While people of my age already own at least a 2BHK in Bangalore or Chennai or wherever they stay and are in the middle of paying their EMIs - I took a conscious decision of not getting into the EMI trap. My brother and I decided to build a small "kudil" at Salem, with our little savings. Having lived in "apartments/flats" for the past 10 years, I was pretty tired of the architecture. So, we decided to go traditional and Indian to the extent possible. While discussing this with my father, he suggested that we could go in for "karungkal pillars", "athangudi tiles", etc to give it a traditional touch. This was a brilliant idea and I was excited.
Early March 2019, I decided to spend 3 days at Chettinad. Nagarathars have always been known for their palatial residences. Villages dotted with residences which are nothing less than a palace. Nagarathars werent the Kings, but they still lived in palaces. Our great grandfathers made it a point to travel far and wide, collect exquisite decors from Europe and South east Asia, hand-pick artisans from Kerala and India, take them offshore for them to learn the styles and work intricacies, bring them back to Chettinad to build these palatial spaces. Our Great Grandmothers were so meticulous in managing things at home, while their other half was making the riches abroad.
I was proud to see foreigners walking around the streets of Karaikudi and Athangudi, even on weekdays admiring the architecture. A few gullies away, I ended up finding "open-air showrooms of refurbished riches from the demolished nagarathar palaces". Heart drenched in sorrow. I went to pick up a few kallu thoons from there. The men there were trying hard to cross-sell a bunch of other refurbished riches like "intricate burma teak doors", "kuillon terracotta tiles with minute floral work", "teak windows", "pillar bases and tops", "teak kuzhanthai thottil", cots, aatukal, ammis, "majestic chandeliers", "ravi varman paintings" and what not.? The entire gully was a thriving market for refurbished nagarathar riches.
A quick chat with these traders:
Me: "Anna, how many such houses you take contract every month?"
Anna: "Aatha, ask me how many every week. If I take a handful every week, there are at least 30 such contractors across this lane and each of us have handful of contracts."
I am stunned at his response.
Without much thought, most of us would agree that renovating and maintaining such palatial buildings would cost nagarathars a fortune. But is that the only reason?
I would say "No". Great grandfather's progeny is so widespread today, that each of these houses would easily have 100s of individuals claiming inheritance. Unfortunately, investment decisions cant be taken on simple majority. There are people who calculate RoI on such investments thereby being a bottleneck to renovation efforts of others, discouraging such discussions forever. Remember, properties dont wait for your decisions, it starts decaying.
I am surprised at these people who are happy to pay EMI on "undivided share/UDS" on apartments in Chennai and Bangalore with strangers but are unwilling to pay their share on a UDS of a palatial properties at the native with their own kith and kin. Should I call this as a collective failure of nagarthar society in building the "link" between the current generation with the ancestral pride?
Most of you would have personal encounters with economically well-established families unwilling to invest in renovating their great great grandfather built house which houses well-grown banyans. "When there are so many pangalis/stakeholders, why should I" attitude on even simple things like cleaning these houses is killing us. I would term this as "nuclear mentality". Nuclear mentality makes people think at proton-level - "If we demolish this house, we get 2-3 lakhs cash + 2-3 cents of land each, sufficient to build a comfortable 2BHK of 'MY OWN'".
To the herd of proton thinkers - One day, this 2BHK will end up having unknown number of souls waiting to inherit even 1 sq ft of land as their "my own". Isnt this a worrisome trend? Please think of it long term - wither your differences and work together to give these palatial properties the new life, if you have the necessary financials.
In families where not all brothers are equally well-to-do to contribute and renovate, fix a value on the property and one of them should take-over the property completely. A mutual consent is required for such settlements and for lending these properties their new life - which practically never happens these days.
What happens to properties where all offsprings can not afford and where internal differences can never be sorted? That is when the community should collectively come forward to give these a new lease of life. An out of the box strategy is required for making this successful and this should not be one-time capex contribution by the community. A point to be kept in mind is renovation is capital expenditure while maintenance is operational expenditure. So, a sustainable revenue stream needs to be critically thought through and established to generate self-sufficiency. This needs to be done besides establishing a corpus fund for the community welfare.
To the whatsapp-warriors, just forwarding videos of "Chettinad palatial architectures" based on the same 2-3 houses and "Chettinad history & cuisines" doesnt help. Until we think the bucket holds water and there is nothing wrong with it, we will never be able to find the small leaks that are draining the water slowly. It is essential to be self-critical.
A final seed of thought - "We are nagarathars and our palatial properties at Chettinad is our identity". A community which is losing its identity is on its way to the grave. Lets find the "missing link" between the past and the future.
That would have been a really long read. Thank you for deciding to spend time on my blog. Thats it from me for now. See you soon!
Love what you wrote about paying EMIs on flats but not able to pay a small share to keep these treasures around for the next generation to see. Just returned from Karaikudi and it was an amazing visit!