Gul Panag’s new home with a difference

Bollywood News: The quiet Mulshi neighbourhood, 35 kms from Pune is getting a new celebrity address with model turned Bollywood Actress Gul Panag and pilot husband Rishi Attari building their holiday home here.

It’s a house with a difference-don’t expect dazzling lights and snazzy gadgets; it’s a quiet, eco-friendly home which ensures maximum optimisation of natural light and air and that will take the couple back to ‘the farms of Punjab’ with large garden tracts, harvested rain water and solar panels but no air conditioners.

Rumour has it that the couple will throw open their home via a website to people who want a virtual tour to understand the design. The Bollywood actor talks to Simply Pune about how she’s going ‘green’.

According to Gul Panag, It’s like a village home with garden space where we can grow our own vegetables and plants. My husband and I come from agriculturist families so what we miss in urban life is being a farmer. I go back home to Punjab every year during the harvest to do a bit of farming.

So, we wanted a space closer to Mumbai where we can retreat, de-stress and tend to our own garden. It’s one of the first independent houses to be certified by Teri Griha, a national rating system to certify homes that follow eco-friendly norms like renewable energy.

Regarding the designs, Teri Griha along with the ministry of new and renewable energy help design and evaluate new buildings, keeping in mind the green cover and natural landscape before and after construction.

Talking to reporters, Gul Panag says “We want to give the green movement a push by encouraging people to go green like us. Here, we’ve got a rain water harvesting system with underground storage which will give us upto 1 lakh litres of water a year and solar panels that will tap power and meet all our electricity needs.”

“So what this means is that apart from doing our bit for the environment, we are also eliminating electricity and water bills. Our house has large, double-glazed windows with all-round ventilation.

This cuts out our need for any air conditioning because the windows will keep the excess sunlight out and yet bring in natural breeze at all times. Even in the hottest months, the internal temperature will not be more than 24 Degree C.

For those who are not building a new home, it is possible to go green with your existing house, by incorporating a few small measures like replacing clear glass with double-glazed windows that shut out extra light, bringing in large windows to aid natural movement of air or simple planting a kitchen garden to add a touch of green to your home- not to mention fresh, organic vegetables.” says Gul Panag

Source: www.indiatoday.in

Category: Gossip