Far from the Maddening Crowd

 

Busy office schedules and no time for holidays? Been a long time that you stepped away from
daily office-home route and went out for an outing? Are you are still looking for a long week
break, which seems to be dream. Think of a distinctly relaxing experience that acts as a stress
buster. Just imagine a beautiful home of yours situated just a few kilometers away from your
place that can be your weekend gate away, short but effective and enough to rejuvenate your
energy.

What was the trait of the rich and the famous in the past is gradually becoming common among
the upper middle class. Tapan chatterjee a Govt of India employee built a home after his
retirement investing all his life long savings, while his son Indranil a software engineer and a
resident of Delhi has already booked his second home in Gurgaon- “Weekend Sanctuary” as
Indranil loves to call it. Strengthening the saying- “home is where the heart is”, more and more
urban crowd is choosing to buy a second home “far from the maddening crowd.” Following this
trend more and more real-estate companies are coming up with projects in some distant place
away from the din and bustle of the metros. Ooty, Kodaikanal, Yercaud and Munnar in the south,
Lonavala, Kamshet, Khandala and Panchgani in the west, and Mussoorie, Shimla, Manali and
Naintal in the north are the newly preferred real estate investment destinations. Slightly less
famous but catching up quickly in the high property stakes are Yelagiri, Ponmudi, Chikmagalur,
Kumbalgarh, Kasauni and Landour and Shirol, Igatpuri, Neral, Murdabad and so on.

Just few kilometers away from New Delhi, located in the heart of Gurgaon is 'The Palms- town
and country club', a destination worth exploring. The beautiful club has tall trees and manicured
lawns, which distinguishes this beautiful club from the nearby and crowded surroundings. The
lush green gardens, two blocks of rooms and suits, finest dining experience with world-class
restaurants and loads of recreational activities is all set to add enthusiasm to your life. Being
a country club, it offers extensive sporting and recreational facilities as within the premises is
a large pool, a tennis court (Mahesh Bhupati Tennis Academy), Billiards room and a fitness
centre named Ozone for gymnasium, aerobics and yoga. However, access to all these facilities
comes at a price, as one needs to be a member of this club. But the amount you pay for becoming
a member ensures you a outing every weekend because a monthly calendar full of events and
activities like theme parties, supper theatre, musical concerts & extravaganzas, pool parties,
cultural events are organized on regular basis. "We realize the importance of a family outing or
corporate get-together's and this is a reason why we offer special discounts to all our members.
The monthly calendar is organized just to brighten their evenings and we keep our member
informed over e-mails and newsletters", says an official of The Palms.

Now move to Bangalore, down south. Bangalore-based Phoenix Group Global is also coming up
with two high-end apartments and villa projects in Panjim and Madgoan areas. “Phoenix Villas'
Panjim project, 12 km from Panjim town and the Madgoan project, 11 km off the main city, will
be the group’s first villa project,” said an official of The Phoenix Group Global. Both projects
will be ready by 2010. While the high end apartments cost Rs 70 lakh to Rs 2 crore, depending on
the size, the villas will range from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore, he added.

Where in most part of the country it’s mainly the hill stations that the real estate players are
eyeing as sites for second homes it’s the remote countryside and the banks of river Ganges that
has taken the fancy of the developers in West Bengal. Leading developers in this part of the
country are up to offering you “an abode of peace” over the weekend, which you can actually

own!
It all started with “Sonar Taree”, a comprehensive housing complex of duplex bungalows at
Santiniketan (Tagore’s ‘Abode of Peace’), 300 km off Kolkata. Sonar Taree boasts of: parks to
wander in, play grounds, a Club, a market, a multi-cuisine restaurant and a residential doctor’s
chamber and a hospital.
“We’ve developed this property as a second home destination. People are so much stressed these
days that they just die to cool their heels over the weekend. We thought why can’t we give them
something, which will be their own and where they can unwind the weekend. Thus came ‘Sonar
Taree’,” said Kumar Sankar Bagchi, Managing Director, Bengal Peerless Housing Development
Company, which has built this property jointly with Sriniketan Santiniktan Development
Authority.
Prompted by the overwhelming response to ‘Sonar Taree’ the developers recreated the same
model on the next plot. “Sonar Taree-II offers an unpolluted wide living space open to pristine
sky. It is a geo-poetical habitat, a unique environmental experience. Each sunrise here will bring
the promise of a peaceful quality life. For the senior members of each family there would be a
green garden with each home a flight to Freedom and Nature,” added Bagchi.
The success of Sonar Taree has brought in other developers to eat into this new
pie. ‘Renaissance’, a 256 acre township in Burdwan, 110 km off Kolkata is being sited to be
the next luxury holiday home destination in the state. Being developed by the Kolkata-based
Shrachi Group and Burdwan Developers Pvt Ltd, Renaissance is a town square with facilities
like banks and financial institutions, community centre & a recreation club, a banquet hall,
gymnasium, tennis court, kids’ zone, swimming pool, an open air theatre, fine dining restaurant,
lounge, gymnasium, children’s play area, swimming pool, spa and wellness centre, retail and
entertainment zone, and shopping mall.
“The whole idea is to strike a balance between the contemporary lifestyle and the rich culture
and values. These bungalows amidst lush green nature will have something special in store for
everyone. If you are staying in the city, you can still buy a bungalow. The advantage is even
if you are holidaying, you are not feeling alienated,” a spokesman of Shrachi Developer said.
Designed by the Delhi based Morphogenesis Architecture Studio, the entire township will be
constructed in harmony with nature.

Nilesh Biswas, Director, Calcutta Skyline, a leading realty consultant and marketing firm, said,
that there are more advantages than one of buying a second home, be it at a hill station or at some
other exotic location. “The banks are willing to finance up to 70 per cent of the cost in clear and
approved dealings. Buyers, too, prefer gated communities in hill stations as they can be assured of
clear titles and ownership. Access to the property and its scenic location are key criteria in buying
decisions. Then there are dual benefit : instead of spending a fortune to the Hotels its wiser to
invest in a second home which can serve as a holiday home while being an life long asset.” said
Biswas.