Actress and chairperson of Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation Shruthi is quite fascinated with rural life, especially on a farm with a lot of greenery around. In fact,
Shruthi has a farm in Ramanagara, where she has now got a unique and eco-friendly mud house done, the kind that once upon a time used to be a staple feature in villages and are fast disappearing owing to rampant modernisation.
Shruthi says, “The first challenge I faced when I decided to construct a mud house was in finding people with the right expertise, as most people involved in construction work with cement, bricks and concrete only. I decided to consult village elders who had some idea of how to do it. We added stones found in the Ramanagara area to the mud mixture to improve the durability of the structure. Our forefathers lived in such houses for years, which points to the stability of such structures. More importantly, these are cost effective, recyclable and is one way to achieve carbon neutrality. The reason it took a year to complete the construction was because I got busy with my political work.”