Author: msanjay

Post on ng on 11-Apr-2005

I happen to be involved (at a suggestion-giving level) with the construction
of a new large residential school-like building. I’m also starting to start
the construction of a new home (though not a large plot, plan to leave some
space open as well for a modest garden).

I’d really appreciate any suggestions (information / URLs / tutorials
practical for Indian conditions) by those experienced in eco-friendly
implementation about various possibilities available. Particularly rain
water harvesting, garbage recycling, biodegradable construction materials
(also economic and aesthetic as well)…

Dosent matter how unconventional they might seem at first, you can feel free
to suggest and leave it to me to use my discretion 🙂
[Just for convenience, please specify early in the post whether its an
actual implementation or a mere speculation, though both are welcome]

—————————

For a start, I’ve got a link from a friend (which I’m yet to go through) .
http://www.inika.com/chitra/

TIA,
Sanjay

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http://www.wwwastra.iisc.ernet.in/Pages/AreaofInterest/alternativebuildingtech.html

IISC civil department also conducts workshops on this. Not sure about
how when and where ;-(

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imagine… every few months or whenever we like we get a brand new home by
completely recycling the entire building to build a new one!!

[ok a bit of hangover after reading Manna…]

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In spite of your good intention to have a garden and a house with some air
and light, I should warn you to be prepared for the frustration.

If you live in hype BDA layout and construct a house with some space around
hoping to get some air and light into the house, soon you will realize that
all your neighbors have constructed Qutub Minars on your compond wall(Mainly
for rental purpose) converting your home to a squash court. So make sure
that your house design overcomes this problem [ Like diagonal front,semi
covered areas, etc ].

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http://www.habitatgroup.org/

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Don’t use asbestos
www.toxicslink.org/art-view.php?id=12

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On the way to Kanakapura, there are houses built by INDUS which have quite a few of the features u are looking for.
Check them out, sorry though I do not have their contact but it is
around10-15 kms from Family Mart and there is a tiny board onto your right.
U get in to a kaccha road for a couple of minutes and then there is this layout. Which has mostly eco-friendly houses.

Also, in Classic Orchards just behind Meenakshi Temple on Bannerghatta Road, there is a house which belongs to architect.
Check that out, it is another eco-friendly house.

The architect is a pretty friendly guy, Check with the Classic Orchards security and he will take u That is how we had visited this house a couple of years back

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http://www.kscst.org/contact_us.html

You can ask for Mr A.R Shivakumar. He will be able to guide you.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/02/14/stories/2005021402930500.htm

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Rain water harvesting links:
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=48007

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=42275

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I assume you are looking at people who are known to have implemented eco-friendly construction practices.

There is a well known architect Chitra Vishwanath who does such type of construction. Her husband is also involved in evangelising rainwater harvesting and runs the Rainwater Harvesting Club (www.rainwaterclub.org).

Another one that comes to mind – Biodiversity Conservation India Ltd. This is a company that has setup a few eco-friendly townships like Trans Indus on Kanakpura Road and Townsend in Yelahanka. They have a website – www.bioconserveindia.com.

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Finally on 15-Apr-2005 had to reply:

Thanks a lot everybody, there’s a wealth of information here as well as in
some emails I received. I’ve already been following up on some of them.

I’m (re-re-re-…) discovering that when idealism meets reality – sparks
fly. And especially when its not just me alone but there are other people
involved in this construction with their own priorities – so trying to come
up with an optimal solution!

One hitch wrt CEB (Compressed Earth Blocks) seems to be (subject to further investigation) – they take a lot more time to process, because the perfection is important as there would be no plastering, whereas in ordinary bricks any quick layout is fine as well, since the plastering would level out all the goof ups (Avinash told me this). The mestrhi said the walls need to be thicker – but Avainash didn’t think it would make that much of a difference. Also I would appreciate an earthy look but Amma turned out to not be so down to earth in this matter – so there’s certainly a conflict of interests which need to be sorted out. I think she’s stuck with the conventional ideas of what a “good house” should look like – but looking at some aesthetic well constructed eco friendly houses should hopefully change this perception!

Hi rocks, it looks like youre the only [unfortunate]
chap even among all the people I know who can somewhat
relate to some things I say. Btw I’ve often felt you
intutively practice many things even more than me,
though you seem to underestimate yourself.

——————
This morning, my mother had told me about a rat she
had trapped. She said that she had kept it in water to
drown all night, but it had somehow survived and was
miraculously alive even in the morning. (probably the
cage was a few mm outside water and it had been
swimming all night). But though I hadnt said anything
much – I immediately asked her what she had done with
it. She said “I released it”. [Quite a courageous rat,
I thought, deserved to live]. I just said calmly
“thirga yaavatthu ang maaDbeda, aache bitbuDu” and she
retorted cynically “nin katthe kattu!!” I wondered
what to say – these things always sound so irrational.
Then I added – “aa iligoskara yeLthailla, ninagoskara
yeLdthaidhini” and left it at that. Around 5 minutes
later, I was really curious – I asked how was it doing
when she released it – did it manage to just run away?
She said it was very tired and had just stagerred away
slowly.

——————

The tenants Prasad who have vacated the house have
left the house in a very hopeless state. Apart from
everything including the walls being very very dirty,
the paint is gone in a lot of places. The worst thing
is that every single bit of external electrical wiring
and fitting has been taken out except the tubelight in
the hall. All the bulbs, their holders and most of the
switchboards.

When questioned, Prasad cooly said that the mover who
was moving all the furniture had asked him if he could
take it, and he had generously agreed because we were
going to demolish the house anyway (though we had told
him it was not a plan for the immediate future). And
for the switchboards, he even said that they had never
been there in the first place, though that was quite
ridiculous.

My mother when she told me was very angry about this –
and especially the fact that he had so blatantly lying
to her. [She even added that we shouldnt be giving
Prajwal any of the toys I had brought for him – though
I replied that lets leave him out of this, he has
nothing to do with it].

I reminded her of Prasad’s current situation. In his
new house he was facing difficulties as the owner
turned out to be extremely finicky about the
well-being of the house. He kept reminding him again
and again to the extent of annoying him about dos and
donts. He had also extracted quite some money for
maintenance, and had a written contract that the
tenant must pay Rs. 10K while leaving the house for
all fixtures.

I told my mother, see this is the law of nature –
action and reaction – it is so clear, there is no
question about it at all!

——————

This evening, after dinner, I came upstairs to check
my mail and then sleep. My mother would come upstairs
later after all the housework.

I went to the bathroom and noticed something
surprising – the rat cage was in a bucket of water. I
got an uncomfortable feeling but thought perhaps she
had put it there to clean the cage – though of course
it was quite unlikely. I slowly took out the cage –
all the water spilt out of it, and peered inside –
wishing that it was empty. Through one gap I saw a
tail and a moment later through other gaps, the tiny
feet.

——————

I have been very honest with my mother with everything
in my life and I thought we had a kind of unwritten
mutual agreement – though I’ve been aware at times
that she’s tried to manipulate me.

But I had never expected her to lie so fluently to me
– the law of Karma again, so clear.

And needless to say, it also reflects on myself too –
how can I be angry with her! 🙂

——————

I dont want to publicise this because it might make me
sound extremely despondent about the whole thing,
which I’m not, afaik. It just all seems to be an
interesting game – what seems to really be an endless
trap!

I remember one analogy of Buddha explained by Ajahn
Chah (Being Dharma) – that we’re caught in such a
snare – that no matter what we do, the hunter is in
complete control. Living Dharma is the only way out.