Housing is such a big money-spinner that locals started renting out their spare rooms to yoga students. Some even kicking out their kids from their rooms to create a room! Why not? They could make at least 4000-5000 rupees (a few hundred Singapore dollars) a month.
In recent years, they even started renovating their homes to create rooms for rental. A classic example is my landlord. First he built an extra room, bathroom and kitchen on his roof. Then, a few years later, he built a stand-alone, two-bedroom house in his backyard.
The quality of housing has also improved over the years. In the early days, you’d literally get a room, with nothing in it. Students would have to buy their own mattress, bedding, gas stove, pots, cutlery, crockery etc. At the end of their stay, they’d pack everything away and store it till their next trip.
Landlords started getting wiser, realising that providing better facilities would enable them to charge higher rents. These days, you can get a furnished room, a decent mattress, en suite bathroom with shower (versus an outhouse toilet and bucket baths), hot water most times of the day, refrigerator and kitchen.
Rashinker, the tailor from town, has also hopped onto the housing bandwagon. He has refurbished a huge house, creating studio and 1-2 bedroom apartments, with full facilities (including telephones) and 24 hours security … all just for the yoga students and at a premium of course.
Luxury items include washing machine and internet access. I heard the other day that someone has an oven which is very rare since Indian cooking doesn’t involve much baking. I haven’t heard of anyone else having cable tv or back-up power ... so I’m very lucky and very thankful.
Proximity to the shala also dictates how much rental could be charged. Obviously the closer you are to the shala the more rent you’d have to pay. Another important thing which most new people overlook when renting a room is the noise factor. Traffic noise can be disturbing especially since yoga students sleep so early. So location near a junction is unwise.
Another point of consideration is dogs. If your landlord or neighbour has dogs as pets, you can kiss a good night’s sleep good-bye! As for your next door neighbours, it’s best if they don’t have an extended family living with them and few or no kids at all.
I actually live ‘way across town’ when it comes to proximity to the shala. However I consciously choose to be where I am. It is nice to be able to walk outside and not bump into yoga students on every corner. The houses in my neighbourhood are older which means the land plots are bigger. However, with progress, people have started re-building. I have started to see bigger houses making maximum usage of the land, or 3-storey apartment blocks where a single-storey house with a huge garden used to stand. If this keeps up, it’ll be just like Singapore, huge houses / apartments with no garden.
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