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Saturday, November 10, 2012

Match box Flats

Two days back I went with my brother to see some upcoming flats in Bangalore thinking that I can gain some experience of seeing something new. Of course I did gain a lot but   learnt how manipulative the builders can be.
 Not all the builders keep in mind the living space in a flat. Actually as soon as one enters one expects a lot of space in the house for 'everything has a place and in its place' ..on the contrary there is hardly any space left once you place the cots and the cupboards, it makes me think of the movie scenes where the couple keep running around the cot....

No provisions for the inbuilt / or projected cupboards, wardrobes in the bedrooms, no shelves in the dining, very few make a provision for pooja, and the bathrooms can have  only the basic things and they are not well lit. 


Regarding the house plan each one is different and the designers just make the plan as they wish and as per the space left out.


In one of the floor plans I was surprised to see the builder keeping the washbasin for the dining and the entrance of the common very close to the foyer and that too the kitchen facing the entrance. As one enters , you see the dining first and then the kitchen and after crossing the dining you move to the living. And the two bedroom doors open to the living room. What a funny plan? 

I doubt whether the architect has sense or it's just that the builder wants to make money by planning the flat in anyway. 
The two sales persons who were there in one of the sites, did not even know the details and they themselves were confused and were just trying to guess with the so many floor plans kept in the brochure. I told my brother to just leave and it's not worth going for it. 

The best part was the approach road  so uneven and there is a tomb right in the middle of the road and they say that to get an auto one has to just walk 50 feet and that too at the end of the road. 

I could not see any autos, even people walking on the road!

Some flats had literally no lights in bed rooms, bathrooms.No question of kitchen having the sunlight or rays for that matter. As per vasthu, the stove and the sink should never be in the same side, but it was not so. One flat had no windows in the kitchen but a high ventilator. Most of the flats once a cupboard or a wardrobe is built in living, bed rooms , can accommodate only the cots and sofas. No provision for lofts, of course that's the trend nowadays. 

Balconies and utility consume a quarter of the space . Especially those are the ones which bring sunlight to the flats.The TV points are not provided in each of the bedrooms though it has become a trend to have in bedrooms rather than a living room. The question of Cauvery water is optional. Most of them depend on bore well water.
In one of the project the bathrooms had an artificial ceiling to hide the pipes, and sanitary lines .As a precaution in case of a leakage, it's easy to open the ceiling and repair the pipes.This I found sound as the NGV flats have experienced the problem of seepage and the owners had to literally  break open the bathroom flooring to detect the leakage, giving inconvenience to the ground floor tenant. 

A recent study done abroad came out with the result that drying clothes inside the houses( of course in foreign countries machines wash and totally dry, and the houses have wooden flooring and concealed wooden ceiling ) causes allergy, asthma, wheezing and other respiratory problems.I do not know what would be the condition in some of the flats where there is no provision for drying clothes at all. A majority of the flats have the provision for balcony only thro the hall, in such cases it's indecent to dry the clothes in that balcony where guests can count the number of persons and the inner, outer wear dried for that day. 


One of the famous builders who boasts of aesthetic plans had the flats very close to the flats which were constructed a decade ago, and argue that those are illegal constructions and they have violated the plan.But who has to decide on that?


This was my point because I found the windows very close to each other and may be if good fences make good neighbours , one can be sure of coffee,tea and snacks delivered to your bed step through the windows in case one falls sick! What an idea sirji!


The old adage , 'walls have ears 'should be followed so carefully otherwise the news may leak into the neighbours. Why one can even have an alternate arrangement of having light and sound while watching TV provided both have decided to watch the same channel , one can have the volume and the other only picture. 


A steal for robbers, one house burglary one house free entry!!!!!!


One can ask the neighbor to watch the toddler and inform thro' cell the whereabouts of the baby.


:)      :)     :)        :)    :)      :)      :)          :)          :)           :)     



Tips :

Whenever one wants to see a flat for buying or for rent, pl visit before evening preferably when the sun shine is there to see how much well lit is the flat, and where are the chances of getting the light.

Enquire about the sources of water, garbage removal, power disruption, backup etc.


Find out from the neighbours about the place and the pros and cons of the place, the market rate for the  flat, servants, the nearby shops , hotels , stores, laundry etc. 

Try to get in touch with the other buyers to know more about the deal, the concessions offered etc, so that you neither pay more nor leave out on any extra fittings, facilities  etc ..

nov. 17 th 


A few days back I saw some 10 flats in NGV , Krishna block  out of curiosity as there was a news that the construction of the block was very poor. 

Some of the NGV blocks boast of good construction and some better and still some livable, but this one overshadowed all in its poor construction. I presume all the builders  (may be 3 in number ), were given the same amount for construction and while some could provide with a reliable and standard ,brand fittings, how can this builder opt for poor quality fittings which wear out quickly?
Who is responsible and who is answerable for this block?
Who else were benefitted from this project, understood that the complex was built for the National Games participants but it was with clear purpose that after the games it would be open to public  as it's done in the country? 

 OMG, I still can't understand how people lived in some of the flats? Were they so much in need of the flats that they could live in those types of flats. The plan is a good one, the maintenance of the common area the upkeep of the flats , the less said the better. The taps in a bad state, there is seepage in a majority of the bathrooms and  the bathroom walls towards the dining, the switch boards hanging and some broken, water tripping on the geyser fitted and the geysers rusted.. .. 


The residents attitude is reflected in the way the flats were maintained, they never bothered to get the things repaired and some of them were taken by the governments, so one can understand the callous attitude of the Government in repairing the flats. 

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