While I was drafting the second part of the piece on apartments vs. independent houses, I happened to go through the archives of Aavaas, partly to see if there had been any relevant posts about this topic in the past. Well, what do you know, I found two separate posts made by Vivek and Karthik. Both were made last year, so please excuse me for missing them in my first post. Check out what Karthik has to say here and you can read Vivek’s views on the topic here.

So to summarise where we were yesterday, apartments are becoming popular in Indian cities despite the fact that they are not considered the best option in other parts of the world. One major reason for the increasing popularity of apartments is the difficulty of land transactions in India and its associated maintenance later on. Not to speak of the problems in constructing a brand new building in the middle of a major city.

One other aspect which is unique to India, is our extremely poor infrastrucure in terms of roads, power, water, parks, public transportation etc. In other countries where the infrastructure is relatively good, they have everything to gain by living in an independent house; but in India, our poor public infra forces those who can afford it, to live in islands of affluence - represented in today’s townships & apartment complexes.

I have just one problem with townships.  Most of them are too far away from the city. So while they solve all infra problems that are internal, they actually exacerbate the transportation issue!! And about those ads that say townships will have schools within their premises, all I can say is, they don’t have a clue what it takes to build an school. Maybe I’ll write a whole separate post on this side issue later on

All things considered, from a pure live-ability standpoint in the larger Indian cities, apartments score over independent houses for ordinary people (especially non-natives). Please read Vivek & Karthik’s posts also for more on the subject. They talk a lot more about issues like privacy &  security which are critical.

However, from an ownership perspective the ranking is reverse; an independent house being a better asset than an apartment. Will adress that in a later post.

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Check out these articles 

http://news.in.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1402226,  http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/india/article3810486.ece

It’s finally happening. The real estate market in India is cooling down. This is probably a breather before it snatches up its skirts and start trotting again. But nevertheless, what many people argued would never happen has happened. Prices of homes have declined not just in small isolated pockets but in large localities and across multiple cities.

The fact that this has happened at roughly the same time in different places is very interesting. According to me, it is good proof that real estate market is also a sentiment driven market like the stock market. After all, supply could not have exceeded demand in all the cities at the same time!

There is probably a bit of the FUD (fear, uncertainty and dread?) factor as well. With US real  estate market showing no signs of looking up and most experts predicting the slump to last till the end of 2009, it’s no wonder that Indian home buyer has started having second thoughts. Check this piece for the latest on the US market - http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aS8rWyvV0osg&refer=home. Quite informative. For instance, didya know that the average US home cost is now $200,000. That’s roughly 80 lakhs. For that price we can only get a semi decent place in Mumbai !! Guess, a reality check was long due.

However, our advice to those who are yet to own a home would be - BUY it now. There is no need to wait for the magic price on things as important as this. You may never get the extra 10% discount you were wanting. With tax deductions and all, it makes sense to invest in a home for the first time.

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As we come to the end of 2007 a thought occurred to me, ‘Is there a separate Indian calendar and what is the year/date on that calendar?’ 

Turns out, it’s a topic one should probably steer clear of, mainly because of the sheer number calendars out there that are ‘Indian’ in origin. Take a look at this sample below for instance, Gregorian year 2000 AD/CE corresponds with:

1. Year 5101 in the Kaliyuga calendar;
2. Year 2544 in the Buddha Nirvana calendar;
3. Year 2057 in the Bikram Samvat calendar;
4. Year 1922 in the Saka calendar;
5. Year 1921 (shown in terms of 5-yearly cycles) of the Vedanga Jyotisa calendar;
6. Year 1407 in the Bengali calendar;
7. Year 1176 in the Kolla Varsham calendar.

Well that is enough to leave anyone confused. I threw in the towel.

By the way, there is an Indian National calendar as well, which has been granted official status by none other than the Government of India. This happened in 1957 and it is basically a straight forward adoption of the Saka calendar (Saka era starts from 78 AD)from what I understand. The year and date in this system is still used by All India Radio and official Government communiques! Psst.. if anyone can confirm this, it’d be great.

So let me make it simpler; officially today is 1929, Pausa 8th.

I kid you, not! Here is the link for the complete information. Go ahead and check it out..

The year starts with Chaitra on March 22nd and goes through Vaishakh, Jyaistha, Asadha, Sravana, Bhadra, Asvina, Kartika, Margashirsh, Pausa, Magha and Phalgun. So remember to celebrate new year on March 21st as well..

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As part of our theme of home related topics, we will be covering most of the festivals celebrated in India. After all these are rare occassions when people get together as a family at their homes.

Tomorrow is the Muslim festival of Bakrid. Unlike the Christian festivals, Muslim festivals do not occur on a specific date of the calendar that is familiar to all of us (Gregorian calendar), they follow a lunar calendar and hence, the festival dates will keep shifting from year to year.

This festival is known as Bakrid only in India. I was amazed at the number of names it has all over the world. I stopped counting after I reached a dozen names. I am serious Its most popular name outside India is Eid-al-Adha or the Festival of Sacrifice.

Bakrid name probably derives from Baqra-eid, which means that a goat/lamb sacrifice was usually involved as part of the ceremony. Mostly though, it is supposed to be a time of sharing with poor, friends and relatives; the meal that your family is to have that day. I find its message very similar to the Thanksgiving festival celebrated in America, which is also based on the sharing and giving thanks theme.

So a happy Bakrid to everyone from our side.

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We had recently written an article about the house being constructed by Mukesh Ambani in South Mumbai. Quite a few people have been landing up at the article after having searched in Google using the keywords containing “most expensive house”. This started me out on an interesting search… Is it really the most expensive home ever built?The answer wasn’t hard to find. It isn’t. Not by a long shot. Not even by Indian standards. In fact all of us are already familiar with a more expensive house built in India – our very own ‘Rashtrapati Bhavan’.

Here are some interesting facts about it:

1. 17 long years were required to complete (1912-1929) its construction. Then on its 18^th year, India became independent. Interesting, because the house was built as a symbol of British Imperial strength. J
2. The cost of construction was an astounding 14 million rupees. Not sure how much that would be in today’s prices, but that is astronomical by the standards of pre-independent India.
3. At today’s real estate prices, the land itself will be worth more than 16,000 crores ($4 Billion). The house is built on an area of 335 acres or so, right in the heart of New Delhi. After all, New Delhi itself was designed by Lutyens with Viceroy’s house as its centre.
4. The building has 340 rooms within its 4 storeyed structure.
5. At one time 2000 people were required to look after it. Not sure whether that is still the case though. Might have been a colonial time extravaganza.
6. Although Lutyens and Baker – the two main architects, quarreled bitterly over the details of New Delhi and Viceroy’s house (they actually ceased speaking to each other), the eventual results is considered to be an elegant mix of Western and Indian styles. Indian architectural patterns such as Buddhist railings, chhajjas, chhatris and jaalis are found in the building. Chhajjas are stone slabs designed for preventing the sunrays from falling on the windows and protecting the walls from the rains. Chhatris adorn the rooftops of the building through their elevated positions. Jaalis are stone slabs designed with delicate floral / geometric patterns.
7. At 630 feet long, it is longer than the Versailles Palace.
8. By the way, the place also has nine tennis courts, a polo ground, a 14-hole golf course and a cricket field.

To the west of Rashtrapathi Bhavan is the elegant Mughal Gardens, which occupies an area of 13 acres. It has Mughal style canals, fountains and terraces at different levels with flowering shrubs and Western style lawns, hedges and flower beds.

To the east lies a vast court with the huge Jaipur column of red sandstone. It is topped with a bronze lotus and the six pointed glass star of India, in the centre. 

You can also view the Satellite image and the roadmap of the area. 

To all Indian Presidents’ credit, none of them have ever occupied the actual Viceroy quarters, deeming it to be too extravagant in nature. Instead all have occupied certain portions of the guest enclave of the building.

By the way, I can think of at least one other home building which might be even more expensive than the Rashtrapati Bhavan (not in India, though). Will cover that after some more research.

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