My home had to pass through six stages of construction, modifications and alterations to get to this stage,” says N Jayaram, a pathologist with Bangalore-based Anand Diagnostic Laboratories. He has an independent house within the city limits, lucky that his father bought a plot in 1970s. “My father's brother forced him to buy this plot and he paid Rs 17,000 for that.”

“Good that my uncle forced him to buy a plot then. My father struggled to raise Rs 17,000 to buy this plot. This was done with a combination of LIC loan and loan on provident fund,” he said. Later in the early 1980s, his father, S N Iyengar, built the ground floor house, which they rent it out for five years, as Iyengar was working with government owned Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) factory in Hyderabad. Post retirement, the family moved to Bangalore to stay in their home named Ranga Krupa.

Later, Dr Jayaram added a sit-out area in front of their house and a garage, modified the kitchen to make it modular. After some years, he added an entire floor. “I had to increase the size of the house because my family was growing. All of us needed space. I have two children. I consciously kept most part of my home in the ground floor, as it would be convenient to my aged parents. The kitchen and the pooja room are on the ground floor. And of course the garden is also there. My father enjoys gardening,” added Jayaram. “The changes in the house were made for practical reasons. It was not done for luxury,” he added.

The biggest hurdle he found while modifying his home was that he had to restrict the size of the first floor to almost as the same size as the ground floor. “We had to build a wall over the existing one. The columns of the ground floor house were built with the intention of holding just one floor. So it always helps one to plan with the future in mind,” he added.

He advices people to have a home as close as possible to the work place. “Cities are growing and getting crowded. If you are close by, you will not waste time travelling,” he added. His home is conveniently located close to Bangalore's central railway station and bus terminus. It will not take more than half-an-hour for him to reach his office during non-peak hours.

“I have always lived in an independent house. I would advice potential home buyers to first try to buy an independent house. Only if it does not fit into their budget, would I advice them to settle for an apartment. In an apartment, you do not have the scope to modify or make changes in your home. It’s a luxury that only independent house owners can have,” he said adding “That does not rule out the benefits of an apartment. They are cheaper.” zz

(The writer is a freelance journalist)