Journey to Registration

The land was coming in small pieces. I never got tired, nor the broker. Every time we wait for few to accumulate and go for registration. Some will be only 20 centers, some about 1.5 acres. Every time the broker would announce that one more acre is coming for sale, I would have to make a quick decision to go for it after referring my map, at what rate and pay advance. Over a period of time the broker and myself got used to this cycle.  It appeared that each of the petty land owners came forward only, after hearing that the sale of his neighbor went through properly. Most of these people had just kept their land without doing anything for a generation. It was their inherited property and hence did not make any difference to them. They were in need of money. We call it “mootu vali” (Knee Pain in Tamil).

I used to book the train ticket in advance or the flight if it happens to cheaper. The journey was a roundtrip from Hyderabad to Nanguneri via Chennai a distance of 1400 Kms.  Friday would be registration, I would stay back on Saturday and return by Sunday. That way my work will not be disturbed. However this put a lot of pressure on myself to inspect, decide and go for it in short notice. Registration office was predictable. There were no surprises given by them. The sub-agent had two typists who would type out the registration papers promptly and keep them ready. Registration was a routine.  What I started by Dec, 2010 ended by July, 2012. Back home I assembled everything on excel sheets and keep pondering on the original documents to get a picture of it.  I was satisfied that the lands could be grouped in to three clusters, call it A, B and C. These are discussed elsewhere.  A was the first one to go and was dear to me. Being adjacent to road, this will be the head quarters for the farm.