Engineer Narendra Pitale who had spent decades in the megacity of Mumbai migrated to the countryside, after retirement, to enjoy life in the company of serene nature. He constructed his retirement house at the beautiful village of Shilimb in Maharashtra. Narendra experienced the goodness of the village life, for the first time, when he got the chance to turn the 20 acres land owned by one of his friends in Lonavala into an incredible agro-tourism spot.
This inspired Narendra to pursue the simple yet calming nature of village life. He built a cottage all by himself while the farm was being readied. The construction of his house was completed in just three months. The quaint house of just 500 sqft has a hall, one bedroom, bathroom and a kitchen.
Narendra gave up all the luxuries, just to enjoy the mesmerizing ambiance of the village. The house is built using mud and other recycled materials. Scrap materials that he had purchased from the scrap dealers too have been used. The doors, windows and roofing tiles are reused here. Interestingly, only one sack of cement was used for the construction of this house. A solar panel of 100 watts too has been installed, making it a self-sufficient and eco-friendly structure.
This house was built on an extremely pocket-friendly budget of just Rs 2 lakh. Even though it might sound unbelievable Narendra vows that his home is a low-budget house that doesn’t require too much maintenance. Moreover, this house stands out as an example of ‘smart’ living when people are vying to build gigantic structures by spending huge amount of money.
