About: Searching for rental accommodation for Staff from another State, in a small Town is painstaking and gets you entangled in a Spider’s web of half-truths, unwritten rules, and compromises. Over the past week, I found myself caught in various webs built by horny Spiders, and the kind, in the Town of Attur, Tamil Nadu.

(I will be using ‘k’ meaning 1,000 on numbers concerning Indian Rupees, INR, ₹, in this article; 1k means one thousand)

Attur

Attur, of Indian Postal Pincode 636 102, lies at the junction of National Highway 79-Salem to Ulundurpet, and National Highway 136 – Attur to Thanjavur, about 50km East of Salem City. It is a Municipality and a Taluk in the District of Salem. It has a population of 61,793 as per the Official 2011 Census and has over 228,153 registered voters as of early April 2026.

I did not do a head-count, but can confidently stick my head out and say that as of this year 2026, the population is well over 90,000. The Central Government has began the new National Census and we should have shapely figures by the end of the year 2027.

Attur serves as a regional hub: known for agriculture, small-scale industries, financing, and boasts of a Railway Station where some trains actually stop. You can be sure of running into a Harvester Machine, or someone talking loud about interest rates, on the streets. Attur has its own Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and is part of the Kallakurichi Lok Sabha Constituency for the Member of Parliament (MP).

The Background

After years of commissioning, operating, and designing electricity-generation power plants, and building leak-free Airports (I swear) I settled down in Attur – out of necessity rather than choice – to start-up a Women’s Boutique with my wife. She is the Big Boss, the sole Proprietor and the Chief Designer. I squeezed through a relatable title of Chief Executive Office (CEO) – to look attractive on LinkedIN- even though my work-for-pay job days are over. My last job designation was Director-Projects and this is the only way I could give myself a swan-song promotion. Behind the scenes, I am the official Book-Keeper, Car Driver, Store-Keeper, Plumber, Electrician, Superstar Cleaner…and Man-Friday. Thank God we have a Cook!

It’s been over 10 years in the business of Decorating Lives. ‘We Decorate Your Life’ is our official tagline and thanks to a well-designed foundation (by the Rules) a suddenly waking-up Glacier or Avalanche, could not blow us off. Our reinforced columns are tough, the walls allowed to break free to contain the fury of the flow- of fabric. We pay our taxes diligently, enabling India’s Finance Minster to effortlessly walk through an Airport Terminal wearing a simple Kurta, Salwar & Dupatta set; pulling her own wheel-mounted suitcase; and without the typical paraphernalia of Black Cats, and the armed kind. We file our Income Tax so well that this year we got our refund within 3 days of filing – unbelievable (The Finance Minister heard us).

Being Good is a reward in itself.

We do bridal designs and have successfully launched the Wedding of many a beautiful bride, so much so that these days they promptly return after over 10 months, for maternity gowns. That’s a job well done for sure-both sides. We take care of the speed-breakers, bursts and bumps well into married life, without a hassle – our stitching definitely holds parts together.

To cut and sew the fabulous designs that the Customers demand, and the Big Boss thrashes out of her mind, we have a team of Master Cutters and Tailors from the States of Jharkhand and West Bengal. They are experts in the trade, stitching their lives together from the moment they could crawl on fours and walk on twos. We provide free accommodation and cooking gas for them, to fuel their body systems, and to efficiently burn on the job. They collaborate well with the locals who work with us, and Hindi, Tamil, and English effortlessly flies off the shelves.

Our Boutique is located opposite the Attur Railway Station on the Geeth Ragunath Hospital Road in Gandhi Nagar. In the mornings and evenings we overlook a stream of trying-to-stay-healthy folks, cat-walking to fitness, and many trying to straighten a bend, on the tree-lined, birds-tweeting road.

The Hunt

In the early days of our Boutique venture in Attur, we found ‘bachelor’ men-only accommodation against a firewall of: ‘no bachelor boys, please; only ones with family; no- to people from other States; no-to persons from a particular religion’…goes on. Then it’s the unreasonable rent and huge security deposits that comes with a deadly catch, ‘water to be fetched from the street – potable, as well as the so-called ‘salt water’ for washing and flushing.

Many houses do not have an own bore well and the potable water, fondly called ‘Mettur Water’, is supplied by a pipeline to an underground tank or to the street tap – for collecting and further processing! The Mettur Water begins its journey from Mettur Dam on the River Cauvery, about 180 km away, and is stored in the Municipality Water Storage & Supply Tank. It is released to the citizen on specific days for about two hours, once in about ten days – an ambulance sound-like cry announces its arrival. You capture the water, and use it until the next supply. Many houses have the piping made to their underground tanks; others grab them off the street, haggling for turns at the tap.

In the old days, the women folk gathered at the local well to draw water, fill their pots and headed home. The waiting time, between turns at the draw-pulley, rope & bucket system, was spent in the kind of gossip only women can engage in. There is a famous saying in Tamil, ‘When you go to see a girl (bride hunting) if you see her mother at the local well, you do not have to see the girl at her home’. It meant that mom’s behaviour would reflect in the girl. I wonder how many guys, actually saw the girl’s mother at the local well – and ran away!

Returning to the main story, this time the House Hunt was for my Tailoring Master Cutter, from Jharkhand, who had previously worked with us, then left to marry; produce a baby girl and return as a ‘Family Man’. Family meant mom, wife, daughter and two brothers. In his world, brother has a very broad meaning and I never asked questions beyond the father. Nevertheless, they will be working for us as Line-Tailors, under the Master Cutter brother. So, this time the challenge was finding a House for a family of five (plus one child).

The specification was, a House with two bedrooms-one with bath attached, a common bath-room, a Hall and a Kitchen- called 2BHK in these parts-within walking distance from our Boutique. We engaged the services of multiple Real Estate Agents – called Brokers- who dig-up, fetch information on the available houses and arrange for them to be shown to us in a physical walk-in visit.

The running rate of rent-which we slowly learnt- for such kind of a House was over ₹10k per month, and a security deposit of not less than ₹50k, often going up to ₹100k. The brokerage charges are one month’s full rent, or a noble soul kind enough to charge only half a month’s rent. My Administration Manager being down with a leg injury I took upon the job of running around with the Broker, hunting for a House.

The first look-in was an instant hit after convincing the Landlord, who turned out to be one of our Customers, to not mind the different State and different religion tag. The House met our specifications, it was close-by, water was in ample supply (Mettur effortlessly reached home) and the cleanliness was acceptable. A new bathroom had been added to a bedroom in addition to an old single common one, and the smells were welcoming.

We were expecting a monthly rent below ₹8k and the offer being for ₹11k it took a while to sink in, by which time someone else sneaked-in, paid a token advance (a small part of the Total advance, to confirm) and we lost it by a cat’s whisker.

Armed with a new figure of about ₹10k, in my mind, I charged into the next house. This came at quite a distance, on the outskirts, near the Railway Tracks, and consisted of two floors squeezed together to give us a house with almost two bedrooms along with the kitchen. Water sources were debatable and I left it at that. However, the rent met my target of ₹8k, but the distance was a factor and the street looked like the one in the Western Cowboy movies. Did I see a Bar and a Sheriff, or a Marshal in yonder street end?

The next, was opposite a School, but at the end of a desolate area-taking off from the main road into a mud-road. The house was expansive, the floors was so dark that I could not see any dirt; some rooms has three fans fighting for space and air; and when I lifted the Western Closet for a look I almost fainted. Hercules would have to be called to divert River Styx again to clean it up. The rent was touted as ₹15k. I showed a clean pair of heels and there was no looking back. Forget calling Hercules, or sons of Hercules, for the new labour.

Between these shows, came a House on the first-floor just behind our place. It was almost a double bedroom house with one large bathroom and space enough for a future bath-tub alongside what I call the Indian bath-tub (yesteryears kids will understand) of a small concrete tank- probably to store water during dry times. An enormous Kitchen sink drain pipe snaked its way through the wall and emptied right into the next-room bathroom floor. Wow, that’s food for thought while releasing the yellow spirits and mustard coloured cakes! I checked the water supply tank and found it broken, leaking precious water. It can be fixed said the Broker. Of course. The famous Mettur Water was available at the ground level and it was hinted that I buy my own motor-pump set to pull the water up. Said a wizened old Resident, ’You must see the sight when the Mettur Water arrives, to understand what it is like to live here – Sound of Music? And your time with the tap will be counted as others are in turn. I promptly pumped myself out of the place.

Then there was a real good one, awfully close-by and seemed a perfect fit. They offered me water and tea and I even got to play with their kid. The Landlord said ₹10,500 per month rent and 50k advance. But I argued that the Rules say it is illegal to demand more than 3 months rent as Security Deposit. He was a Government Employee and bluntly told me, ‘we make the rules here, and it has always been this way’. The Broker being away, after a lot of thought I hurried to him the next day only to be told that the house has been taken. Later, I learnt that it actually was not taken, the Landlord did not want to give it to a person from another State, of a different religion, and that too he cannot permit more than 4 members. He could have told me in the beginning, before the tea was offered to be served and the game with the kid could be played.

I was tired by now and my head began sagging. When I looked-up a Customer said that she has her own house-the floor above where she lives- that fits our design, but I should talk it over with her father-in-Law. I hurried to have a look and it met my stipulations. When I talked to the father-in-law, he gulped when I said, another State and another religion-but swallowed it- and then said meat is banned in the house. Strictly Vegetarian: ‘Non-Vegetarian’ is not allowed. For the heck of it, I told him you will understand when your grandchildren go North and someone refuses accommodation because he is a South Indian – eating idli, sambar, and curd rice. I ended the conversation and we looked in different directions: me, higher North; he, deeper South.

Then I sounded yet another Broker and he almost instantly guided me to a House down the long end of the street, about a kilometre’s walk, entering the twin Municipality of Attur-Narasingapuram. The House was on the first floor with considerable space and a frenzy of colours inside -green, pink, blue. It had been just vacated and the landlord was in the act of whitewashing the insides before letting-in the next tenant. The Broker had convinced him of my ancestry, the oozing goodness, and overlooked the different State and different religion factor. The rent was brought down from 12K to 11k due to my superb credentials – Corporate Guarantee, I said. Quick, the Broker told me, “many have given the looks and it’s who first comes with the Token Advance – 10k would be round and deciding”. I said I will decide in 24 hours time.

Meanwhile, a Customer led us to a Flat opposite theirs where a person from another State has been living for almost a decade, on the ground floor. The first floor was also occupied by one of their clan but due to a Game of Thrones fight, they vacated and the Iron Throne was now available for occupation. The 24 hour deadline was ticking and the Broker called again to remind and nudge me to making a decision. And I could not reach the Customer: ‘mobile is switched off’.

Finally, I made a physical dash to the three-floor Bungalow of the Customer opposite which stood the ‘Flat of Interest’ colourfully painted and looking fresh- perhaps the brightest in the Street. The Customer called me to the terrace, which had been transformed into an open-air Kitchen and where he was perched on a stool, bird-like. One of their twin daughters emerged from a room beneath the water tank on the terrace, saying, ‘Hi Uncle’ (I looked behind and could not find anyone. Must be me).

They cooed, ‘We love it here in the open terrace, but be rest assured that we have a wonderful house below and a fabulous well-equipped modular Kitchen. And since they are hunting for a groom for one of the twin daughters, she sleeps in what is called the Kubera Moolai (Kubera Corner) which astrologically brings wealth (and probably handsome grooms from all over the world). According to Vaastu Shastra, the Kubera corner represents the southwest direction of the house.

I joked that they are capturing all the pollution of Attur, cooking it and thrashing it down as mouth-watering dishes. Some kind of carbon-capture?

Despite living opposite, the Customer could not find the mobile number of the possible Landlord. I suggested he call his wife, but she was out of Town, and anyway would not know. And after a lot of mobile searching he found the number, got through to him and set-up a tryst at 12 noon – just when the other deadline was expiring.

Meanwhile, yet another Broker calls for looking at a couple of houses. After seeing one-dark floored and double-bath (one outside, neatly tucked beneath the stairs), in front of the Girls High School, he takes me to one near the Town Park located in a lovely area and about 5 minutes walk from our Boutique. It could have been more clean, but the sunlight, water and other natural resources seemed aplenty and the house was freshly painted – deep pink. And an acceptable downside was Monkeys find the place Home and often make a visit. Something told me my hunt ends here and I had a word with the Big Boss and quickly struck a deal. The Landlord climbed down from ₹75k advance to ₹65k and a rent of ₹9k per month. I pay a token advance of 5k and later followed it up with a digital UPI payment (cleverly for the records) of ₹60k. The Landlord even had a Rental Agreement ready for signature, within an hour.

It was almost 12 noon and the Deadline Broker called and I graciously informed him that I am not interested: he may do as he pleases. And then dashed to the Kubera Moolai Customer’s place to visit the Flat, opposite. It was a decent place and the Landlord and Landlady were wonderful people, grinning from ear-to-ear, and down to Earth. What would the rent be? I ask. The Landlord tells me, “I need to call my brother to decide”. I said, “take your time and pass on the information”. The House was indeed damn good, but almost 1.5 km from our Boutique. I met the Kubera Moolai Customer, by which time his wife had returned and they insisted I see their modern Kitchen and well-furnished house, which they had given-up to live like birds in a Tree House on the terrace-overlooking the Kubera Moolai. I joked that the staircase to the terrace was so narrow that I doubted the lady of the House-with her magnificent dimensions-would be able to squeeze through without walking sideways in crab style. I could not believe people live like out-of-the-mind ascetics just to keep their beautiful house unusually clean forever-by not using it. I suggested it would be great if they brought the cooked food down to the dining room and enjoyed their food in a clean fulfilling environment, instead of the tree-house style. Hope the pigeons and crows are listening.

With energy and cash thus spent and a Rental Agreement in my hands I sat back and smiled like a Cheshire Cat. The Big Boss wasn’t satisfied and we walked down for a visit and decided to engage professional Cleaners to clean the bathroom and kitchen tiles. I ‘groked’ and came upon a ‘Tile Doctor’ in nearby Salem who promptly dispatched a chemically armed-to-the-bike Cleaner. He took over 6 six hours to bring a mirror-finish – well almost. A few spots were beyond cleaning and had become part of the landscape. The Landlord looked nonchalantly: he should have cleaned it and handed over in the first place. Never mind, I leave everything better than when I first get them.

Government Rules: Enforce Them

While all this was happening I hurried to read the Rules of the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Rights and Responsibilities of Landlords and Tenants Act, 2017 (TNRRRLT Act), under Section 11.

The exact wording of Section 11(1) is: “Save an agreement to the contrary, it shall be unlawful to charge a security deposit in excess of three times the monthly rent.”

But the Brokers advised me against talking rules – saying it would be foolish. ‘He talks Rules, if I rent the House to him it will be Rules all the way’. And no-one is willing to listen. Whatever, I did talk Rules to stir the Tenancy waters. I am a Rules guy, following Rules to the dot. Imagine the chaos if people do not follow Road Rules – it’s already happening. You become an alien, from another Planet, when you talk about Laws & Rules and how it makes sense to diligently follow them. When I met the Kubera Moolai Customer, I was carrying a Helmet having come riding a two-wheeler, and the girl was laughing, “Uncle, a helmet for such a short distance?” I said I am a different kind.

Going further, the Central Government’s Model Tenancy Act suggests two months rent as Security Deposit for private residences and six months for commercial places.

Oh, of what use is a Law if it cannot be enforced? Is anybody listening?

Wisdom of the Ages

Ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zhou wrote, “A straight tree is cut for lumber, while the twisted tree lives on, untouched and free”. While nearer home, the Indian wisdom of Chanakya says, “It is the straight trees that are chopped first because they provide useful timber”. Well, I intend to wake them from their respective graves and shout out, “A straight tree proves to be useful and lives on (forever)in the timber of the house or structure, whereas a crooked tree invariable ends up being burnt as firewood. At best it enables a meal, provides some warmth, or perhaps becomes a twisted museum piece in some fancy House”. And the wood lives out its dharma.