Apartments – Community Life or War Fronts?

Apartments – Community Life or War Fronts?

Cold War, within a building

Urban Keralite society has now joined the rest of urban Indian in switching over from Independent houses to flats and apartments. Many an advantage has been quoted for advocating the cause of living in flats and apartments than independent houses, especially in urban settings.

The first advantage of a flat is that it tends to be less expensive in the overall expenses. It is also considered safer than a house, especially for aging people. With lower maintenance costs, flats have the advantage of getting fitted out and decorated better .Flats offer an excellent opportunity for socializing, allowing a greater contact with other people. Common facilities like gyms and swimming pools do not fit easily into independent houses, whereas most urban flats offer these facilities. These are advantages one thinks of when choosing to live in a flat.

The unwritten codes of community living is familiar to urban population in cities like Mumbai or Chennai, for the fledgling urban populace of Kerala, it is still relatively new. All the advantages you thought of when you chose this life style can quickly disappear. Here, every dweller has found a way of barricading himself, making an island of himself and family.

Use of common facilities have become one of the sore points here. Governing societies have found it a hard task, with everyone crying foul over the usage and necessary limitations imposed. Another issue is that of safety, right to admission of outsiders and misuse of lifts and other common areas. The Malayalee is yet to learn the little nuances of apartment living, be it in Kochi or Trivandrum.

Socializing tends to turn confrontational. Groups and sub groups form and blame games flourish. The responsibility that is naturally imposed on all, over the upkeep of the building and all it holds, is forgotten and is considered to be that of the governing body alone.

This form of living which is less than 3 decades old in Kerala, need to trickle down into the Malayalee mind. In larger metros, the dwellers often consider their apartment as a village within a city, here it is seen as a sleeping pad. Cobwebbed corridors deserted by the  cobwebbed minds show a real reflection of those within

It is about time Keralite picked up these nuances. Or, knowing the “know all “nature of the Keralite, will he ever?