Unavoidable circumstances led to our househunting frenzy during the last two months of 1993. The contact with the landlord at our previous house made provisions for three months notice but as you can't book a house three months before hand and pay rent for two houses at the same time, we were lazing away till it was mid November. December 31. the official date of our moving out of the house. So. while we searched for a suitable house and endured househunting trauma, in Dhaka City, our landlord was also busy preparing to re-rent his house. Thus as is the norm in such cases, people of various creeds and dogmas came at the weirdest hours to peep in side bathrooms, bedrooms et al. This was not their fault since the landlord residing in the ground floor of the aarqe house on days when he was bodily present would virtually drag embarrassed people in to see a Tk 17.000 per month (new raised rent for 1994) house.

Until mid December only one family showed signs of interest and our landlord came one night and gave us the delightful news that a party had almost agreed and contract papers would be signed and readied by the following week. Next week, he came again. This time with more good news - could we possibly allow these new people to bring in some of their furniture before they themselves moved in.? Living in a Tk 15,000 per month rented house In a place like New D.O.H.S. you'd expect some respect when you are supposed to pay a whole month's rent and everything. Any way. we agreed and casually asked about their contract, the man replied "Oh. soon, soon." So much for written agreements; we who had some such thing were being forced out while some other fellow from nowhere with a verba) understanding was commanding such humility in this seemingly inhuman fellow. Why inhuman? Wait till the good stuff starts.

Now to the househunting part of our adventure. Coming back to central Dhaka after some time, we found out that the rents had skyrocketed while we were away. Rent for a 1300 Sq. Ft. apartment was Tk 9000. for 1500 sq. Ft. Tk 10.000. for 1800 Sq. Ft. Tk. 12.000 per month. Naturally we were looking for a secure place In the city and that security cost Tk 1,500 per month added to rents plus utility bills. Living in this country, where If you don't work in an NGO you are liable to starve with a big family, you would expect some logic behind such outrageous rents, but there are none. This is the most profitable business of the 90's for a landlord tn Dhaka City. Nowhere else on qarth would you find a society that lets its houseowners harass the tenants in such a way. All over the world the law is on the tenant's side but here it's different like everything else. Here the last thing you consider while deciding the rent for your newly made 900 Sq. Ft. haven. In a lane that would put a rickshaws width to shame, at Tk. 6.000 per month, is the payscale of a government employee. Hey 1 That's the tenant's headache not the own-

Anyway coming back to the original topic, we find ourselves on the day of the actual shifting. Early in the morning the vans and the movers came and so did the landlord. As we had to move out in a day. we were hurrying with the stuff like there was no tomorrow. Naturally while taking care we did not run away with his light shades, and tubelights and I don't know what else, the landlord was getting in the way. Yet. he doggedly kept at it. shaking off our frowns and casual sarcastic remarks like a statedfast soldier.

Right in the middle of this, he began to pester us for the keys. We handed the set over to him but he began shaking his head "No. no. there are five keys missing." We tried to console him by assuring him that we would bring them around later, because it would be impossible to look for five keys in the mess we were in. He still shook his head. Oh. the expression on his face as he kept on saying, "but without the keys the doors are all worthless." He did not believe that we would understand this complex matter. 1 don't think he had been able to sleep that night. What with missing keys, inconsiderate. unintelligible tenants and everything.

Well, we escaped the hell hole scotfree and yes. we did find and return the keys. The last time we filled our little car with the remaining fragile things, the landlord's mother came out of the house and took a look inside the boot of the ear. Relieved that we had not scraped the plaster off the walls or something and tried to flee with it. she went back inside flashing a dry smile in our direction.