Living Close to Nature

The two things which Keralites spend most of their money on is education and house. Education is an investment. The house is also seen as one. But I have my doubts about it. These days people are bringing down houses after 30 years and building anew. Many of our other tastes are also changing. We prefer a 75-inch TV to a 15- or 20-inch one. This requires an appropriate wall and room. The internet has also brought about changes. A common phone in the house has given way to individual mobiles.

Such being the case, instead of investing on a house to stand long-term, I decided to build a small, less-costly one, and invest more in Nature around it. Those of you who are interested in a similar model may please share this video with like-minded people. To promote the manufacture of such houses is also one of my ideas. Now let’s turn to the house. It has been a long-standing demand raised by a few people.

This is a small house. We know how to build large houses but not small ones. The first time I constructed a house, along with my wife, it was a big one. With the number of members coming down, and my daughter shifting base after her wedding, the 2,500 sq. ft house with its two 400 sq. ft living rooms became empty and practically useless. When my concept of a house changed, I decided to build one according to my altered taste. I came here desiring pure air and pure water, both of which are available only outside. So I didn’t require an air-conditioner, and wanted more space outside than inside.

My friend and colleague Sudhir is the main designer of this house. My contribution was taking care of the utility aspect. Several others also helped with the aesthetic features of the house. Sudhir’s friend Jerry is an artist and he took care of the furniture. These unique designs are his. It was another friend who introduced me to the idea of such a house. He heard that an old house was on sale and the two of us went to have a look. It had rooms with walls of wood. The owners were prepared to sell the structure for Rs 75,000. We bought it outright but there was delay in transporting it because I got busy. By the time, I went there next, much of it had been damaged. We took away whatever remained, and that served to make this ceiling. Such intricately sculpted structures – like twined ropes – are hard to get now. To make the rest of the wooden panelling, we had to source more wood. That was not an attractive option because we believe in the zero carbon concept. But I had to clear the acacia trees here anyway to create a forest. So I took acacia wood to make the wooden walls. I did not use teak or Indian rosewood. These wooden pillars – six or eight of them – were bought by Sudhir paying Rs 2,000 for each.

The overall width of the house is 450 sq. ft and the veranda covers 550 sq. ft. So when friends come visiting, there is plenty of space available. Outside we have a garden and beyond is the Miyawaki forest. The low parapet around the forest serves as a cement seat. Nearly 50 people can be easily accommodated here. The first thing I did after marking out the area for the house was to set up a Miyawaki flower garden in a one-and-a-quarter cent space in the front. Now the plants have grown tall enough to provide a cover against dust. There is a fence all around where I intend to train flowering creepers.

Recently I went to a place called Pichandikkulam in Pondicherry, and met a foreigner who has made a beautiful forest in 50 years. Around his house he has made small pits, nearly on foot long and one foot deep, and filled them with water to keep away ants. Snakes come to drink water and they slither away. Here I’ve made a cement trough, two feet wide and two feet deep, going all around the house. I’ve introduced some fish in it. This may raise a doubt: Won’t the water from the trough seep into the ground and collect at the base of the house? In order to prevent it, we’ve given the trough a fibre coating on the outside. This will help retain the water in the trough. The fibre coating costs Rs 100 to Rs 110 per sq. ft.

I’ve secured all the doors and windows with wire mesh panels to keep mosquitoes away. Whatever eggs they may lay in the water will be eaten by the fish. On three sides of the house are Miyawaki vegetable gardens. There was a big Kindal tree on the other side that threatened to fall on the house. I cut its crown, as I had shown in an earlier episode, at an angle of 45 degrees. Now look at it. The stump is two feet high and a lot of shoots have appeared. Even if it topples over, it can do no harm. This is an answer to those who ask whether it is safe to plant trees close to our house. Some people love trees in a very emotional manner, and will not pluck a leaf or cut a branch. Let them not plant trees near their houses. I’m a practical-minded tree lover who believes that trees should be pruned wisely.

Another feature of the house came from an idea of a friend named Ajithkumar, an ISRO officer. Usually, we fix exhaust fans to suck hot air out of the house. Here, we’ve reversed the direction in order to draw cool air from outside into the house in the evenings. It is hot outside – 35 to 40 degrees in the afternoon – and the heat that enters the house takes a long while to decrease. The three exhaust fans here bring the cool evening air into the house, and bring down the temperature quickly.

Two other features need mention. The first is to do with storage space. We have built-in cupboards or shelves to save on room space. The second is the small kitchen. It was in Delhi that I saw a tiny kitchen for the first time, 15-20 years back. Earlier, we used to have kitchens spacious enough to accommodate up to four or five helpers, separate spaces for drawing water from the adjacent well, for the grinding stones, the traditional stoves and so on. As these are not required now, a modern kitchen can be made in 50-80 sq. ft. The construction cost comes to Rs 3,000 per sq. ft. Therefore a 200 sq. ft kitchen alone will cost Rs 10 lakhs, together with its fittings. Unnecessary expenditure, surely.

Here, we’ve made two kinds of arrangements to manage waste water. Toilet water drains into the septic tank. Water from the kitchen and the bathroom collect at a point where we have a floating island or a fibre tank full of plants whose roots remain submerged. The plants are mainly Canna lilies that absorb soapy liquid. Beyond that is a shed where I have a couple of cows belonging to an indigenous variety, mainly reared for cow dung. Still further is the goat shed. I also have two Rajapalayam dogs. Plenty of snakes are found in these parts but as there are holes in the stone walls, they remain there and come out only to capture prey.

I’ve left my washing machine outside the house. No thief will attempt to take it away because of the sheer labour involved in transporting it from this elevated spot. If you build a house inside a forest, mount surveillance cameras on trees. Thieves will have a hard time spotting them. If the cameras are connected directly to servers, the visuals will get uploaded immediately. That takes care of security. My belief is that living inside a forest is far less risky than in open areas. For electricity, I’ve made arrangements for harnessing solar energy. It will be operational soon. I’m also involved in rain harvesting. This plot of land comes to 34 cents. The average quantum of rainfall Kerala gets is three lakh litres per 1,ooo sq. ft. As this is high ground, much of it will run off. But we have made arrangements here and there to collect it. This will ensure ground water recharge.

The advantage of living here is that we will grow philosophical. Seeing Nature at close quarters will gift us with many unusual phenomena. I feed the crows. And in order to feed squirrels and other birds, like Rufous treepies, I followed the advice of my photographer-friend Balan Madhavan, and fixed small bamboo feeding troughs on strings. Since crows cannot balance themselves on them, the smaller creatures and birds can eat without fear or interruption. The sights I see from here are very interesting. If I get up at 4 or 5 in the morning, I can see the hibiscus flowers unfurling. The other day I saw a spider weave a web below that light there. It took two hours to spin a beautiful net but in the rain that followed, the whole work was undone in two minutes.

If you are interested in seeing such scenes, spend less money on the house, and more on plants and trees. Buy cheap land and, if it is available only on hilly areas, think of the health benefits that the exercise of climbing will give you every day. Build a small house and instead of having a living room, create a living space outside. If such things interest you, this is a model you may consider implementing.