Are you Monica or Rachel? Bengalureans are taking roommate queries to the next level

Are you Rachel, Monica or Phoebe? Would you hit on Iron Man, Spiderman or Black Widow? What's your ideal weekend? These are some of the questions young Bengalureans are asking their potential roomates. 

Bengaluru, one of India's largest metropolitan cities, has seen rising migration as more millennials are entering the workforce. This has led to a stronger demand for relocation and organized rental housing set-up in the city to cater to its ever-growing population and its growing lifestyle choices. 

The Cushman & Wakefield’s research on co-living in 2021 suggests that the demand by singles living on rent shall grow from 1.97 million in 2019 to 2.61 million by 2025 in the top 8 cities of India. Moreover, Delhi NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru are said to be the chosen cities where citizens are discarding the traditional PG's and shifting to the idea of co-living.

Owing to more demand, Twitterati shared multiple instances where advertisers are asking a bunch of questions in a loose interview style to choose their new tenants and roommates. A Twitter user by the handle Astha wrote: “Apartment hunting in Bengaluru seems to be a cultural interview round these days @peakbengaluru”

The Peak Bengaluru page also shared that house owners in Bengaluru have started asking for Github and Hackerrank profiles of people seeking tenancy and co-living opportunities.

The start-up capital of India has therefore come up with multiple co-living solutions like the Stanza Living and Zolo Stays, which provide several amenities with fully-furnished rooms, Wi-Fi, security and meals included. Shruti Patil, who has been living in Bengaluru's PGs for the last three years, said that even though these ventures will burn a hole in your pocket, they are worth it because the traditional PGs “really lack in all regards, especially in maintaining cleanliness.”

Nevertheless, getting a good place to stay may not be a walk in the park for all. Arundhati Dutta, who moved to Bengaluru to study in 2016, said, “I went apartment hunting once in Bengaluru, and it was not easy. One apartment was advertising the smallest room in a 3BHK for Rs. 11,000, but when I went there they said we will split rent of all appliances and furniture, so it came down to Rs. 15,000 per month for a close sized room."

"Another girl who was desperate for a flatmate because she couldn't afford the rent said she was not okay with me cooking non-veg in the kitchen. However she later said I could order in but had to keep it out if her sight. I could see why she was having problems finding a roommate. Many people are unwilling to make some necessary compromises in order to share a flat, it's tough. I ended up staying with my old roommate only,” she added.