The
Mumbai-based urological cancer surgeon V. Srinivas has written a book
about his experiences, along with his wife, of building a house at
Kotagiri in the Nilgiris
By
Shevlin Sebastian
At
Kotagiri, in Tamil Nadu, the Mumbai-based urological cancer surgeon
V. Srinivas and his wife Vidya were building a homestay. Friends in
Mumbai offered numerous suggestions. One friend Reena (name changed)
suggested that they should use Burma teakwood for all the floors.
Srinivas blanched when he heard that. “It will cost too much,” he
said. But Reena said, “Why don't you find some old ship and get the
wood from the deck? This is usually made of seasoned old Burma teak
wood.”
As
luck would have it, a new patient of Srinivas was from Bhavnagar in
Gujarat and his business was ship-breaking. After the man recovered,
the couple went with him to Alang, near Bhavnagar, which is the
centre of ship-breaking in India.
There,
the '1952 Manila Princess', which had been a floating casino in the
Philippines was being dismantled. So, Srinivas bought a lot of
teakwood at a very competitive price. Then, a driver agreed to take
the entire material to Kotagiri, but he had never been beyond
Hyderabad. “We were told that there was no insurance coverage for
this type of transport and all we could do was to leave it to God,”
says Srinivas.
In
the end, the belief in God worked because on the fourth day, the wood
did reach Kotagiri safely.
This
anecdote was recounted in the just-released 'A Tale Of Two Homes'
written by Srinivas and brought out by White Falcon Publishing. It
tells the story of the trials and tribulations that the couple faced
while trying to build a homestay on ten acres of land.
Initially
buying the land was the problem. “One piece of land was owned by 18
cousins and relatives,” says Srinivas. “We had to get a lawyer to
check all the papers to make sure everything was okay. Then we had to
wait before we could acquire the next six acres.”
Asked
why the couple wanted ten acres Srinivas says, tongue-in-cheek, “We
wanted to avoid neighbours. In over-crowded Mumbai, we have too many
neighbours all around us.”
Meanwhile,
as construction went on, the couple got an insight into the mindset
of the labourers. “The labourers need supervision,” says
Srinivas. “They were working on five to six buildings at the same
time, so they would disappear for a while. They also like their
liquor. After working for six days, as soon as they got their wages
they would go to the liquor shop. Thereafter, they would be absent
for two days.”
But
despite all that, the couple grew to love the local people. “The
people are simple and honest,” says Srinivas. “After we bought
the land, we were going to fence it, but then the local people told
us, 'Nobody puts a fence'. In most places, the only thing marking a
boundary were some white stones. So, we did the same. And, to our
surprise, there were no squatters at all, unlike what would have
happened in Mumbai.”
Srinivas
and his wife faced other difficulties. Their architect was very
strong on vaastu. But when the plans were drawn the couple felt that
the bedrooms were very small. “We felt upset about it,” says
Srinivas. “But then an architect friend of mine came from Mumbai
and noticed that there were good verandahs. He told me that in the
hills, the beauty is outside the house. So it would be better to have
small bedrooms since guests will spend more time outside. Which
turned out to be true.”
And
throughout his book, Srinivas details numerous episodes in their
nine-year odyssey to build their home. But eventually, it was all's
well that end's well.
They
called their homestay 'Raven's Nest', after their granddaughter and
it is doing well. There are six rooms, out of which three are for the
guests while the other three are for Srinivas and his family.
“Visitors have come from Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai,”
says Srinivas.
As
for the doctor, every month, he, along with his wife, fly down from
Mumbai and spend a week there. “We felt that if we have built a
home, we should stay there often, especially in such a salubrious
atmosphere as the Nilgiris,” says Srinivas. “It is a place that
brings back memories.”
That's
because Srinivas did his schooling in Lawrence School, Lovedale. So
he has a soft spot for the Nilgiris.
Meanwhile,
the book, which is an engaging read, is getting good reviews on
Amazon. Says Dr Namrata, “I really enjoyed reading the book. It's
not a book only on house building but about relationships. The humour
is the USP. I can guarantee the book will sell and will have readers
across all age groups.”
Adds
Dr Thilak, ophthalmologist, “It is extremely interesting and well
written. Got hooked on it.”
(The
New Indian Express, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram)
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