The One Room Miracle

01/08-09

It is almost a month since I started this Blog and was contemplating on what should be my first blog posting. Quite consciously I did not want this blog to narrate personal musings and therefore planned to start with global shelter issues. Somehow I was not able to do it. After deep introspection I then changed my mind and decided to share some of my impulsive thoughts in my first blog post on this Blog and go global in my next blog post.

Middle class moorings:

My father and mother were teachers. They both were first-generation children educated by parents who could not afford to get themselves educated. With no other income other than their salary my parents had to face lot of problems in running the family. The worst problem we faced was of shelter. We had to live in ten rented houses before my parents could manage to build their own small house. The tenth rented house was the one in which we all stayed the longest period- over three decades. This blog post is about this one-roomed flat that is symbolic of a typical urban middle class family’s triumphs and tribulations.


Government Initiative in Urban Housing:

Multi-storied housing units are a common sight in urban India these days. In the early sixties when the Tamilnadu State Government came out with an idea of construction of three types of multi-storied housing units for hire-purchase or for rent, surprisingly, there were not many takers. The concrete multi storied concept did not attract many. The reason was not because of low quality construction as it is done now-a-days. The reason was the mind set of people who had been, for generations, living in plot based individual houses.

A perspective view of the west facing blocks of LIG Colony

The first such venture in Coimbatore, my hometown, came up in the North-Western part of the most posh localities of the town- RS Puram. The construction of the Low Income Group (LIG), Middle Income Group (MIG) and the High Income Group (HIG) was over in 1965-66 but there were not many takers for the houses. In another years time most of the MIG and HIG flats were getting sold but none of the LIG units got sold. When the government decided to offer them for rent we were one of the first occupants of the LIG units. The construction of those first set of houses were of impeccable quality. The contractor who constructed them probably did not have to grease many hands as they do now. The doors and windows were of good teak wood which have shown no signs of warping or decay till now. Housing units constructed later on in places like Singanallur and Ukkadam are soon becoming history. These houses were probably built by contractors who had to grease a whole long chain in the engineers-politicians nexus.

Another view of the 'L' Block from the Cowley Brown Road side.

The One Room Miracle:

The flat that was allotted to us was in the L Block of LIG group of houses. The house was basically a one-roomed flat with a single brick separating two partitions on the first floor. While one portion at the entrance was our living- cum- study-cum bedroom the other one was the kitchen-cum-dining portion. A bathroom and toilet were attached.

We were a big family for the space. My parents, a sister, two brothers, and occasionally my grandmother and I shared our limited spaces within the house. Despite the small space we were able to go on for over three decades in the same flat. As we were one of the oldest occupants our family was popular and the house number became iconic- L-15 LIG Colony.

It was like living in a village where we knew about each other family. For families which had been living in individual houses, cut off from each other family, this colony was a boon. As children we had the rare chance of learning lessons from the wrong doings of other people in the colony. As the colony had houses on both sides of the Punniyakodi Street we used the road as our playground; be it cricket, football, seven-tiles, kabaddi, hide & seek, marbles, gilli-thāndu/gulli-danda, spinning tops, flying kites etc. During days when we used to arrange cricket matches enthusiastic parents used to occupy vantage positions on their balconies to watch us play. During the kite flying season we used to powder tube-light bulbs and add a whole lot of ingredients to prepare a paste (Mānjā) to be smeared on the thread tethered to the kites. One of the toughest games was hide & seek as the colony provided many niches where we could hide.

A view of the colony with houses on both sides of the road

The best part of L-15 was that we all could lead a contended life and study well despite the shortage of space. In fact we had seldom felt the lack of space. During exam time the staircase used to provide us space for study. At times when there used to be skirmishes in the house the balcony on the common staircase used to provide us solace. My father who was a self made personality had earlier studied his post-school studies on his own. He completed his post graduation in Hindi, a couple of diplomas in Sanskrit and Urdu, while we were in the flat. My mother also did some value addition to her education. I could complete my MSc Agril. Economics, my younger brother his graduation in Engineering, my younger sister her BSc in Maths and my youngest brother his BCom. Later when I got married my wife also joined us.

As we all grew up the need for more space crept in. The need to build a house of our own came very late. My parents somehow managed to take loans and built one. As of now, my brothers, sister and I have all built our own houses and we all stay with our families with our mother staying with all of us wherever she feels like.

L/15 LIG Colony, Punniyakodi Street, RS Puram, Coimbatore- India

Now, for me, despite owning a two storied house with three bedrooms, a study, a living room and a spacious kitchen, my thoughts are still evergreen when I think of the days I spent in the one-roomed miracle L-15. ( Photo credits: My son U Abhishek. ...Thanks Anuj)