The Process of Renting a Full Service Apartment in India

I’ve been staying at the Courtyard Marriott for the last 4 months and as much as I love that hotel and their wonderful staff, it was time to get my own place. I missed cooking, having the ability to entertain and I needed more space, so I decided to look at furnished apartments. I was pleasantly surprised to find some lovely apartment, nicely furnished, in a safe and self-contained community. So after filling out a long contract and providing all the necessary paperwork, I spent the weekend moving into my apartment in a beautiful complex called Palm Springs!

My living room

Things to know

Here are some interesting facts. The smallest one I could find is 3 bedrooms and they go up to 6 bedrooms. Mine also has 3 1/2 baths plus a maids quarters. Each bedroom has its own washroom, like a master suite in the states.The maids washroom is outside by the washing machine.The service staff even have their own elevator! They don’t have clothes dryers here and instead provided me with a clothes rack, so I guess all the neighbors will get to look at my delicates out drying in the hot sun.

Master bedroom

What to expect

The floors are travertine and pergo. The counters are granite.Granite is cheap in India, as is travertine. Even the cheapest places have lots of granite, marble and travertine. My apartment also has 3 private balconies, a living room, big kitchen and formal dining room. There is no oven. No one has an oven. Cooking is done by hot plate or gas range. The refrigerator is about 1/2 the size of mine at home, and that’s big by Indian standards. Most people have one about the size of one you might see in an RV in the states. There are no closets, only wardrobes and they all have locks. Every door in the apartment has a damn key!

My kitchen

Problems

So this brings me to my most recent problem that I’m facing while I write this. I only locked one wardrobe, and that is the one with my jewelry in it. I hid the key at the very back of a the top drawer in a nightstand thinking the maid wouldn’t find it there. Well tonight when I got home the key wasn’t there!! So now I can’t access any of my clothes! I don’t have anything to wear to the office tomorrow! So I had to call a friend that speaks Hindi and ask him to call the maid. She said she didn’t see the key. Now a locksmith is coming but not until morning. They don’t have 24/7 emergency locksmiths here. Looks like I’ll be going into the office late tomorrow.  Sigh….

View from the balcony

Home sweet home

Aside from all that, I love it here! I made dinner last night and enjoyed every minute of it! It is a self-contained community with a small grocery store, a gym, hair salon, swimming pool and hot tub, billiards room, restaurant, movie theater and tennis court. There are is a good mix of Indians and westerners and lots of kids out playing. I really missed the sound of children’s laughter. It’s a delight to my ears. Friday night I am having a house-warming party and I can’t wait!  Now, time to go shopping for home accessories and decorative items!!

My complex and neighbors