I am a master in India

Chapter 41 Moving
After leaving Mumbai, Anna and her husband went to Goa, Mysore, Madurai, Bangalore...

Their journey took them around the Indian mainland, from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal.

They stopped and walked along the way until last month when they finally returned to France exhausted.

The next step was to organize the travel experiences, photos, and manuscripts, which took them two weeks to complete.

The express delivery in Ron's hand was the photos developed by Anna and her husband, as well as a thank-you letter.

The general meaning is that they are very grateful for Ron's help in Mumbai, and the content about India in Lonely Planet magazine has been finalized.

The new travel guide is expected to be updated in September, and Ron and his Mumbai Travel Information Company will also be featured then.

Tsk, Ron couldn't help but smile when he saw this.

"What's the good news?" Mary asked, her chin in her hand.

"We're going to be famous soon!" Ron shook the letter in his hand.

"We're already famous enough, and look, the flyers outside are a big part of that."

"No, it's real fame, famous among tourists all over the world!"

"Really? Congratulations."

"You don't sound that happy?"

"Please, the more people come, the more tired Lena and I will be." Mary wrinkled her small nose.

"Hey, cheer up. You're the highest paid person in the company besides me."

In order to keep these two sisters, Ron paid them "super high" salaries.

Ten thousand rupees per person per month, which exceeds the income of more than 95% of the population in India, including many officials.

Of course, such a salary also brought rich rewards to Ron. With them around, the door of the Mumbai Tourism Information Company was never deserted.

They are young, beautiful, and have Western faces. Many people are willing to sign contracts just to chat with them.

But ten thousand rupees is only more than three hundred dollars for Mary, and this income is really not a "high salary".

"I still miss the old days, which were free, exciting and well-paid."

"Beautiful lady, I need to remind you that this is India. You know what they will do to you if you are caught, right? Indian men are perverts."

Mary's pale blue eyes darted him up and down. "If I remember correctly, you're also an Indian man."

"That's why I know them, and the market in Joel is not doing well right now."

"How to say?"

"As the economy opens up, those electronic products will gradually become less in short supply. You know, scarcity makes things more valuable."

"It seems that Bollywood is my final destination." Mary shrugged optimistically.

"I won't stop you, but at least wait until I find the right person."

"Then you have to hurry up. Maybe one day, Lena and I will get tired of each other and leave without saying goodbye."

"It's recruiting, it's recruiting." Ron sighed helplessly.

He never thought that Mary and Lena would stay here obediently. That was not their character.

Without this pair of sisters, the attractiveness of Mumbai Tourism Information Company will at least drop a level.

It seems that there is one more requirement when recruiting new people: good looks.

At the end of July, Ron moved.

He really had no money for the old apartment, no matter how cheap the rent was.

When the landlord heard that Ron was moving out, he even smiled happily, because he was afraid that Ron would refuse to leave.

India's Rental Act stipulates that once the price of a house rental is determined, it can never be increased.

It even allows the house to be rented out to the legal heirs of the current tenant at this fixed rate. As long as the tenant pays the rent, the landlord has no right to evict him, and the lease will be automatically renewed after the expiration of the lease.

The most surprising thing is that the government also has regulations on rental prices. The last time the rental standard was determined was in the 40s.

Yes, theoretically speaking, the rental prices in Mumbai are still the same as they were more than 50 years ago and have not increased by a single rupee to date.

Once the "Leasing Law" is introduced, it becomes extremely difficult to abolish it.

There are always more tenants than landlords, and Mumbai's 2.5 million tenants also form the city's largest electoral base.

In order to win over the hearts and minds of the people and secure votes, all political parties worked together to protect the interests of tenants, and the validity period of the Rental Law was extended twenty times.

The tenants also suggested to the landlord that they sell the house to them at a price a hundred times higher than the fixed rent. Then they would become the new owners and the landlord would no longer have to worry about the rent that would never increase.

The tenants' plan is a good one, as if they actually do so, they could buy the most expensive property in the city's prime location for less than the price of a slum dwelling.

Therefore, landlords who suffer from the inconvenience of keeping their houses or the hardship of selling them have no choice but to post warnings and refuse to repair their houses.

Of course, the landlords eventually learned their lesson. They would directly seek help from gang members, and any tenant who dared to act rogue would be beaten to a pulp.

Ron's landlord was not worried at first, but as Ron's men grew in number, he became afraid.

In this scramble, who knows who will win in the end. Now that Ron is moving out, he is of course overjoyed. Not only did he return his deposit in full, he also gave him a housewarming gift.

This was the first time Ron had been treated this way, and it was like a small blow to his butt, which opened his eyes.

After accepting it without hesitation, he moved to a new place.

It was an apartment on Slant Street in the Fortress District. It had a bedroom, study, dining room, kitchen, and bathroom. It was much larger than before.

Most importantly, it has air conditioning and a refrigerator. Although it is old, Nia still regards it as a treasure.

Ron was also very pleased with the place, especially the French doors of the apartment, which faced the alley paved with large cobblestones.

There is a towering elm tree just by the road, with a bench underneath.

It was so peaceful and quiet, Ron liked it here.

Although there was no longer a market downstairs of the nearby apartment building, at least he didn't have to worry about the ground under his feet becoming muddy on rainy days.

"Anand, wouldn't you consider living somewhere else?"

"No, Ron, it's nice there, I like it there."

Anand shook his neck happily. Ron was moving today and he had brought many things here in a rickshaw.

He hadn't ridden a bike for a long time. Although this trip was hot and tiring, he regained the joy he once had.

"I plan to build two more houses next to the original house." Anand's face was full of pride when he said this.

"Is this for Jalma and Tilaka?"

"Yes, they are older now and need some space of their own."

"And school, Anand, you should let them read more books, it's very useful."

"I know," Anand laughed. "Soon our slum will have its own school. The municipality has compromised and allowed us to build a temporary school."

“It’s great, it’s something to be happy about.”

"Will you go?"

"what?"

"They're going to have a big celebration about this. You know, Ron, a lot of people are depending on you for their livelihood.

You paid them wages so they could build this temporary school, and they are very grateful to you.”

"I'll be there."

"Great! They'll be so happy!"

Looking at Anand's dancing appearance, Ron suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

To this day, he has never had the courage to actually step into the slums. When he first went to Anand's house, it was already a very peripheral area.

Ron just didn't know how to refuse the invitation just now, but now it seemed that he had to go.

"Have a good rest today. I'll be at the train station." Anand got on the rickshaw and prepared to say goodbye.

"You should consider my suggestion and at least find a better place for your family."

"I know, by the way, Ron, I'm weird."

"what?"

Anand looked around while sitting in the car, then leaned over and asked, "Why hasn't your little maid's belly grown yet?"

"What?" Ron gaped. "She's too young. Not even eighteen."

"In our hometown, girls five years younger than this already have two children, and many are married eight years younger."

Ron's scalp tingled when he heard this, but Anand was very natural and didn't seem to be joking at all.

For the first time, Ron felt that he still didn't understand India, not at all.

No wonder someone once told him that Mumbai does not represent India, it is an independent and complex world.

If you want to know the real India, go to the countryside, where 80% of the country's population lives.

Ron waved goodbye to Anand and shook his head. He had to get busy with something else next.

Luca had a lot of fun in Mumbai these days, but he didn't forget about his business. He even called Ron yesterday.

To be honest, this was Ron's first time taking any medicine.

This was a completely unfamiliar market, and he planned to ask Johnny.

Black market transactions, of course, require the help of professionals. Although this expertise may not necessarily be relevant, the process is generally similar.

"Baba, the table in the study is too heavy to move." Nia rolled up her sleeves and called him from the door of the apartment.

Ron shuddered suddenly, and he thought of what Anand had just said.

(End of this chapter)