Tuesday, 17 January 2012

Magarpatta- Quite the house but not quite the home


As I walked into Magarpatta City, I had this pre-conceived notion that people inside would, almost certainly, not be happy with the place. I was for some odd reason not happy with the idea of Magarpatta as an all providing township.
Back in Bombay, where I live, I too had bought flats in a similar project where the society tries to provide for everything. At first I was very eager for its completion so that I could go and live there but then as I saw the project complete, the thought of being spoon feed everything, drove me away from it. Probably the reason why I never agreed to shift there.
So, with this mental picture (block) I visited Magarpatta City, to see how things work out there. It must be mentioned here that I was keen on finding flaws, so I could assert my assumptions and feed my ego.
Once I entered Magarpatta, the image in my head lost all relevance. I had previously visited Magarpatta once, but had only seen a speck of this large project and back then my purpose was visit was entertainment and not town criticism.
As we walked through the place, I began writing down my notes. I took notes of the clean and wide roads, the abundant sign boards and maps, of plants, trees, shrubs, grass and almost everything green, buildings with clothes hanging on the balconies, big glass buildings shinning hard in the sun and cars-lots of them.
There were different areas designated for different purposes. The residential was separate from the commercial or the recreational but yet everything was close enough to access. There was a special market zone which provided for more than people would want I think. It had four to five dentist clinics and real estate offices, a line of general and medical stores, salons, travel agents, fruit sellers, restaurants and even a music academy. Stuff like is sometimes hard to find even in the proper city. Above all it was most interesting to find out that, all these places somehow did good business within their 9am – 11pm working hours. It’s a good hint to how large the population of Magarpatta is (rougly 40,000).  One could argue here that there is no real need for multiple stores selling the same things as it just leads to surplus and waste, but I guess it’s all a part of recreating the real ‘city charm’, and as long as it’s working fine for everyone, it should be left alone. Also of course the more rational counters could be that it does away with the society’s responsibility of ensuring goods are provided to everyone so that no one complaints and also helps generate lot revenue through renting out of space.
This wasn’t the kind of spoon feeding I hated. Here one had to make the effort of bargaining and searching for the right product.
Another important aspect of Magarpatta was the cyber-city. A lot of the people I met, lived in Magarpatta because they worked here, employed mostly by the IT companies. One of the residents I met shared a joke, popular in Magarpatta that went like, “if you pick up a stone and throw it in Magarpatta, chances are, you’ll hit an engineer more often that you would hit a dog”.  This may not, so well, reflect the sense of humor of the inhabitants of Magarpatta but it does show the extent to which the young educated working class is a part of the Magarpatta society. An important statistic if we are looking at a model for the future urban world.
Most of the people, employed in this cybercity, who lived in Magarpatta, said that even-though the rent they paid at Magarpatta was almost double that of rent elsewhere in Pune city, they preferred doing so, as what they lost in terms of money they gained in terms of time. Also even as far as money was concerned they saved a lot on travelling, as almost all of them either walked or cycled to work (a good step ahead for solving the global fuel crisis today).
In and around all this structured planning, work and technology was the emphasis on Environment. Magarpatta actively advertised itself as the, ‘Oxygen Zone’. Perhaps it is because of the agricultural background of its owners that Magarpatta has been designed to be so environment friendly. There is not a space outside the buildings within 10 meters of which there won’t be a plant or a tree or at least grass. At every little distance there is a park, and all throughout the distance there are plants and trees along the roads and sidewalks. There is one central park and several smaller parks. A lot has been done to solve water crisis in an eco-friendly way through sewage water treatment and rain water harvesting. There is a setup for vermi-composting and bio gas generation and also one for waste segregation at the household level. At every stage pollution has been tried an avoided, be it construction or maintenance, the Magarpata management claims to always take the most eco-friendly measures possible.
But with all the benefits of Magarpatta also came a few flaws. For me, it can never be a pleasant experience when the place you live has a say in what you do in your house. When and how you paint, what internet you have, who comes to and leaves from your house and other small things that I feel only I should have the right to decide without any discussion or consultation. Magarpatta has this tendency to mingle with your ‘in-house life’ and this encroachment of the public into my private sphere creates a problem for me.  Also the new phenomenon of carrying id cards as proof your ownership of your house, is purely symbolic according to me as it almost certainly does not stop a person capable of committing a crime from doing one but it does put you under the surveillance of a higher authority whose rules you must obey. Earlier home used to be this one place, and perhaps the only, where you could be certain that no one is watching over you but now there is an outside law that governs your actions in this space as well.  
The Magarpatta experience for me was quite insightful as after this I am beginning to believe in the concept of such integrated town planning. According to me such a township can never assume the scale of real city as it leaves out a large section of the society who cannot afford to live in a setting like this. But for those sections that can afford this place, especially the working middle class, Magarpatta city and other such cities will be a good place to live in.


1 comment:

  1. Thank you very much for your valuable information. can you help me in finding out more detail on top schools in magarpatta

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