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Pest proof your home

Pests can make your life miserable and your home inhabitable. Treat the problem before it gets completely out of hand.
by Reyna Mathur

All houses are attacked by pests at some point in time. While some infestations are minor and can be handled swiftly, others remain hidden for some time and quickly become unmanageable.

The problem normally starts with the entry of ants, which are then followed by cockroaches. In houses that are not dusted regularly and which are located in areas of dense traffic and construction activity, there will be an abundance of dust mites on the furniture and clothes. After cockroaches settle in and begin to multiply, they will be followed by lizards. In the meantime, if bed bugs have entered the home, they wreak their own havoc.

Don’t subject yourself to this torture. Once pests make an entry into the home, it takes a lot of effort and money to clean out the house in its entirety. It is not a problem that goes away forever after one bout, you have to be on your vigil. But if you take the right steps on time, you can save yourself a lot of trouble later.

This is what you should do:

Examine all wet areas. The wet areas of the home are the bathroom, toilet, wash basin and kitchen sink. Moisture is omnipresent in these areas, however much you try to keep them clean and dry. However, your cleaning routine in these areas should include a strong disinfectant cleaner. Wipe down all surfaces at least twice a week to discourage fungal growth, and spray all water traps with insect killers thrice a week at night. Cockcroaches tend to come out of these traps from water pipes, so they should be discouraged at the earliest. If there are any places that remain moist even without direct contact with water, have them checked for hidden leakages. Wet areas breed vegetation, mosquitoes, and certain types of bugs and worms, and are most prone to attack.

Enlist the help of a pest control agency. The first line of attack should always be launched by a good pest control system involving sprays, gels and powders. A basic pest control clean-up will comprise three rounds of spraying and powder-treating all vertical and some horizontal surfaces of the home with chemicals to repel ants, bugs, dust mites, cockroaches and lizards. Bed bug infestations will have to checked every 10 days for a month with intensive sprays in the affected areas. Borer infestations are normally controlled by special anti-borer sprays and gels with two spells of treatment. If you have rats in the house, you will require a multi-pronged strategy requiring sprays, foods laced with poison, adhesive surfaces to which the animal will adhere, and also rat traps. Explain the situation in detail to the pest control company, and they will suggest the course of treatment to you.

Bird-proof your windows. Birds are not pests, but when allowed to enter the home, they can cause infestations. Of the birds present in the cities, pigeons are the most prone to enter the homes looking for nesting places. Their droppings contain carbon compounds that cause respiratory disorders in humans and pets, and their feathers contain dust mites. Too often we ignore birds’ feathers that blow into our homes with the breeze, but we must get rid of them at once because they house several bacteria that can cause allergies and pests. A simple remedy is to install a wire mesh on your windows so that birds cannot get in. When you leave water outside the windows for the birds to drink, be sure to examine the area every day, since crows have a tendency to drop hard food like animal bones and tough rotis inside the water to soften them. This gives rise to a column of ants and bugs that are attracted to the carcass and which soon enter the home.

Examine your pets for ticks and mites. Dogs and cats have hidden ticks and mites inside their fur, and these soon multiply if the pet’s skin is not cleaned thoroughly. Chemists and pet shops stock several sprays and dips to clean out mites, and you can also invest in a firm comb to remove the animals hiding in the fur. You must get rid of these animals at the earliest, because over time, they can also infest your furniture and wherever the pet is accustomed to sleeping. They can also pose a danger to very young children who constantly play with the pet.

(Picture courtesy www.in.all.biz. Image is used for representational purpose only)

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Why I refused to take care of my grandkids

Mandakini Mashelkar refused to become a full time babysitter for her grandchildren. What caused this refusal? This is her story.
As told to Reyna Mathur

Everyone says that as parents, we must do everything to protect our children. In India, we go to extreme lengths to ensure that our children are happy. Even when they grow up, we run to assist them and make their life easier. I was one of those parents, too.

My husband and I ran a garment business together in Pune, and we shifted to Mumbai in 1996. Since then, we settled into our life in the city fairly quickly. Ever since we had our two children – my sons Sangram and Sanket – we had been focussed on giving them the best life ever. And we did. Our sons grew up to become engineers, and both of them got jobs in US-based companies. It was just a matter of time before they went to work abroad. Five years ago, my younger son went to the UK with his wife, and a year later, Sangram went to Germany with his fiancee.

Two years ago, my husband and I went to Germany when Sangram’s wife, Maitri, gave birth to their son. We stayed there for four months to assist them while they took care of their baby. We had just returned home after this visit that Sanket asked us to come to the UK because his wife, Sonali was pregnant. On hearing this, my husband became silent.

A few days later, I asked him, “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to go,” he said.

“But they need our help!” I protested.

“I don’t want to go,” he repeated stubbornly.

A little digging revealed that he was uncomfortable doing ‘babysitting duties’ for our sons. As he spoke, I realised that what he was saying was true. Our trip to Germany had exhausted us. At our age, it was very difficult to care for an infant. While we were there, Sangram’s mother-in-law had also dropped in and she was to stay for six months. We were to go at the end of this period. “We can’t keep doing this,” my husband reasoned. “First Sangram’s baby, then Sanket’s baby. We can’t keep shuttling between countries like this.”

The mother in me protested against the wife in me – my sons needed our help while they took care of their young children and their jobs. But then my husband said the most important thing: “Whom did we call when we had our sons? You were managing our business with young sons in your lap. We did it. Our children will, too.”

When I told Sanket that we would not be coming, he was furious. He demanded to know why we could not help him after helping his brother. I explained gently that we would visit occasionally, but only for a few days. Staying at their homes, with nothing to do apart from taking care of the baby, came with its own problems: we did not have a car at our disposal, so we had to wait for our sons to come home and take us out. There was ample free time but nothing to do.

Both my sons were upset for a while. But my husband and I remained resolute. We will visit them both next year and stay for only a couple of weeks. In the meantime, we have travelled to five places in India and both of us have joined a gym. You could say that in our retirement years, my husband and I have a greater bonding and we are rediscovering our love for each other. Keeping active and living within our means has given us a good quality of life in our senior years.

My friends and our relatives think we are being selfish in not helping our children. I think we have already done enough for them. It is now our time to enjoy our retirement years.

Mandakini Mashelkar loves to cook, read and play chess. She lives in Thane with her husband, Anant. 

Note: Comments on this article are now CLOSED.

(Picture courtesy www.sereneretirement.com. Image used for representational purpose only)

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5 ways to ‘read’ your employees

You’ll know what your employees are like if you observe, communicate and listen constantly for information and read the signs.
by Reyna Mathur

Consider this situation: you are the leader of a team of young trainees, and you are entrusted with the job of finding out the strengths of each person and fit them to the correct role. How do you achieve this? Do you take one-on-one interviews and ask them point blank what role they would like to do? Or do you opt for a more creative approach to find the answers more effectively?

HR professional Mayank Shetty advises, “The best way is to get the team together for a tea session in the canteen, where we would all get to know each other’s names and break the ice. Then I would suggest a bonding activity like going for a film.” He suggests that putting a new group in a situation where they have to share information with each other and even possibly pay for travel, food and entertainment goes a long way in telling the leader about each person. “For instance, I would notice at once if somebody is unwilling to pay for food, or is not forthcoming with information when asked which film they want to see. I would also note if somebody takes more initiative and plans for the whole group.”

You might want to note these 5 potential ‘red flags’ in your employees:

1. Reserved, uncommunicative employees. There may be at least one person on the staff who is silent most of the times and prefers to be by himself even in a group. Many people suffer from shyness which is often mistaken for aloofness. Try and get the person to speak up more, but don’t get pushy. It is normal for new joinees to be quieter than the rest of the staff, but if the employee has been with the office for over six months and still does not have an office friend, it means that the person functions best when left alone and should not be forced to participate unless ready.

2. The ‘funny’ employee. Every group has at least one ‘office clown’ who can be relied on to keep the atmosphere light. This person will have a joke ready for every situation. However, observe the person’s interpersonal communication with others – does he or she make hurtful comments about the others under the guise of a joke? Does he or she make racist, sexist or obscene comments that may embarrass others? You should clearly indicate that any hurtful or vulgar conversation will not be tolerated in the office. On the other hand, if the employee is also seemingly popular with the staff on an individual level, it means he or she is a good listener and employs humour to make friends.

3. The backlog employee. Your staff will have one person who habitually carries today’s tasks over to the next working day. Observe this person’s working habits for a while to judge why this happens. It might be as simple as plain procrastination, or it may be that the person is so burdened with tasks that he or she runs out of time to complete them. Speak to them if you find that he or she doesn’t finish the work out of laziness. If you need to reassign duties to this employee, do it at the earliest before the backlog increases. If necessary, team up this person with another team member who is finicky about finishing all tasks on deadline.

4. The give-me-everybody’s-work employee. Some members of the staff like to assist others on their projects, but very soon find themselves in a situation where they are doing all the work. This sort of employee is unable to say ‘no’ and hence, gets taken advantage of by the others. Clamp down on this situation at once, and take the employee aside to know why they are doing work outside their own ambit of duties. At this point, they should be able to communicate their problem areas clearly with you, provided you create a non-threatening discussion environment. If they still cannot speak up after gently probing, it simply means that they lack the gumption to defend themselves. You should think twice before putting this person in charge of a team or a project.

5. The ‘It’s not my problem’ employee. This kind of employee cannot be a team player, because he or she does not believe in rolling up their sleeves and getting down to completing the job. Their overall outlook is that they will do only as much as they are paid to do, and will categorically refuse to assist another team member or own up responsibility for an issue. This employee will also refuse to work beyond the stipulated working hours and make excuses to skip all-nighters. The best way to get this person to be productive is to put him or her in charge of a project and convey that the team’s progress will reflect in his KRAs.

(Picture courtesy www.wsj.com. Image is used for representational purpose only)

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I have two children but I’m still alone

Aniket Sahastrabuddhe writes about being ‘banished’ to his brother’s home after refusing to will his Mumbai house to his children.
As told to Reyna Mathur

You read about these things in the papers, you hear stories of such incidents from neighbours and friends, but you never imagine it would happen to you.

I have two children, both are daughters. Like any father, I raised them with love and did not leave them wanting. At times, my wife would scold me for spoiling them with too many gifts, sometimes too much pocket money. But they are the centre of my world. Since the time both of them were born, they have been the most important people in the world to me.

I gave them a good education in Mumbai, got them married to the partners of their choice with full pomp and ceremony. My older daughter is a Chartered Accountant with a prominent law firm in Mumbai, and the younger one is a lawyer with a thriving private practice. Our home in Andheri was a three bedroom apartment with every modern amenity. Whatever my wife and kids wanted, I always tried to provide.

My wife passed away very suddenly when she had gone to visit her sister in Bangalore. She had never had a heart ailment, but one morning, she just collapsed and died. This was 10 years ago. My daughters were already married and I had just wound up my business (his company supplied parts for mobile phones and computers; he ran three factories and an office in Mumbai) and was looking forward to a quiet retirement with her. Then she was gone and I was left alone in our house.

Everything was great, at first

My daughters rallied around and took care of me at first. I had never learnt how to cook or clean, but after my wife’s death, I started learning a few basic recipes. My kids would also come with their husbands and bring food and groceries, sometimes they would stay over for weeks. I missed my wife but I was happy to know that I had a strong support system.

Then one day, my younger son-in-law suggested that I come live with them. ‘Your house is too big for one person, how will you maintain it?’ he kept asking. What he said made sense. But this was my home. I had bought it when I had nothing, and it had given us so much in return. I refused to move at first. Then my older daughter chimed in, saying that I should stay with them. ‘If you like, you can live with Sai (the younger daughter) and me in turns. Just don’t live here alone. We worry about you,’ she said.

Finally, with a heavy heart, I agreed to this arrangement. I locked up the house and moved to my older daughter’s home in Goregaon.

Then it happened

It was a big adjustment on my part because I had just vacated a large home for my daughter’s small one. But I made my peace with that. I even started helping her around the house. I would get groceries, play with her toddler son (she also has an older daughter), clean up the house when the domestic help didn’t come. I would stay with her for six months, then spend six months with my younger daughter. It was an arrangement I began to get used to, though I had zero privacy and no space of my own.

After a year, both my daughters and their husbands held a family meeting and asked to speak with me. I was literally bombarded from all sides. ‘You should sell your house and live with us,’ they kept saying. ‘You can get a handsome amount of money when you sell. You can split that money equally in three parts (one for myself, one each for my daughters) and we can continue this arrangement,’ they insisted.

I was insulted to note that they had spoken about this without my consent, and that they had assumed that I would sell off the home and give them money. My wife and I had already decided that our house would be sold only after both of us were dead, and through a legal arrangement. My plan was to sell the house, and donate the proceeds towards building our family home in Konkan. My brother currently takes care of the Konkan property.

When I refused to sell, gently at first and then firmly, my daughters’ behaviour changed completely. They called me selfish. They said I did not care for their monetary troubles, ‘which had increased ever since I started living with them’. They even accused me of never caring for them, and only being interested in money all my life. After an entire life spent trying to give them every comfort they desired, this was what they thought of me.

Banished from home

Their behaviour convinced me that I should not leave anything to them. My wife and I created our life from nothing, and so should our children. We did not get home, money or cars from our parents. Whatever I have today, I have worked hard for it. I have already given them everything they needed. Why should my children think that they are entitled to everything I own?

When they realised that they would not be getting any of the house proceeds, both my daughters firmly told me that I could no longer live with them. I was told to go ‘live with my brother’ since I cared more about him. The last straw was when I went to my house in Andheri and found that the locks had been changed. I left from there immediately, bought a bus ticket for Pune and went to my brother’s house. I am living here for the past eight months.

The house is in contention

I do not have the will to fight my daughters. Their selfishness has completely demoralised me. My brother tells me to solve the issue of my Andheri home. But I have no option apart from going to court. However, I am scared of how they will treat me when I come face to face with them. I am meeting my lawyer in Mumbai and hopefully I will solve the problem of the house soon.

I now spend my days wondering what I did wrong in trying to decide what I should do with something that is rightfully mine.

‘Grey Space’ is a weekly column on senior citizen issues. If you have an anecdote or legal information, or anything you feel is useful to senior citizens, caregives and the society at large, feel free to get it published in this space. Write to editor@themetrognome.in or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Themetrognome.in and we will publish your account.

(Picture courtesy www.indiatimes.com. Image is used for representational purpose only. Mr Sahastrabuddhe was uncomfortable about sharing his photograph for this story)

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Who is buying flats in Mumbai?

Despite developers’ many claims of ‘sold out’ projects, Mumbai’s real estate market is still in a continuing state of stagnancy.
by Reyna Mathur

Any major newspaper in Mumbai these days normally carries a full front page advertisement for yet another ‘dream housing project’ in the city limits or on its outskirts. Big or small, most real estate developers are advertising for their upcoming projects like no tomorrow, spawning theories that the city’s real estate sector is finally out of trouble.

However, experts are divided on the issue, and on-ground realities say otherwise. Despite aggressive advertising and appearances at property fairs, developers are finding it difficult to sell already built housing units, or get customer interest in new proposed projects. Each year, property prices are continuing to rise, making it virtually impossible for first-time buyers to even consider purchasing a property without the burden of large home loans.

Add to this the fact that several pockets of Mumbai – which were earlier considered a solid investment – are now simply saturated, having hit the boundary for growth. People then started considering the northern suburbs beyond Borivali, but with an overall slowdown in the industry, even these houses are not yielding the kind of returns they normally would.

A departure from earlier investment patterns

A common-sense approach to investing in houses is to select a site that promises future growth, and hence a doubling of the initial investment. Another way is to invest in under-construction houses so that payment instalments are easier on the buyer. However, cases of developers abandoning projects mid-way in the recent past have scared off potential buyers.

Another problem plaguing the real estate sector in Mumbai is the lack of implementation of planning and building norms. These cause huge hassles at a later stage, when builders seek OCs (Occupation Certificates) and CCs (Completion Certificates) which the BMC does not furnish on finding that several norms have been flouted in the construction process.

A lean period like never before

The first signs of a crash in the city’s real estate market came with the worldwide economic recession of 2008-2009, when prices crashed dramatically. However, a year later, the sector consolidated and made good on its losses, but elsewhere, inflation and rising prices made buyers and investors think twice before taking the plunge. Interest rates on home loans also started climbing post 2010, and have continued to climb since.

All of this resulted in a curious ‘more supply, less demand’ scenario for housing in Mumbai. What was expected to be a ‘drought’ period of about three years has now extended to seven years.

Even the big developers are hit

Only major names in the real estate space in Mumbai, and indeed the country, are doing somewhat good business currently. With their strong market presence, they are able to not just generate more projects but complete the ones in hand. Yet, experts say that it is becoming a tough task even for these moneyed developers to sign up for new townships – there are no huge tracts of land now available in Mumbai, and the lands that are available are caught in a maze of reservations, permissions and modified Government policies.

The major projects currently underway in Mumbai, however, seem to cater only to the wealthiest sections of society, with each square foot of built space being sold upwards of Rs 50,000 or more (depending on the area of Mumbai).

The most badly hit are the middle-level developers, who mainly rely on small redevelopment projects or single-tower projects for business, and which are currently not forthcoming. With them are hit the middle classes, who are actually in need of housing but are forced to either move out of Mumbai or spend money every year on rental accommodation – even as their eternal quest for a house in Mumbai continues!

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8 ways to redo your home in colours

We don’t experiment with colours as much as we should. Here’s rresenting 8 ways to make colours your best friends at home.
by Reyna Mathur

It is true that the colour of the space you are in can influence your mood. Some colours are cheerful and put you in a good frame of mind, others are more solemn. Still others are fun and flirty, while some bring about a sense of peace.

But it is easy to go overboard when experimenting with colours, and too many colours can come together and clash badly. To being with, make sketches of each of the rooms and use colour swatches to find the best combinations as per your taste. It is not necessary to have a different colour per room, but if you decide to go that route, try and use shades of the same colour wherever possible.

You can use colours in everything – paints, fabrics, furnishings, drapes, carpets, furniture, cabinets and cupboards, even in the colour of the light bulbs you select.

See this short video from ‘Better Homes and Gardens‘ on selecting colours based on the Colour Wheel:

 

Here are a few ways to get started:

1. Whatever colour you opt for, you have to be sensible in your choices, especially when it comes to wall paint. You cannot undo a wall colour in a hurry, so make your choice based on how bright the sunlight is in the room. If the room is brightly lit or if you like to leave the lights on during the day time as well, you cannot paint the walls a very bright colour.

2. If the overall colour scheme of your house is monochromatic, you can add pops of colour by way of furniture pieces or lamp shades or even a bright dining table and chairs.

Differently coloured light bulbs3. Use shades of blue in your bedroom. Blue is a calming colour and induces restful feelings. However, too much blue in the colour scheme can make the room look dull. Add a dashing contrast with bright bed furnishings or a red coloured wardrobe.

4. Use white tiles in the kitchen, but break the monotony with a patterned tile here and there. You can try the same in the bathroom and toilet.

5. Even the light bulbs you use introduce colour. Use yellow light bulbs to good effect in the living spaces, but use white light in the bathroom, kitchen and over the wash basin. Use different coloured light bulbs in the living room for a fun visual effect.

6. Keep the styling and furnishing of your living spaces Spartan, but use colour liberally on the floor. For instance, use a bright square of carpet in the centre of the room, or a mosaic of coloured tiles all over the living room floor. However, the colour of the floor shouldn’t be too bright or warm-coloured, because it will become disturbing.

7. Coloured candles placed in odd corners will liven up the room. Invest in several candles of varying colours and thicknesses, and place them liberally around the living room and bedroom.

8. Tone down bright colours with rust coloured metal lamp stands or cabinets. Or place a large metal statue near the entrance of the house for a unique effect.

(Pictures courtesy afflante.com, www.ebay.co.uk. Images are used for representational purpose only)

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