Besant Nagar real estate price

Partha came home from work and found his mother opening the door with a beaming face. Janaki locked the door after letting her son inside and the next instant Partha asked “Amma, why are you appearing happier than usual?”. Janaki told him to first refresh himself and come down for dinner. The obedient son that he was, Partha was at the dinner table in 15 minutes, after a quick bath and quicker evening prayers. At the dining table, he again asked his mother as to why she was happy. 

“Why are you in such a hurry. I will tell you.”, said Janaki while partaking her standard meal of curd rice. In the inimitable style of hers, she slowly started the story with a query to Partha - “Dei, what is the real estate rate in Besant Nagar?”. Partha asked her back if she was checking on purchase or rental. His mother confirmed that she was looking at the purchase cost at Besant Nagar. 

Trying to recollect what his RAM memory had stored for this query, Partha replied “Must be some 4 Crores amma.”. Janaki asked him “Enda, our next house deal was somewhere around 8 or 9 Crores right, so shouldn't the per ground cost be around 5 Crores?”. Not being too keen on these numbers, because he knew that it was pure theory and not something that concerned him, Partha acknowledged his mother’s version. Janaki then asked Partha what would be the cost per square foot. 

Having lost his capability to do simple arithmetic thanks to the advent of Mobile phones, Partha took out his phone and calculated that the rate, at 5 Crores per ground would come to Rs.208.00 per square foot. Janaki’s smile continued to increase and Partha was getting too anxious. "Amma, please tell me what’s going on.”

Janaki slowly said “Illa, I got some space in Besant Nagar at Rs.20 per square foot. And that too, I was paid that rate!”. Partha almost choked on the piece of dosai that was in his mouth and in a shocking tone asked how she managed it. Janaki cooly responded that it was their space and she had got it back this afternoon. Partha was even more shocked to know that his family possessed space in Besant Nagar and that his mother actually reclaimed it. 

“I never knew we had it ma. Where is it and how did you manage it?”. His mother patiently replied that he knew about the space and it was just a case of his absent-mindedness that he forgot about it. Partha knew that the minute his memory capability was brought up, the discussion would veer towards some admonishing and to retain the focus on current topic, he said “Leave that ma. Tell me where is it and how did you get it.”

Janaki said that she got it back from the electrician that afternoon. Partha again asked how and she then asked him to take a look into the room that he didn't visit that often - the study room. Partha went there and returned saying “Something is different there ma, not sure what it is”. He watched his mother get up and drag him to the room. 

“Do you remember what was here?” she asked, pointing to one part of the room which was now empty. Partha then remembered and said “Oh yes, your bed was here”. Janaki got a little embarrassed and said “I used it at least as a bed unlike you”. It was now Partha’s turn to take a step back and he asked “So where is the treadmill now?”. 

It was now back to a beaming Janaki who said that she had sold it to the electrician. Partha was actually happy that finally it was indeed sold and from previous enquiries, he knew that nobody wanted to take it. He was even ready to bear half the vehicle rental cost if someone could just take it out of the house. He asked his mother how much she got for it and she said “Well the 25 thousand rupees treadmill was sold for 350 rupees”.

He then asked his mother “Ok good. But tell me what was this land deal at low price that you talked about?”. Janaki smiled and said “Dei, that treadmill was occupying around 20 square feet of this room and I sold it for Rs.350. It was actually Rs.400 and the electrician took a commission of rupees 50. So, when I gave off this treadmill for Rs.400, I got back around 20 square feet of my own space. Given that the land value in Besant Nagar is more than Rs.200 per square foot, isn't this a great deal for us?” 

Partha was amazed at this calculation and simply bowed his head in front of his mother.