The house of trash: Kachra Mane

BENGALURU: Among the brick and cement houses that line this street, one house stands out. For, it is mostly made from trash. The house, aptly named Kachra Mane (Trash house), attracts visitors throughout the year.

G V Dasarathi’s 1,500sqft double-storeyed house is built from Kachra – which translates into trash or discarded material. But, the house is anything but rubbish! And inside his house is a real treasure because the eyes keep wandering to various junk items that look like they have found a new purpose.

As one enters the house, it gives a resort-type feeling with greenery everywhere, fresh air that makes way into the house through large windows and most importantly, the attractive wooden structure of the house.  The house isn’t anywhere on the outskirts of Bengaluru. It is nestled in the heart of the city – in Sadashivanagar — just a stone’s throw away from Sankey Tank.

Das welcomes you to his house with a glass of water, poured from a used wine bottle. The simplicity and sense of space at his place is quite noticeable. The house is naturally well lit and well ventilated. The tete-a-tete happened on a sunny afternoon inside Kachra Mane but we could hardly feel the heat. Though there was a ceiling fan, Das says they rarely turn it on.

He says his aim is to minimise the impact of trash on the environment and thus his Kachra Mane was designed to reflect this principle. He explains the philosophy behind his house with four R’s – Reuse, Reduce, Recycle and Rethink. “ Reduce – to buy less and use less; Reuse – to use elements of a discarded item again; Recycle – use energy to change the physical properties of the material, to make something new. Our house has massive amounts of Reduce and Reuse, no Recycle. We have also used massive amounts of a fourth R – Rethink,” he explains.

Kachra Mane was built ten years ago but it looks as good as new. Das explains, “Less than 5 per cent of the total sand used in regular construction has been utilised in the construction of the house. We cause enormous environmental damage when we extract sand from riverbeds and must reduce our use of sand in construction.”

Use of cement and steel in the construction of the house is reduced by almost 90 per cent. The roof is made of bamboo-corrugated sheets. The walls are mainly made of wood and glass that keep out rain and usher in light. The wood comes from packing crates and the glass is from old demolished buildings. No tiles are used anywhere in the house. The only flooring throughout the house - including bathrooms – is made of cement. “When it rains you actually smell and hear the rain inside the house,” smiles Das.

“The roof structure, windows, staircase, kitchen cupboards and bookshelves are made from discarded pine wood packing crates. They are just coated with linseed oil, and there’s no paint or other chemicals used,” explains Das.

Bathroom fittings – including the commode - are old materials. “The bathroom fittings are all of a luxury brand, and would have cost a lakh, but I got them at less than 10 per cent of the cost,” he adds.

The chairs and the dining table too are used ones. The kitchen sinks too are from demolished buildings. The kitchen has natural draught instead of an exhaust fan. The electrical appliances – refrigerator, washing machine, microwave oven — are all used stuff. There are no grills on the windows because Das wanted to avoid using steel.

When asked about what if a thief breaks into the house and takes away stuff, he smiles, “I can always replace it with some other reused stuff.”

The house was built in just seven months, with the cost being less than half of what a ‘regular’ house would cost. Kachra Mane sits lightly on an existing building and makes use of the structure as it is.
Das is a mechanical engineer and runs his own firm. Also, every day, he cycles to his office in Jayanagar.

He lives with his wife and daughter at Kachra Mane. Every weekend Das will have at least one visitor. Over 25,000 people including architecture students, enthusiasts, the curious ones, those who want to pick up ideas from the house – have visited his house, over the years. Das welcomes them all with a warm smile. “Even if they adopt a small thing and make a difference to the environment, it is indeed a big thing,” he says.

Eco-friendly house

Living with nature
The first ones to greet at Dasarathi’s house were Laila and Shakuntala – the family dogs both adopted off the street. Squirrels and birds make their home in gaps under the bamboo corrugated sheets. Monkeys, bats, butterflies and a lot of insects are daily visitors too. “It’s like living in a zoo”, Das says.

Rain water harvesting and grey water system
Daasarathi has a 20,000-litre tank for rainwater, which reduces consumption of municipal water to half. Also, they have a grey water system to reuse water from wasbasins, bath area, washing machine and kitchen sinks. The reused water is let out into the garden.

Waste segregation
Solid waste is segregated — the wet waste goes into a compost pit in the garden and the dry waste is given to a rag picker.The dry waste is not given to the BBMP because Das says they mix the dry and wet waste in his locality even if they collect segregated waste.