House Hunting in Juhu

It’s almost as elusive as the Holy Grail – but we search nevertheless. Scanning numerous newspaper ads and waiting by the phone – all for those few square yards of reclaimed land to call our very own. We begin our quest on Juhu Tara road, where tiny designer boutiques occupy the ground floor of old apartment buildings . Clothes stores must flourish here – a new one opens every few weeks. I see these ‘openings’ on my way back from town to our rented apartment of many years. Traveling down the unevenly tarred roads, they appear as tiny traffic jams where cameras and crowds cluster outside , and the beautiful people sip their wine and cheese inside. They’re flats for sale here on this palm tree lined, pocket- handkerchief- glimpse- of -sea promenade. ‘Sea touch’ as the broker lingo describes them, these buildings are often over 20 years old. Many have spectacular views – glass windows that look onto a shimmering blue grey sea. But there’s damp on the walls and the plaster is crumbling . The sea air will ruin all your TV’s and CD players a musically inclined friend warns us. Need massive maintenance and structural repairs, another friend counsels.

So we move onto the cozy streets of the Juhu Scheme. There’s lots of new construction here, ‘TDR buildings’ as the local broker calls them. ‘Transfer of Development rights’ buildings are easy to spot. Newly erected giant columns prop up old apartment buildings. Fresh floors are then added on with generous abandon. Inside the flats look swankingly modern – granite floors and brass tapped bathrooms. Outside the parking spaces are defined in tightly squeezed slots. Not much green, but they’re gulmohar trees on the street and some parks in the neighborhood. “Madam, flat le lo , badiya location hai , Film star ka neighborhood hai”, our earnest faced part time broker ( he’s a fitness instructor in the other time) urges me. But the views from the windows depress me. They’re multi storied buildings coming up in at least two lots close by . Many more will come up soon, as property prices zoom and proliferating families trade their ancestral houses for neat little blocks of flats. Soon all the charming bungalows that line these streets will disappear.

So we carry on northwards to the Juhu Versova Link Road, where apartment buildings line the road with large spaces in between. These are the mangrove areas and the residents have fought bitter battles to keep them so. We maneuver our car through a tight band of metal spikes. Spikes that have been erected by residents to keep away trucks that made stealthy trips in the middle of the night to dump soil on reclaimed mangrove land. Many spacious buildings line the mangrove sea front – but this again is not to be. The land is Collectors Land , we’re told and comes with a whole barrage of pre conditions, most of which we, as ten year residents in the city do not fulfill. So it’s back to the streets again !

This appeared in the Mumbai Mirror November 25th 2005