GHOST MANSION FALLACY: BUILDING PALACES WE NEVER LIVE IN

It's a familiar sight across India's hinterland-from the green pockets of Kerala and the Konkan coast to the plains of Bihar and Punjab.

- AJAY PRUTHI

You drive past rows of village homes and suddenly see it: a massive, three-storey, brightly painted concrete palace, with grillwork, a towering gate and a terrace big enough for a game of cricket. Look closer, though, and the windows are dark. The gate is rusted shut. The only occupant is a bored chowkidaror perhaps an elderly uncle using just one room.

This is the Ghost Mansion. Built by a successful son working in Mumbai, Dubai or Bengaluru, it cost ₹60 lakh to construct. He flew in for the grand griha pravesh, fed the entire village, basked in the moment-and three days later locked the house and flew back. Back to a 600-sq-ft rented apartment, arguing with his landlord over water timings.You built a castle for others to admire, while living in a matchbox apartment to pay for it.

The psychology: Brick and mortar respect

In India, real estate is not just an asset-it is a biography. For families raised in mud houses or modest homes, a pucca, multistorey house becomes the ultimate certificate of arrival.

It is a billboard to the village: My son made it. The tragic irony is that such houses are rarely built for utility. They are built for the neighbour's gaze. You add a second floor not because you need space, but because Sharmaji's son built one last year. Or you lay Italian marble in a home destined mostly for dust and spiderwebs.

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