I am not exaggerating. It’s only when you start looking for a rental house in Mumbai, do you get to see its true nature — its cracks, the multitude lanes that you never knew existed, the cults and the communities, and the unusual questions about your identity.

I love Mumbai in all its forms — the good, the bad, and the ugly. After living in this city for almost two decades and having also lived in a few other cities in India, I can confidently say that there is no other city like Mumbai in India. But my love for the city kind of wavers when I start looking for a rental house.

The first filter that I have to put when I am looking at available houses is the single woman filter. Yes, it’s ironic for a mega city like Mumbai, not all are open to renting out their houses to single people. They have their reasons for it. When you say that you are single, their mind quickly cooks up stories — remember all the female negative roles played by women with curly hair in the 90s — yes, that’s what they think about. Sometimes I have this urge to get into people’s minds and erase all those images. I hope that someday with the advancement of AI I would be able to do it. But until then I have to bear their cliched thoughts.

In this aspect, societies are clearly divided. Most societies with older people as house owners and are currently living there will not allow single people. Their thoughts are as old as they are.

But if you go to newer buildings, which are obviously bought by young people, they don’t usually question your single status as long as they are convinced that you can pay the rent on time.

And they gauge your financial status by the kind of job you do. But that also poses as a tricky situation for me when I say that I work in Media. Because Media people have again created an unfavourable image in the minds of people — too many guests, too many parties — little do they know that the only “too” in our lives is working too much.

There are different kinds of proof of financial stability that people ask for, but this is the first time someone asked me for my LinkedIn profile. And I was glad that I had a decent one, by that I mean a believable, valid one.

Now depending on the area you are scouting for a house, people are also curious about your religion. There are communities who live like a cult and are primarily vegetarians and as a policy will not rent out houses to people who are not. I have never understood this — how do you judge people based on what they cook at home? Isn’t it none of their business? But no, of course it’s their business. If 70% of the population in that society belongs to a particular community (if you’ve lived in Mumbai, then you’ll know whom I am talking about), then it’s a blanket rule – only vegetarians allowed.

So, if I stumble upon a society like that, I quietly walk away from it. Because I don’t want to live surrounded by judgemental people.

But sometimes house brokers think it’s unsophisticated to ask about someone’s religion directly. So, they ask some fun questions like these.

Q – Which part of the country do you belong to?

A – Maharashtra

Q – And your parents?

A – Kerala

(confused look on the face)

Q – What is your name?

A – Shinu

(can’t figure out which religion expression)

The best question I got asked this time.

Q – Do you celebrate Christmas?

A – Yes, I think everyone in Mumbai does.

(I don’t know how to directly ask her kind of expression)

But then I get those rare people who ask me directly if I eat non-veg. And then when I say I am vegan, they are even more confused than they ever were.  

But once I pass the filters of single, media, religion, food habits, then I finally to get to see houses in societies that are willing to look beyond these labels. But believe me, it’s still not easy. I’ve just managed to cross the filters of the society. Now comes the filters of my mind. Yes, I am biased too.

I don’t like to live in areas which have slums. I don’t like to live in the middle of a marketplace as it’s always noisy. I don’t like to live closer to the station as it’s always buzzing. But I still don’t want to live too far away from the station because I like to use the local train to commute. I don’t like to live in areas which have traffic jams, which is ironic because that’s what most of Mumbai is. I don’t want to live in areas where it’s difficult to find a rickshaw at night. I don’t want to live in a society which has hard water supply. I don’t want to live where there’s no sunlight. And most importantly, I don’t want to live in a building where someone from the other building can easily peek into my house.

Yes, yes, yes, I have too many filters too. Maybe more than what the cults and the communities have. I am very much aware of it, that’s why if I find a house that ticks all my criteria, then I stay put for a long time as I don’t want to go through this ordeal of finding a house again in Mumbai.

Mumbai is a city of dreams. People from all areas of life and from across the country come to find livelihood here. Everyone wants a piece of Mumbai, and it’s people like me who make up most of the population. But in this city of dreams, finding your dream house is tough. You end up making some compromises here and there.

This time I found a house and the compromise I made is that it’s tad bit far away from the local train station. But I thought that compromise was okay to make.

Every few years, when I start looking for a rental house, I get to see parts of Mumbai I have never seen. I see how the society is evolving and not evolving. It gives me deep insights into the minds of people who call this city their home and own a micro piece in it. It reminds me of the biases we all carry within ourselves and yet, we call this city our beloved home and somehow manage to find a tiny place in it.