With businesses and professions getting affected in cities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are heading back to their villages and towns for strengthening their roots. As a result, the ramshackle ancestral buildings are getting renovated and the orchards abutting villages are getting farmhouses.
Indications are clear that the post COVID-19 lifestyle will predominantly witness the ‘work from home’ (WFH) model to continue for some more time. The educated and self-employed lot from Chittoor district, who largely benefited in the form of higher employment and business opportunities due to the proximity to Chennai and Bengaluru, had to return home with the advent of WFH norms. After staying more than a year in their home towns, many are repairing and renovating their dwellings.
Many aver that villages are a safe bet to stay during the pandemic times, as they provide a secluded atmosphere with less scope for crowding. “We have artificial clay toys in cities, but our toddlers can play with real clay back in our villages. Staying close to the nature boosts immunity,” observes Rahul Sankrutyan, a Hyderabad-based multimedia professional who is improving his farmhouse near Damalcheruvu town.
C. Bhaskar Naidu, a building contractor who settled in Bengaluru three decades back, is aesthetically developing his farmhouse in Pedda Thayyuru village on Chittoor-Puttur highway. The farmhouse has all the urban facilities, albeit set in a rural backdrop. He has specially imported crotons and money plant with brown, dark green and black coloured leaves from China, Singapore and Thailand, which are set to adorn his farmhouse.
Durga Prasad, a U.S.A.-based technology consulting leader, who got stranded in Tirupati due to the lockdown, is putting the time to best use for renovating their ancestral house on the city outskirts. “My aged parents cannot take up the massive project on their own and I am taking advantage of the time available here,” says Mr. Prasad, who is giving the house a modern touch in duplex model.
More architects are heading to the countryside, with an increase in demand for aesthetically-designed swimming pools, fountains, chandeliers and so on, hitherto found only in cities.
