Who says joint families can't survive?

AHMEDABAD: Traditional pol houses of Ahmedabad were mostly designed for joint families and their many individuals living under one roof, not for individualistic nuclear families. These houses bred a unique ethos and architectural heritage. A testimony to this is the Patel family's home in Moti Hamam ni Pol.
At the otla, you can pause to admire the facade of this three-storey house, its ornate teak brackets, the array of upper floor windows and the elaborately carved main door, always open to welcome visitors.
"The house was built by our great-great grandfather, who came to British-occupied Ahmedabad from Sihor in Bhavnagar, to work as a contractor," says Shirish Patel. "In the 2005, modern amenities were built in for our growing families, besides restoring old woodwork. My family occupies the ground floor, while my brother's family lives on the first floor."
The terrace houses rooms now used as home stays for tourists who wish to experience the walled city.
The heart of the house is the chowk - the open-to-sky internal courtyard - which cuts through the three floors. The ground level houses the dining, kitchen, puja areas, all open up to the chowk. "The inner rooms are our retreats, but the chowk is the favourite place for all members of the family," says Bimal's teenaged daughter.
With the baithak on the first floor overlooking the chowk and the rooms on the upper floors opening into it, there is a free flow of conversations and interactions within the family as well as the guests.
The chowk is built over a 16-foot-deep underground water tank, another traditional feature of pol houses. The ornate teak brackets supporting the upper balconies, old cupboards with carvings, small wooden stands and niches in the wall done with excellent craftsmanship to keep the diyas, the stellar mosaic flooring, the175-years-old jhoola - all reminisce a bygone era. This was the first heritage project to be granted loan from HUDCO.
Awarded as one of the best heritage buildings by Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Development (GIHED), the credit goes to the family's commitment towards upkeep of the house. "Our mother often tells us stories of Sardar Patel and other freedom fighters visiting the house. The tales attach us emotionally to the house and values of our ancestors," says Shirish. "It is a heritage they have entrusted in our hands and we should preserve it."
The Aha Moment!
The tradition of mosaic flooring came in with Islamic rulers. It emulates the Persian tradition of carpets or 'farsh', which itself was an abstraction of the paradise garden. Various rooms of the Patel house boasts of stellar mosaic flooring in red and yellow sandstone, marble, granite and kudappah.