Man From Matunga

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December 03, 2006

Realty bites

This has been published today in the Mumbai Mirror.

I am still trying to recover from a shock I received last Sunday, which I still can’t stop talking about and really need to put in words as well. We had a meeting with a realty agent, when we overhead him talking with someone on the phone about his inability to arrange a flat for that person, at the earlier agreed upon rate of 20,000. After he finished his conversation, I asked him, whether he also handled flats in South Bombay. He looked at me quizzically and then explained, “Last month, a premium property in Five Gardens was quoted at Rs. 20,000 per sq foot and the owner has now upped it to Rs. 30,000 and my client is angry at me for this. What can I do?” he shrugged.

Thirty-frigging-thousand? 30 thousand…per sq. ft. …in Matunga? You have to be effing joking! But apparently this is not a joke! It seems that for some premium properties, these prices have become real. Its as if living in Matunga has achieved the same kind of status symbol for some people, as living on Peddar Road.

The exuberance of the stock-market and the subsequent real-estate boom would be able to explain some of the increased valuation. But in an area, where average prices have hovered around 10-12,000, to suddenly talk of 30,000 per sq ft, seems to be too big a jump to make sense.

Unless, Thomas Schelling is more right than even he would know. Last year around the same time, I had written about him and his game theory, which predicts that similar people tend to live together, thus explaining the formation of ghettoes and pockets based on religion, race or caste. Within a year, this has become even more pronounced in Matunga, which is now all about Gujjus and Kutchhis. Though I don’t have official numbers, it wouldn’t be a stretch if I were to put the Gujju/Kutchhi population in Matunga and the Greater Matunga area (parts of Sion, Wadala & Dadar) at around 90%.

So think about this! If you are an upper middle-class Gujju/Kutchhi living in the suburbs, and wanted to live in a place with PLUs (people like us), where would you want to shift to? Obviously…Matunga!. If you have lived your whole life in Matunga and now need a new house, because you and your brother have grown up and each of you wants his own space, where would you continue to live? Most likely, Matunga! Kind of like my sister and other people I know, who were born here, grew up here, studied here, married here and now even go to work here. In Matunga…the classic big village.

Where else would you have at least six good schools that would make any top 25 list in Mumbai, which makes it relatively easy to get admissions, unless of course you want to go to outside-Matunga schools or live in South Mumbai with its limited schools? Add 4-5 good science and commerce colleges, one medical college and two top-rated engineering colleges, all within a radius of about 2km and you get a combination that no part of Mumbai can beat.

With Sahakari Bhandar, Matunga Market and Chheda taking care of the shopping issues and Five Gardens, Maheshwari Udyan and a couple of other places giving us the open spaces that we need, the only things missing are, a large mall with good brands, a couple of fine-dining restaurants (though ITC Parel is almost our own backyard hotel) and a good multiplex with parking, which hopefully Aurora will become in the not-too-distant future.

The big brands have still not taken over the frontages on King’s Circle, but that is just a matter of time. And honestly, the reason Café Coffee Day rocks today and Barista is in suspended animation, can easily be traced to the fact the CCD has an outlet in Matunga and Barista doesn’t. And more about this..next week!

Posted by bhavinj at December 3, 2006 10:52 AM

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