Home is Where the Oven Is

Friday we told Anita, our Relocation Coordinator, that we had no desire to see anymore high-rise apartments, we only wanted to see villas in the "layouts", basically residential communities, that are outside of town in an area called Whitefield.  While the apartments we had seen were actually nice inside, the emptiness of the grounds, the sense of loneliness, the proximity to the city and the reality of India just outside the guarded gates was just too much for us.  The conflict always exists, even in the Bay Area, where to live.  Close to the  City and all the great restaurants and shops, or out in the suburbs where you can go for a walk in peace and play in the park.   Having kids sort of answered that question for us, and so it is in India for us as well.

The layouts that were on our list had the names of cemeteries or golf courses, Palm Meadows, Water Woods, Skylark Greens, and one that sounds wonderfully sci-fi, Prestige Ozone.  All of these layouts are a turn off the main road through Whitefield.  When I had first pictured this area, I thought it might look something like Pleasanton or Livermore, a newly developed town way out of the City, with lots of open space and new construction.  But this is India, and the drive from our hotel in the city to Whitefield was just as shocking as the drive through the city.  Because it doesn't end, the people, the storefronts, the dogs and cars and cows and garbage, but mostly the people, it just doesn't end.  For about 10 miles, it is solid people people people, doing what they do here, milling, working, standing, sitting, eating, cooking, visiting friends, shopping, you name it.  Off this busy street, lives the people in these residential layouts, gated communities yards away from the the poorest poor.  I supposedly will get used to this.

Palm Meadows is the most developed and lived in community of those we saw.  Almost all of the villas are occupied and there are a lot of ex-pats who have been living there for a couple for years.  The landscaping feels finished and the clubhouse is apparently very nice, and also contains a store (invaluable I hear) and a Baskin & Robbins (yes, surreal).  But Palm Meadows is also the most expensive place we saw, as it is in high demand exactly for the fact that it is competed and feels like an actual community.  We are not even sure if we would have the budget to live there, but it would be our first choice.

Prestige Ozone is down the road a bit and is brand new development, we were told that the occupancy is 50%, but we saw no more than 5 people outside their homes that looked like they lived there, the other 50 people we saw were construction workers, housekeepers, etc.  The villas are nice and new, and the grounds are open with a lot of walking area, but the whole place feels empty and lonely.  The landscaping consists of grass and some palm trees, so very little shade.  We visited Chris's friend Bob and his wife Heather there last night.  Bob and Heather were fortunate that they landlord furnished their place very nicely since he was planning on living there, we would likely not get such nice furnishings and we likely wouldn't be there long enough to bring our own furniture.  They even have an oven, the only one that I have seen anywhere.  Guess people here don't do a lot of baking.  Anita did tell us that all these things can be negotiated with the landlord once we make an offer on a place, so maybe we'll get lucky. Before dinner, we went for a walk to see the grounds and met a couple from Minnesota that are living there for 3 years, they have 3 kids and seemed content, so at least we were able to see how families feel about Ozone.   After dinner, around 8:30, Bob and Heather got a shipment of patio furniture they had bought.  The door was open for 5 minutes and in that time, the interior of the house was completely swarmed by mosquitoes.  I have never in my life seen so many mosquitoes, young, fresh, hungry, I was totally freaked.  So we left, I just couldn't stay there.  Another Western moment.

Water Woods is very close to Palm Meadows and has town houses instead of villas, but the town houses are HUGE.  3000 square feet, 3 bedrooms on the top floor, another room on the main level with a massive living room and kitchen, 4 bathrooms and servants quarters, marble floors (every place we have seen has marble floors) and a rooftop patio.  Really a great space, but no community to speak of, and basically no where to walk or go except out into India.  I have resigned myself to the fact that if we live in any of these places, we will spend a lot more time indoors.

Skylark Greens looked the most developed, but it is oddly under-occupied.  We looked at two villas that have never been lived in, but clearly this place has existed for quite a while.  The landscaping was the nicest we had seen, green and lush, shade trees and a large variety of plants, it is amazing what a difference this makes.  But the villas weren't that exciting and the place just felt empty, a feeling I am finding common and depressing.

So those are our options, and we are going to come home (tomorrow!) and make our decision when we are a bit removed from things.  I just can't wait to see Ivy.