Lone family in a society of 800 flats: How the Mehrotras are managing

NOIDA: It’s not that Charu Mehrotra doesn’t like neighbours, the gaggle of kids playing in the park and the clatter of feet on the staircase — all the background hubbub that gives one the familiar feeling of being among people.
But the Mehrotras — Charu, her husband and two daughters — have possibly had the most isolated existence that one can imagine in a densely populated Indian city ever since they moved into their new home on January 1 this year. The Mehrotras were the only family in their housing society of 800 flats. The building did not have a completion certificate, but they insisted on moving in.

It was more a compulsion than choice. The financial burden of paying a stiff EMI and a high monthly rent while waiting for the new home to be delivered was becoming too much.

For two months, Charu has been spending most of her days all alone in Sports Wood, the condominium in Sector 79, with her husband going to work and the children to school. Charu said she had no choice but to shift to her apartment once it was ready. Due in 2016, she had already waited for a year. Through the last couple of months, she has been working on starting a new life in the three-bedroom flat on the sixth floor of a 21-storey tower.

“The entire place is empty but I have no problem,” Charu told this correspondent recently, at her home. “I just get busy with setting up the house. This is so much better than staying on rent, at least we are now in our own place,” she said.

The Mehrotras were living on rent at a Sector 78 apartment complex till December. The rent was Rs 23,000 and the EMI was Rs 17,000. Her husband, who works with a private hospitality company, is the sole earning member. The children are in classes V and VIII.

Their experience of having to live in a housing society by themselves sums up all that is wrong with real estate in NCR; homes delayed for years and thousands of families having to pay rent and EMI from salaries for much longer than planned. The desperation that this brings can make even isolation, which goes against our natural instincts of being social animals, seem a better option.

The Mehrotras, though, will have neighbours soon. Gaursons has recently given possession of five towers in the first phase of this recently completed apartment complex. The completion certificate has been applied for and is under process at Noida Authority.

The towers are serviced by three lifts. At tower D, where Charu stays, all the three lifts are functional. She has organised a cab for her kids for their commute to school and back. The only activity one hears at the Sports Wood is the noise from other flats where construction is still on — finishing work on floors, windows and doors is still in progress in many apartments.

The daily garbage is taken away by society maintenance staff. Common areas are neat and well maintained, though work on fitments is in progress. Accessing shops and stores are a challenge. Charu is sourcing her grocery online; her husband also gets some on his way back from work.C A single guard is seated on the ground floor, who escorts any visitor to the Mehrotras’ apartment. An electronic device with a camera is fitted near the doorbell.

“It is easy to see who is at the door. I don’t open the door at all. I am busy setting the house up. There are no neighbours, but I also don’t need to go anywhere. If I really have to, I can always get a cab,” Charu said. She has a little row of potted plants in her balcony. “This is how it is going to be for some time I guess since all these buildings are stuck in construction. It was a bold decision to live like this. I had booked this flat in 2013 and it was due to me in 2016. I got it in 2018. I am happy to be here, at least I am not paying rent anymore,” Charu added.

Manoj Gaur, chairman of Gaursons, said, “Construction is complete and completion has been applied for. The maximum time limit for granting CC is 90 days. The buyers have been asking for their flats because they are ready and they wanted their flats for interior work. We have thus started giving them out for possession. There is no worry about security because we have high quality security there.”

“I have become a role model here,” Charu added. “During weekends, other flat buyers come and meet me to ask how I am doing. It is fun!”