Roti (food) – Kapda (clothing) Makhan (shelter) – three basic necessities of Life. I guess shelter is listed the last and that may be because it costs more to own one than the earlier two. In a population of more than a billion in Inida, latest statistics says that more than half of the population does not have a place to stay, leave alone their own.
While my effort through this blog is not to overnight give a solution to the shelterless – this is an effort to help those who are in the lower and the aspiring middle and middle class to not just give impetus to their dream of owning a house but actually showing them direction on how to fulfil the same. I am open to discuss and share my ideas to people who are fighting to build a house at a very tight budget as well, irrespective of what social and financial strata they belong to.
While low cost construction is nowhere a comprmise on quality of construction BUT the logical use of ideas and techniques that could perform for a couple of generations. The typical Civil Engineer will give you the usual suggestions and refuse to think out of the box. Our lower and middle class dont aspire to build a sky scraper but a floor or two. This does not need the elaborate pillars and columns - yes ofcourse to prevent from natural calamities you need fool proof structure but the technique can support.
Many of our old buildings constructed hundreds of years ago have been reduced to rubble (not because they could not withstand the test of time) but because we wanted to move off old aestetiscs and have plush houses. In these times the only ones that have stood undethered are our places of worship - commonly found around you...churches, mosques and temples – many being constructed with mud, stone, bricks etc.,
Many of our old buildings constructed hundreds of years ago have been reduced to rubble (not because they could not withstand the test of time) but because we wanted to move off old aestetiscs and have plush houses. In these times the only ones that have stood undethered are our places of worship - commonly found around you...churches, mosques and temples – many being constructed with mud, stone, bricks etc.,
While I must confess that I am not a student of Civil Engineering nor an Artchitect (both qualifications would have enabled me to only build stereo type blocks) and not to think otherwise. Have learnt a lot through extensive observations, attending workshops, practical hands on training and a lot of hit and trials. I am sure I will be to contribute my bit to the society in realizing their dream of constructing their own house.
