Now,'pols' in the East are the best

Tina Parekh / TNN / Mar 22, 2006, 21:15 IST

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AMC heritage cell coordinator Debashish Naik has received 7-8 queries from people who want to buy a second home in pols.

AHMEDABAD: When the Panikars decided to buy out their ancestral 'haveli' in 1995 at Jethabhai-ni-pol in Khadia, their friends and family thought they had lost it.
Ten years hence, winds of change have blown over the walled city and the oldworld charm of pol architecture that captivated Panikars, is drawing others too.
It is not just those who had left their 'pol' houses for modern homes in the west who are turning to old city, but also those who are in search of exotic abodes.
"We bought the haveli from my folks not wanting to live in a cramped home in western areas. The haveli with its beautiful architecture gives all the space, quiet and lighting we need as artists," Kinnari Panikar says.

It is not difficult to understand why they love the haveli: the 500-year-old, tenroom mansion is sprawled over a 500 sq yard which has three double-storey structures each with a courtyard.
AMC heritage cell coordinator Debashish Naik has received 7-8 queries from people who want to buy a second home in pols. Jeweller Pankaj Verma also bought a 150-year-old house in Doshivada-ni-pol some years back...
...
"We invested Rs 6 lakh to restore this house. But it is worth it." But what drew them to pols. "The walls of the house are so thick that all noise is muffled. The haveli also suffered no damage during the quake.

And unlike western areas, the old city never gets waterlogged," Panikar adds. Forty-eight-year-old Himanshu Mehta also returned to his 150-year-old childhood home in Desai-ni-pol in Khadia.
"After the earthquake,we moved to a tenement in Gurukul area. But it had just four rooms. Also, there was practically no neighbourly affinity."
Ditto for Atulbhai Modi who moved back to his house in Mandvi-ni-pol in Manek Chowk from his stuffy CG Road flat. And as more people return to old city, prices are spiralling too.
"From the Rs 7,500-sq-yard in 2002, the prices have shot to Rs 15,000-20,000 in Manek Chowk,"Modi explains.

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