At last we moved into our new villa on the 15th July. The whole process was difficult in that this was the fourth house that we had tried to secure. The other three fell through due to unscrupulous practices by the landlords. They let you think you have secured the property, and then at the last minute the pull our because they have had a better offer.
Infuriating.
The move was ok, given that we have absolutely no furniture as yet. It all should arrive by sea on the 12th August. We did have an air container which was waiting for us when we arrived at the villa. It contained essential linen items etc and my computer. It took a little time to get the Internet connection sorted out, but it is up and running now, and seems ok, but not the fastest. The power will just cut out here in Bangalore all the time. Sometimes or four times a day, but the complex here has a backup generator which kicks in after about thirty seconds. However, it means that I have to run my PC off a UPS in case I might lose any data.
The villa is in a gated development in a quiet area on the Eastern edge of the city. There are two hundren and eighty three villas here of five different styles. It is one of the most affluent developments in the city and is inhabited by mostly rich locals and a few ex-pats. from the USA and UK etc. Our next door neighbour is actually an Israeli. It is served by a central clubhouse, which is smartly built and boasts significant amenities. There is a great outdoor swimming pool with sun-loungers very much in the Caribbean style. There are also two outdoor tennis courts. Upstairs there is a new, well equipped gym, and also courts for squash, table tennis and badminton. There are even yoga classes. The central part of the club has a restaurant. There is the main restaurant and also a Tandoori outside next to the pool. The menu is comprehensive with Indian, Italian and even UK food at unbelievably low prices.
The villa itself is great. All marble, with three bedrooms, each of which is en-suite with a wetroom. It has a good sized kitchen, living room and dining area. The diningroom and living area are of a large open-plan design, and at the top of the stairs there is an immense landing - big enough to be a room in itself. The two upstairs bedrooms both have quite large individual sun patios accessed by wooden french doors.
I'm going to stop there, as I am beginning to sound like an estate agent, and nobody wants that. Here is a pic of the villa, and I will post a few more once our furniture gets here.
Of course we had to rent a couple of items as a stop-gap until our things arrive; namely a three piece suite and a bed. This arrived promptly on our arrival in typical Indian style. A lorry from the 1930's came down the street. There were no less that seven occupants - three in the cab and four in the back. They all got out without a word, and brought the items inside and assembled them, got back on the lorry and drove off. There was no head scratching, tutting or sighing. They just go on with it.
We now have a maid who is friendly and efficient and we also have a strange gardener. He speaks very little if any English, and clearly the request to "Trim a few things back" translates to "Please dig out the entire garden and spare nothing" A trip to the nursery is planned.
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