घर एक आिशयाना Weekend drives to Powai and Thane

Having spent couple of years in Mumbai and tired of paying hefty rent for 700sq feet carpet area we decided to check the market for a buy option. Who knows we may be eligible for Little sweet home. So here it goes. I and my hubby fix appointments covering 2weekends for meeting various brokers, builders, their sales team etc etc. 

With ever expanding Bombay and offices sprung in all corners it is very difficult to point out one location where u would like to settle. Specially when we have jobs in private firms and are not sure about next job or switch. So we did some Internet search and felt Powai as best locality. It offers u some space. Also adjoining area like Greener side of Andheri east and green side of Chandivalli. Another area that we selected was Thane as I had heard quite a lot about it and wanted to explore it.

Since I have spent most part of my life either in C class or A class city so Mumbai which is A1 class city has always been way too concrete and congested for my physcological space. But it offers you employment options far greater than other cities and so tops the migration

statistics. Anyway both of us went to see some hot property( as per broker) in Chandivalli and one in between Chandivalli and Powai.  

Buildings looked good from Outside. I was happy to see kids play area, podium ( not sure if that is sufficient for so many families), and other jhankis! sales guy/ broker was busy in dishing out praises. After showing the surrounding the guy took us to our so called dream house. So what do I see there.  

Mumbai offers u very small spaces whether that is done knowingly by developers or actually there is so much demand for houses no one knows. The spaces are so small and distance between two buildings( so called towers) is so so small that we can't even play peek a boo with neighbours.  

Property supplements of the great dailies will tell you how market slump has not affected real estate market, how flats/apartments are being sold as usual. But then you get news from few TV channels, internet or on Main page of same newspaper that there is slump. Confusing the already confused customer.

Well the apartments we saw had few flaws which were so apparent. Like having beams, pillars, columns crossing in rooms. Anyone who believes in Vaastu Shastra or Feng Shui  will know that this design is against flow of energy in house. But then great architects don't know that.Well I was not at all impressed by the guy! 

The quality of granite used in Kitchen, the quality of marble used in and around bathroom doors and bedroom entrance ( I was expecting granite instead of marble), the quality of electric switches, sanitary fitting and most important the marbo granite tiles which didn't look as if taken from Kajaria. 

In brochures they tell us about brand names like Anchor, Jaguar, Roca, Kajaria, Parryware but in reality what does a builder use? 

The window size was so big that it captured 60% of wall, well a balcony outside same would have made it okay but then there is no balcony, there are no grills and there is no mesh.  3 years back I had opportunity to survey Pune' s real estate and when I compare same to Mumbai I feel big developers from Mumbai should learn from small developers of Pune. The grills, meshes, balconies are part of your house there. Most of the flats I checked in Pune had branded fittings. 

Now after my sales guy heard me cribbing he says " well Mam who enters house like that, u spend some money ( read 5-10 lakhs) and get things changed as per your  style. Infact we have Occupany Certificate so Mam u can even make this flower bed a balcony !!!!

Ahi: " ok bhaya tell me what is the rate" ? 

Sales guy: " we'll mam 1.40 crore" for first one and 1.30 for other , it is primes property dena toh padegha.

Ahi: Haan bai par humane suna ki 1 cr Mein jata hain 750 sq foot yaha"

Sales guy: mushkil hain, depend karta hain table pe kit a hoga( read in cash/ cheque but devalued while doing registration with state authorities). par 1:20 crore se kam nahi :)

Ahi: hmmm!!  Accha per square foot rate Kya  hoga? 

Sales guy: yehi kuch 13000 -14000 

Ahi: what is this range? Tell me exact per sq foot cost as per floor rise. Also agreement will show only carpet area, how will builder charge for builtup and super- built up area. Will only 25% of built up and super built up be considered ? 

Sales Guy: mam u see flat na. U liked it? Then we can see package price.

Ahi: so house is being sold like package :(

hubby: Accha pura bolo na ? Matlab Clubhouse membership, brokerage, parking , stamp duty like kit a hoyegha?

Sales guy: yehi kuch Rs 1.40 crore.

Ahi: hmmm! Lagta hain daka Dalna padhegha!!! Accha we need break up of this whole price. Can u get us the excel print out. 

Sales guy: mushkil hain  jab final hoga na Kursi pe tab excel dekhna.

So I go wow there is no transparency. In all the properties we checked in Powai, adjoining areas and Thane one thing that is so disturbing is no transparency. Builder's team is not ready to provide break up. While in Pune 3 years back I was happily handed the break up of cost chart.  Whether they are doing it now I dont know but it is customer' s right to get that and not giving same is first  link towards corruption. As we didn't reach close to final deal so it is difficult for me know at what point builders sales office provides that break up. 

Well this area is too pricy let us check Thane! There are many projects and we may find one in our budget. We can rent it out if we can't stay u know investing!( my grapes are sour statement)

Zoom we went to Thane

Thane didn't offer anything better. The Godbunder road which connects to Ahmedabad highway and Western expressway has 100's of projects.  Options available are way too many, resale, ready for possession and new construction. We could check only  3-4 flats   700 to 800 sq foot prized between 70 lakhs to 1.10 crore. But apartment quality isn't good there either. Not just quality but also design.

It really wonders me that great architects and designers work on these projects but then they don't care about enough light and air, less noise and privacy from neighbours. They try to attract u by word "Amenity" like  identification security systems, spas and swimming pools but then actual flat lacks a lot. 

If the news of slump is true, then this is also true as per my experience that prices quoted by builders don't match slump. Builders have backing of either Investors( are they politicians or allied families? or top 10% of  rich citizens from Mumbai) or builders have looted and fooled current house owners from last so many years that they have strong kitty for sustaining the slump. 

I did a quick calculation and tried to find out how can we actually buy these 1crore plus property. Assuming an apartment only for 1crore and not adding another half a crore to it. It turns out that atleast buyer should have 10 lakhs kitty for applying for a house loan. Also as checked on HDFC Bank's EMI Calculator for availing loan of 90 lakhs for 20 years buyer should have income of 2 lakhs. So as a couple I and my husband should earn 1 lakh each which is far from reality. And every month we will pay 1 lakh in EMI compared to current 30k as rent. When 30k itself pinches us every month how can we pay both of our salaries as EMI!!!

So Gennie feels helpless, not because I cant buy but because nexsus of bad apples in society is so huge that gennie herself feels sad and weak. So gennie says be positive life will provide u better options :) as of now I am going for breath of fresh air. 

And I smilingly embrace my leased apartment and fix appointment with vaccum cleaner for next weekend!!!

ख़ुशी हैं आसान!! Come Ignore Greed

Good Morning Sunday,

How do you guys spend your Sunday Mornings? My Sundays start late around 10am with a bottle of water and a newspapaer! there were many Sundays in between I didn't even browse the Newspaper I found them a source of negativity affecting me as first thing in morning. But then reading newspaper has been part of me from long time and so discontinuing it seems difficult.

The today's newspaper was full of news related to: Corruption, Murder of RTI activists, eveteasing, rapes and poverty in India. What to do when day after day news on front page doesn't change? In a country like India where Billions are living and millions born every day does the negativity seem a part of you and you try to mould your ethos to suit the greater ecosystem.

My travel to office is just 15kms but in Mumbai due to traffic snarls it take easily 1 hour. On my way I see slums,  people using footpaths as toilets, people spitting everywhere and eating "Gutka"(tobacco). When Media highlights spirit of Mumbai I think economics is all that matters. While I travel I see mothers taking their children from schools wearing those maxi dresses but I fail to see happy Mothers, just pre-occupied and lost somewhere but with no smile. Like a clock people do their jobs and duties and if they stop the balance stops. 

I wonder what childhood these slum children bring with them when God sends them here, living literally on foothpath where footpath toilets and foothpath play grounds fill the childhood dreams. But then God has shown some mercy and given them parents and families. Many of them may grow as fine men/women conscious of good and bad.
Then there are traffic signal posts where small children come and beg, begging, getting abused has become a part of their life. What happens to them when they grow old? Do they end up as labour in services or they end up as part of gangmen and prostitutes? With these thoughts week on week I travel to to my Office.

Front pages of newspapers depict nothing but issues in society due to greed of a human being.  Greed for Money, greed for fame, greed for control, greed in men to control women i.e. greed for ego boosters, greed for multiple children.
 http://veda.wikidot.com/dharma has a quote from Bhagwat Geeta: 

"Worship, study, charity, austerity, truth, forgiveness, compassion and freedom from greed, this is the eightfold path to Dharma.
The first four can also be performed by a hypocrite, but the last four can only exist in a great soul."

This quote states all, do a good job in society, make it progress but don't let greed to control your consciousness. 

Other day I was having discussion with my friend and she said why can't poor people restrain to 1 kid policy. they very well know how bad their condition is, why cant they use family planning methods. I thought about all the slum children I come across how their parents can provide them better if only there is only 1 kid rather 3-4 that we normally see.

How Mumbai could be better place if Government didn't bend to builders, how all children can have gardens and playgrounds to play. Infact looking at Mumbai today there is so much scarcity of Pubilc infrastructure for Playgrounds, rich get to live in vast gated green spaces but middle class and poor have to suffer. This is nothing but greed for money that builders as well as politicians have. 
There also is greed for children mainly in poor sections which has forced many to adopt small dwellings than a bedroom kitchens set in a municipal society. 
Greed for son is also a peculiar greed that cuts across class and religion in India, many Hindus kill the baby girls for same. Though in other religions the killing of an infant baby girl or foetus is not much heard of but then they are not far behind in this greed. Many keep on having children till son is not born.

I wonder if Greed is a emotion in itself or a means to fulfill emotion. Whatever it may be, it is core component of Human's psychology. All humans have desires and wishes, similarly all of us can become greedy also. Where to draw a line between desire and greed is important. As a human we need to understand desires, their root causes and then try for them at same time we need to understand when this desire becomes greed.

If as a society we can differentiate between desire and greed and not term greed as desire then we can see better Newspapers. Front pages which will make mornings a pleasant experience. But how to do this is very difficult. Desire and greed are not weighed on mathematical scale, they can't be measured. But they can be intuitively felt if human is open to conscience. For invoking conscience I think Yoga may help us.

Meditation on a person's thought if made a subject in schools then there may be  possibility of better society. As I read somewhere in past that all we need to do is to feed good thoughts in us.We all have good human-bad human characteristics. All we need is to hone the good human and ignore the bad human. Bad Human will slowly go in background and by practice may never return.

I love listening to this Shiva song which makes you understand the depth of our soul, our existence, our ASTI.

Hope we all have better and happy Newspapers across the World :)