Rejected.

i realize it's early and all that, but come on, it's never TOO early to start looking.

yesterday we hit our 3-month mark. we've been in India for exactly 3 months. which means another 3 to go and we're back home. and although India is exciting - i never in a million years thought i would be living here for a half-year - the excitement of moving to Boston is, for me, even more exciting. to that end i've been doing a lot of research and following leads on housing opportunities opening up in January. and guess what?

i found a place. it was perfect. right in the part of town i wanted, convenient access to the entire city, thanks to the nearby metro stop, huge room, hardwood floors, excellent rent - and the place was FULLY FURNISHED. which meant that for me, moving to Boston could be rendered incredibly easy since i wouldn't have to worry about buying a bed to sleep on or a desk or armoire or any of that.

some background info: i'm from Atlanta. i'm moving to Boston. i'm currently in India. company's giving me 2 paid weeks to move from India to Boston [of course via Atlanta, since my stuff's there and i miss my family and friends and all that]. so how to maximize the time i have and minimize hassle and stress?

simple. find a place in Boston from India, get lots of photographs and even video of the place, have friends go check it out since i can't very well fly to Boston just for the weekend, agree on a place, wire the deposit to the landlord/lady, and then when i leave India, fly directly from here to Boston. stay the weekend, leave my stuff from India [mostly clothes] at my new place, and fly down to Atlanta with 2 empty suitcases. which means 2 stress-free, paid weeks to spend time with my family, see friends, and say goodbye to the city of my heart. pack the rest of my stuff into those empty suitcases, fly up to Boston and i'm done.

alas, things do not always work out as you'd like them to. the place i found - i had been in touch with the current tenant, who's moving out at the end of the year, as well as the landlady, and we all seemed to like each other. i explained my situation, they were very understanding, the tenant sent me lots of photos, and i even had arranged for 2 of my friends in the area to swing by the place this week and check it out for me.

just got an email from the fella:

Dear Rizwan,

I am sorry if I couldn't get back to you any sooner. Unfortunately there are some problems with regard to my room. As we told you several people asked us about the place, and among these an exchange student at BU, that is already here in Boston and knows the actual tenants. She is already integrated in the group and she leads the same routine of all the rest of the tenants, as she is a law student too. I hope you will understand that [the landlady] and I found this solution very appropriate to the life of the house.

I am sincerely sorry about the final course of events, but again, the serenity of the house is our first concern. I am positive that you will find a nice place suitable to your needs, it is still early to look for housing in Boston!

I wish you all the best for your coming future in the US!

Kind regards,

George

what was i to make of this? well, for starters, the assumption that they had picked a friend over me, when i was in touch with them first and had expressed interest first regarding the place, was annoying to say the least. so i wrote an email back to the chap:

Hi George,

I certainly cannot argue with you, since the decision rests with you and [the landlady]. However, I do feel it is only fair for me to express how I feel about this.

Since you did not specify in your email whether this law student contacted you before I did regarding the room, I will operate under the assumption that when I emailed you initially in early October, you were in touch with me and were aware of my interest in the spot first, before you were aware of this other person's interest. If that is the case, then what you and [the landlady] have decided to do is extremely unfair, and from my point of view you are not giving consideration to the person that expressed interest first and are favoring her because she is already in town and knows the tenants. If I remember correctly, [the landlady] emailed me at one point indicating that after discussion, you both had agreed that I would be a good fit in the house as well. This girl may already be a friend and may already be living in Boston, but if you were sincerely as interested in me as I was in you and your offer, then perhaps you would have given me a bit more credibility and weight when making this decision.

but to make sure he understood that my words were not meant as an attack, yet to genuinely convey that i was frustrated with this recent turn of events, i added:

Of course, if you were in contact with her before I contacted you, then none of the above is valid or credible and I retract my statements.

George, please understand that none of what I say is meant to spark animosity or create bad blood between us. I am expressing myself simply so that you understand my perspective. I accept your decision, no matter how unfair I perceive it to be, and I sincerely do hope that when I come to Boston in just a few months, we will run into each other if you are still around.

Best of luck these last few months before you graduate!

Rizwan

still, as i think about this i'm annoyed that in this situation, at least from my perspective, there's no sense of fairness or justice. but i suppose it is what it is. guess it wasn't meant to be.

back to the drawing board.