(IN) Vegetarian buildings

[Guest guest]

Bombay's vegetarians taking bite out of real estate market

 

(From The Wall Street Journal)

 

JOANNA SLATER

 

 

BOMBAY, India - Amar Khamkar thought he had found the perfect apartment for

his parents in a new building on a quiet lane near his father's spice shop.

He looked at a model apartment and discussed the price with the salesman.

Things were looking good until the agent asked, " Is your family vegetarian? "

 

" I was shocked, " said Khamkar, 28, sitting behind a pile of dried red chili

peppers and jars of chutney in his father's store. " What did that matter? "

 

Quite a lot, as it turned out. The agent told Khamkar, who had been raised

on fish and chicken, to forget about buying an apartment in the building:

For religious reasons, it was reserved for people who don't eat meat.

 

A number of buildings, old and new, in the wealthiest precincts of this

teeming city of more than 12 million are going vegetarian and are enforcing

an unofficial ban on meat eaters.

 

Since cows are sacred to Hindus, most of India's billion citizens don't eat

beef, but this is far from a nation of vegetarians. Mutton, chicken and fish

are eaten in many parts of India. Here in Bombay, on the west coast, seafood

is a favorite, particularly a pungent dried fish whimsically known as Bombay

Duck.

 

In Bombay, however, there is also a small-but-influential minority of strict

vegetarians. Many are prosperous traders, diamond merchants and property

developers originally from the neighboring state of Gujarat, home of Mahatma

Gandhi and some of India's most exacting vegetarians. Many are adherents of

Jainism, an ancient faith based on the principle of ahimsa, or nonviolence.

India has about 3.4 million Jains in total. The observant don't eat meat,

eggs, or root vegetables, such as onions or carrots, that have been ripped

from the soil.

 

When ancient asceticism meets up with modern real estate markets, the result

can cause some heartburn. Cooking smells, for one thing, are an impediment

to integration.

 

As India's economy heats up and housing construction booms, the friction

shows no signs of dissipating. With its population crammed into a slender

peninsula, Bombay has real estate prices that already are the highest in

India.

 

A recent survey by real estate firm CB Richard Ellis found that the city's

prime office space is more costly than comparable properties in Washington

and Hong Kong.

 

Vegetarians often are willing to pay a premium for an environment in harmony

with their religious beliefs and no-meat lifestyle. " There's an excellent

market for vegetarian buildings, " says Sunil Bajaj, a Bombay broker who

endorses the concept. " It's as simple as having a nonsmoking area. People

want pure veg areas, also. "

 

Take India's tallest building, a brand-new 45-story skyscraper called

Shreepati Arcade in the heart of Bombay. It, too, has a distinct preference

for vegetarian tenants.

 

Nonvegetarians " do come with inquiries, but they work it out, " says Kaushal

Purohit, an executive at the company that developed the building. " Normally,

people like to stay with like-minded people. " Purohit is about to move into

a two-story apartment on the 43rd floor with stunning wraparound views of

the sea. " Cooking meat smells, and you see the flesh - people here don't

like it, " he says.

 

He claims meat eaters are welcome to buy apartments in the building but none

have come forward to do so. Real estate agents tell a different story.

 

Surendra Sharma, himself a vegetarian, says one of his clients approached

the developer about buying an apartment in the building but was told - after

the client had spent some time pursuing the purchase - that the developer

was looking only for vegetarian buyers. Angry and irritated, the would-be

buyer let the matter drop.

 

Sometimes the food fight becomes public. In 2001 when Sanjay Narang, a local

restaurant tycoon, opened an outlet in Bombay serving meat and

vegetable-stuffed Indian breads called parathas, it caused a stink. The

fast-food place, called Roti, was located on the ground floor of a building

where more than 90 percent of the tenants are vegetarian. A new Jain temple

occupied a prominent place at the rear of the property.

 

Narang says the residents of the 14-story building would spit and throw

pebbles on customers entering the restaurant. They put up banners condemning

it for its insensitivity to Jainism and held a demonstration outside

blocking the entrance.

 

At one point, the restaurant had a police van sit outside to prevent further

incidents. " Of course, a police van outside a restaurant scares even more

people away, " says Narang.

 

The number of diners dipped to about 100 a day from 250. He decided to close

at the end of last year after what he calls a " nightmarish experience. "

 

Pankaj Jhaveri, a Jain and longtime building resident, says the problem was

that religious leaders wouldn't visit the temple because of the restaurant.

A jewelry merchant by trade, Jhaveri adds that no one forced Narang to shut

down and that the new tenant - a coffee shop, which doesn't serve meat - is

popular with people in the building.

 

Local politicians have been quick to take sides on either side of the meat

divide. " This nonsense will not do! " says Pramod Navalkar, a leader of the

Shiv Sena, a regional Hindu nationalist party that says it fights for the

rights of " local " Hindu Bombayites. (Most Jains are originally from nearby

states.) " If I come to know of new vegetarian buildings, " he says, " I'll

send the occupants Bombay Duck. "