Anatomy of a home

We lose count of the number of rooms as we tour through Sheesh Mahal, late Seth Hukumchand Jain’s palatial haveli in Indore’s Itwaria bazaar. Although dusty, deserted and crumbling in places, the cloth merchant’s home conjures up a life of bustling communal living in an era when large joint families were the norm. As the elderly caretaker leads us through an antechamber into the central courtyard, which is dominated by a well, and up the narrow spiralling staircases into rooms connected by long verandahs, you can imagine how life was barely four decades ago. Although you can clearly make out which room belonged to the lord of the manor, and where the ladies spent their time, and many have interesting pieces of furniture, none of them really reflect the personality of the person who stayed in them. At the topmost floor, to our surprise, we find an akhara complete with sand pit — the wrestling arena where the family’s musclemen indulged in the sport. Now the Jain family has moved to modern quarters, we learn, and the haveli is up for sale, occasionally opened for voyeuristic tourists like us.

Nearby quite a few havelis in the old quarters of Indore still have joint families living in spaces that could not be a greater contrast to the boxy suburban apartments that make up a larger part of India today.

The way people used to live and how living spaces are constantly changing are a fascinating reflection of society. In India of barely 40-50 years ago people’s living — especially in their ancestral villages and towns — were designed according to the community they belonged to. For instance, travel south and you find that the agraharam dwellings of Tamil Brahmins are so different in layout from the quarters of the merchants or the humble shanties of workers. Yet each quarter was stereotypical of the community, with much of the sameness. Even through the ’80s and ’90s, when India started moving towards urban dwellings and modern homes, there was a certain uniformity to the way we lived depending on class.

Today’s homes — especially middle-class homes — defy boxing into any pattern, even though furniture makers such as Ikea, appliance makers such as Godrej and Miele, and architects and builders are feverishly researching living habits and spaces in an attempt to pinpoint trends. On the surface, the thousands of apartments in suburban India’s gated colonies may look similar, but inside, they are now becoming a strong reflection of their owners who transform the uniform 800 sq ft and 1600 sq feet spaces that a builder hands over to them into completely unique individualised entities.

But piecing together Ikea’s report Life at Home, Future Factory’s study of Indian kitchens, and talking to architects and builders and trawling through the pictures of 50,000 homes featured on the website of home makeover start-up Renomania, there are some trends shining through. Here are a few:

Tailored to tastes

Homes have become canvases for people to express themselves. Says Nitin Bansal, founder and CEO of Prithu Homes, “The biggest trend we see today is the way homes are getting personalised. “Although few can afford to build the house of their dreams, and most end up compromising by buying existing units, yet, even if it is a temporary shelter — a poky dig or a company flat — they put in a lot of thought, effort and money into remodelling spaces. This trend spells opportunity for home renovation start-ups like Renomania and LivSpace, and it has also spawned TV reality shows where a viewers’ home gets a makeover.” Says Navneet Malhotra, co-founder, Renomania, “We find that people are spending a lot of time trying to pinpoint what their unique needs are, and what the look of their home should be.”

Safe, spacious and simple

When Ikea set out to research what home owners were looking for in their living spaces, it found that 38 per cent wanted safe homes, 34 per cent listed space as their first priority and 29 per cent wanted a home that would be easy to maintain.

Although the study finds that clean, clutter-free homes are preferred, the dichotomy is that 23 per cent of the people surveyed bought something new for their home every week. With living spaces shrinking, it’s difficult to have a spacious look unless the home is clutter free, and this has led to a host of innovative storage solutions.

Multi-functional and flexible

Bansal of Prithu homes says the television is moving out of bedrooms and living rooms, and instead people are asking for a multi-purpose lounge space that doubles as family room, guest room et al. The Ikea report too talks about how urbanisation has created new living conditions that is forcing people to create rooms within homes that can be multi-functional and flexible. Trends like working from home are prompting many to create tiny, quiet zones where they can do tasks without distraction.

The shrine within the shrine

Home is our abode, but more and more Indians suddenly seem to want a shrine within this sanctuary, a demarcated puja room or if there isn’t space for a full room, at least a dedicated alcove. Intriguingly enough, it’s a trend that cuts across generations — even the young today want a space to do a puja ritual.

The walls speak bold languages

Gone are the days when white was the default choice of most homes. Walls are speaking a whole new language today. From wooden tiles to bold splashes of paint to wallpapers, people are becoming experimental. Bansal says two factors are driving this trend. One is that people don’t want the headache associated with painting every few years and also many want to keep changing the look. Wallpapers offer this flexibility.

Kitchen chronicle

The kitchen is emerging as the pride of many homes with a lot of thought going into its look and feel, and huge investments being made in the fanciest of gadgets. A few years ago, Future Factory, a Mumbai-based design studio, researched kitchen habits of Indians and found that on a typical day, the Indian kitchen served around four meals and packed three lunchboxes, all cooked fresh — and that 70 per cent of the cooking of the day was squeezed into three hours — between 6am and 9am. To cope with the morning rush, Indians were investing in a host of cooking devices — from gas stoves to induction hobs to ovens — all pressed into service together. So are appliances becoming the new maids? Not yet. The kitchen despite being fancy still is the domain of the help.

Light-en-ing up

One of the first things that people are changing today in homes is the lighting. Is a home too bright? Is it too dark and dingy? Let’s fix it with some lighting solutions. There is no hesitation in breaking windows and going for larger glass panes, creating skylights to get more natural light in. Getting curtains and blinds to cut light, investing in different lighting for different rooms. There’s growing awareness — you need cool lighting for tasks, warm lighting for relaxation and so on, and so kitchens are getting stronger lighting, and living rooms playful mood lighting.

Life comes full circle?

Meanwhile, even as we are carving out individualised spaces with clear identities, in the West, the seed of a new trend has been sown — that of adult dorms. A host of high-end co-living spaces are coming up with innovative zones for working, eating and recreation with attendants on call. WeLive and Roam are two examples of spaces where digital nomads and jet-setters can check in for some social, community living. Are we going back full circle?

COMMENT NOW