I loved Dilkhush and it broke my heart to sell it
Fifteen years ago I decided to build twin apartments in KR Gardens and rent them out to be able to earn enough to pay for my chronic diabetes meds. My husband’s family had decided we had to pay for our medicals ourselves. Don’t know from where they expected that to be done, but realising that I had to help myself, ( I refuse to beg for money) I decided to build two flats on a 35x40 plot, I had bought with my pre-school savings. So, along with a friend I erected ‘Dilkhush’ a building I named after Rumer Godin's famous book -- “Kingfishers Catch Fire” in which she lived in a house at the base of the Himalayas, growing up as a child.
I rented the flats out to bachelors who were working in huge companies, but that was mistake number one. NEVER rent to bachelors -- Indian bachelors. They have been brought up badly, so have no idea of cleanliness. In a few years my beautiful flats were literally trashed. I had to spend FIVE lakhs cleaning and refurbishing them and there was no question after that. I sold the building and reinvested in another flat close to our home, so I could keep an eye on it.
The pretty interiors of Dilkhush
I cannot generalise about ALL bachelors. My sister had a Danish bachelor from Tilst, near where I studied in Aarhus, Denmark. My husband took friends who visited,to see how he kept his apartment. Ofcourse that he was a minimalist also helped, but it was a model flat with everything spic and span at any time of the day or night. Every now and then he would ring the doorbell and present me with half a loaf of ‘rye’, a Danish bread which I enjoyed.
We reinvested the money from Dikhush, in a flat a friend was selling close to where we now live. This flat was as well, sold to us in a mess. The person literally took what she wanted and left the mess behind for us to clear. We had to clear two tractor loads of her rubbish. Then began the refurbishing of the flat which took THREE months. From the garden to the toilets and the kitchen we gutted and redid the whole apartment and then rented it to a mother and daughter team.
The garden we grew in Golden Arch
We thought ‘chalo’ -- women -- they will look after the flat. The girl was a film star and the furniture was straight out of Dubai. That's where the line was drawn. The kitchen was in a terrible state -- we had invested in a four lakh modular Insta kitchen and there was thick oil everywhere. They stole all the tube lights and the bulbs, even down to the door bell as they were leaving and had not paid the maintenance and rent for the last month. Luckily we had the deposit and we deducted from it, for the cleaning of the kitchen and chimney/stove and whatever was unpaid, before we returned their deposit.
In the building that we live in we have a much better class of people -- or so we choose to believe. Our brand new GF flat we rented to a senior army officer and when he left, I just cried with shock. It was my first brush with the ‘classier’ crowd and I realised it was better to get my flat back than have a run in with a nasty man. Yes we spent close to 25 k repainting and cleaning the kitchen and the rust stains from their washing machine, in the bathroom and the insides of all the cupboards. But learn to pick your battles, said my sister and I sure did.
My sister gave me this Bleeding heart which is happy in Golden Arch
My sister had given her flat to be used by my beautiful mother, who was totally a vegetable. The three bedroom flat was completely run down by servants who literally used the place as their rest stop, while they worked elsewhere. It took almost a month to clean and repaint, remesh her room and fix other sliding doors and clean up the mess left behind by the servants. My sister does not live here, so the onus of cleaning and clearing fell squarely on my husband and me. We also had to find the money to do it.NO! I am NOT joking! We do it to keep the building running. The curse of the responsible eldest, but I think of Dad and Grandpa and do it. After all we did grow up here.
Beautifully redone bathrooms
My other two flats are with ‘‘decent’ folk. I don't know what the condition will be when they leave, but for now they are cultured and well mannered and the white goods are serviced once a year at their cost, as per the lease. Yes, we do sort out plumbing and electrical issues, but then we find when we are hands-on, we get the job done and they are happy. We get lots of gifts from them and vice versa which is a nice, happy feeling. But being a landlord means you have to be prepared to run around everyday -- well almost!
