March 2020

5 Tips to Survive Covid 19 (corona) pandemic Covid19 (popularly known as Corona virus) is wreaking havoc ac

Covid19 (popularly known as Corona virus) is wreaking havoc across the globe. After originating in China in December’2019, it has affected large parts of every continent. The scale and effect has been unprecedented in modern human history. It is a global challenge and global communities led by World Health Organisation are coming together to fight this. Billions of people are in coronavirus lockdown and a few lacs under quarantine world-wide. Everyone is anxious and feeling helpless, but there are a few things each one of us can do at individual level to help our communities, which can be a housing society or a large urban development. Let’s discuss top 5 of these:

  1. Maintain hand hygiene- It is so common for us to take things for granted in general. When we belong to an upper middle class community, we expect a certain level of hygiene at every surface we interact with. We tend not be careful about every surface that we come in close to. Now with the new findings of WHO regards Corona virus, it is known that this virus stays on various surfaces for a very long time. The only antidote to this is to wash hands every time you interact with a surface that could be infected. It is recommended to wash one’s hands for more than 20 seconds and in a way to ensure no part of the hand remains uncovered by soap. Soap is the simplest yet the most effective warrior against Corona virus and provides a safety net.

  2. covid19,coronavirus
    5 Tips to Survive Covid 19
  3. Social Distancing-This is a much used term right now. However, what it really means and why it should be followed is not clear to most. One primary way the Corona virus spreads and gains entry into our body is through tiny droplets, which are suspended in the air, every time someone coughs. In India, we generally don’t view the coughing very seriously, but that attitude needs to change. Probably in days to come, wearing a face mask will be the rule rather than the exception. Along with it, the need to maintain distance between two people helps avoid such infections from spreading. This may require us to re-plan all our social places like parks, restaurants and health clubs. Even within our housing society, we will need to work out solutions to maintain a safe distance between two individuals. The regular cleaning of surfaces will be mandatory and will go a long way to ensure all of us live healthy. Expressions of closeness like hugging, hand shakes and high-fives will have to be completely avoided for a long time.

  4. Exercising-The effect of this infection will manifest differently in everyone. One’s immunity level will also decide how quickly and effectively body can get rid of such infections. Improving one’s immunity, therefore, is a long term defence to remain healthy. An easy and long term plan to improve immunity is to indulge in a 30 min exercise regime everyday. If it is done in sunlight, it is even better, as the surfaces everywhere could have been infected. Also, the aerosol particles inside a gym, could infect one as the social distances can’t be maintained properly in enclosed areas. The other advantage one gets by going out and exercising is the mechanism of Vitamin D production in the body, which is essential for good immunity. However, please remember that these are not the times to indulge in very long sessions of exercising as this could tire the body which makes it more prone to any infection.

  5. Concern for Service Providers- We all know that Corona virus is highly contagious and therefore to ensure we stay protected from it, we need to ensure everyone around us is protected. It may entail ensuring that even the service providers in our housing society or the vendors in the community are properly educated about safe practices. In some cases, a few of them might not be able to buy the most basic personal protective equipments like mask. It will be a good gesture to help them with these supplies. Also, when you do this, you are protecting yourself.

  6. Care for Elders- Every society has people young and old living together. As the researches indicate, the old and the very young children are at the most risk of contracting and showing serious effects of this infection. We, therefore, need to be very careful about them. There may be old people staying around on their own and our taking care of them will go a long way in keeping the society infection-free. At times, they may also need our help in arranging for basic essentials for life. At times, there may be families in quarantine in a society and they may need moral and supplies support. In such cases, it will be important to not outcaste such families and support them in a safe and healthy way.

  7. These times may force us to adopt ways of living we have not known earlier. Staying at home is a winning strategy. It may look simple but will certainly affect our behaviour in long term. We need to support each other in the community and not display behaviour that is detrimental to anyone. It is pertinent here to mention that in this fight, we can all win together only. We can keep this out of our community only if we are together in it. The examples of other countries, including the one who have highly advanced health-care facilities have shown, that preventive steps to delay the spread of this is the only effective strategy. Therefore, pl follow the 5 tips shared above to survive this pandemic. This situation is unique and may force a lot of unpleasant decisions on us, please be courageous in facing those and survive.

Stay at Home is the Best Strategy when Coronavirus Attacks

Times are a changing and with it are changing some closely held beliefs. Till yesterday, we all wanted some more time to stay at home and away from work, but did not get this opportunity. And today. Staying at home is the only option that we have. These are the days, when world is facing. Hobson’s choice, carry on commercial activities and face mass disruptions later or stop everything now and recover later. In normal circumstances, none of these will be a preferred choice but what we are facing is unprecedented.

social distancing coronavirus

As the medical science is recommending, staying at home is the only winning strategy when facing a highly infectious Corona virus. If you are living in a modern housing society, you should count yourself lucky. There are people whom you can see and talk to while keeping the safe distance. You have access to a lot of safe and sanitised spaces. The basic services are taken care of through specialised agencies and community is generally well aware of the steps to be taken for everyone to be safe. There are neighbours who are a support system for lonely or elderly. Children can still go out and play, though in a much more restrained manner. The sanitation in such places in not left to individual house owner’s preferences but is standardised with SOPs.

coronavirus lockdown
coronavirus lockdown

There will still be challenges not faced by us in past. The house helps will not be able to support you and the negative news around will be depressing. That’s where modern living spaces will have to evolve unique solutions. As we have seen world-wide, people have innovated ways to socially interact. There has been music, where everyone contributes or prayer sessions, where everyone participates from one’s own balcony. There will be a lot of learning opportunities in these modern social spaces, which are not possible in traditional mohalla setups. The challenge to keep oneself entertained and active during long periods of complete lockdown will be tough on most, however, a community of like minded people will make it a bit easier.

Stay at Home is the Best Strategy
Stay at Home is the Best Strategy

Various spaces provided in a housing society will provide a respite to residents, while keeping them safe. Well maintained and sanitised parks, entertainment zones and children play area will help us tide over this crisis and remain healthy. It will also offer opportunities to the residents with similar interests to come together while maintaining physical distance and create a new project. Catching up on the readings which one always wanted to do but could not due to busy schedule is a great tool. Celebrating occasions like birthdays or festivals, when everyone participates in their own unique way from their balconies is a safe and wonderful way to connect with each other. I am sure we will have some unique experiences when we come on the other side of Corona virus pandemic. During such times, however, it is normal to feel depressed and irritated at times. Engaging in activities with your family is the best route to avoid these concerns in a work from home situation.

What to Consider Before Buying a home? It’s Location, Location and Location!

Man is a social animal and therefore he needs a social infrastructure to survive. One can’t live a happy and purposeful life if he has to live in isolation. Therefore, it is important to buy one’s home in an area where like-minded community exists and social infrastructure to match that kind of lifestyle is available. In Lucknow, the areas around Gomti Nagar are the best location to live. Simply because of a fledgling upper middle class society and the resultant infrastructure projects, that are keeping pace with increasing population, everyone desires to make this area as his abode. Amongst the new developments, two residential societies by Paarth Infrabuild, Paarth Aadyant and Paarth Arka stand tall in terms of location.

It is always said that the 3 most important criteria to take care of while buying a property in lucknow is Location, Location and Location. Let’s dwell a bit on it to understand the reason for the same. We have observed in the past that some areas in a town develop into much better residential areas compared to others even if all of these started developing at the same time. So why is it so? Answer is deep yet simple. Since early days of urban developments, people preferred living closer to the areas which were important for economic activity. Therefore, we saw the emergence of city centres which had the highest amount of economic activity. People engaged with such organizations, preferred to live nearby and therefore the physical infrastructure in the form of residential areas with facilities like water and electricity developed fast. Along with this, the social infrastructure developed fast to meet the post work requirements of working population as well as the other requirements of families.

Property in Lucknow

When we talk of families and their requirements, we need to understand what a family consists of. The family will have children, elderly parents and of course the working age people. What do each of these groups need to live a fulfilling life? So children will require good schools, play grounds, sports facilities and places to socialize. Elderly will be concerned about 24*7 medical facilities, green areas to sit and relax and same interest groups to while away the time. The working people would expect basic necessities of life like water, electricity and transport that is hassle free, activity areas like sports facilities and markets and restaurants. Now, while it may be fashionable for some of the real estate developers to talk about emerging locations, the fact is that one wants to live in her house today. So if physical and social infrastructure is not yet developed, how is one to be happy and survive? Also, the pains one has to endure for the time when the infrastructure is still developing makes the entire experience quite depressing and isolating at times.

And that is the reason why our elders have always told us to consider Location as the single most important criteria while building our abode. A place that is well connected and close to areas where job opportunities exist. An area where there are quality schools and has kids around where our kids can intermingle and play without us having to worry all the times. A location where markets, cinema halls, sporting facilities exist to engage in socializing. Hospitals and other medical facilities and safety security of the area are other features that you would include in a good location.

Lucknow is a big city now and has been developing very fast for last few years. It has been the hub of political as well as commercial activities in Uttar Pradesh. It is also the preferred city for anyone in Eastern part of UP for various reasons, most of these as we discussed in the earlier part of this article. Lucknow has had an asymmetric development in different directions. So, while residential areas sprang up all over the boundaries of Lucknow, the developments in and around Gomti Nagar have been the best in last 25 years. A locality with upper middle class residents, the emergence of best schools of the city, the finest shopping areas, the malls, cinema halls and the best medical facilities. There have been couple of new developments here that are worth mentioning.

We are talking here about Ekana cricket stadium, the largest cricketing facility in north India. It is also the home stadium of Afghanistan national cricket team and has been hosting international cricket matches more regularly than any other center in India. This stadium is not only an architectural marvel but has also been a center of attraction for people. Another development very close to it is the opening up of Phoenix Palassio, the most modern mall Lucknow has experienced. These two developments have converted this 1 km area into the real magnet and has created the fastest self-fulfilling cycle of development. One can argue that these developments have happened as there are more people living here. But that is a flat argument. People have been living on Hardoi road, around Rae Bareilly road or at Faizabad road for the similar time as here. However, the pace of development and provision of facilities in these areas is absolutely different.

In fact with Ekana cricket stadium and Phoenix city market place, this area would be the magnet that will attract everyone and all the new developments. However, there are not many good residential developments in the area for one to choose. The lucky ones can still get an apartment in either Paarth Aadyant or Paarth Arka with the luxury of watching a cricket match at Ekana stadium from the window of their drawing room. This location only keeps getting with time. Now with Phoenix Palassio Mall, the convenience of an elite lifestyle gets embedded in this area. With both these residential societies developed by Paarth Infrabuild, so close to these future magnets, one can only wish to buy a house here. The amenities within these, complement the facilities outside and promise a lifestyle no otherreal estate development in Lucknow can match.