we are done.” Mohona said almost choking on her tears. She sniffled. “Now do I have to remind you what my dear wife says to give me courage and lift my spirits?” Soumil said tenderly. “But we still don’t have a proper place to stay after all these years and having spent so much.” Mohona muffled out through tears. “Yes, but we have each other, we are healthy and we still have the capability to have a good life – when money is lost nothing is lost – says who? And why do you tell me all that if you don’t believe in it?” Soumil turned from being sympathetic to temperamental. Mohona smiled through the reminiscent of her tears and squeezed his hand, “So that when I am down you can reiterate them for me, you are my storage space.”

Having gained experience if not anything else, Soumil and Mohona just sat there hand in hand contended. All the loans were paid off. A chapter came to a close – perhaps only to begin a new one.

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