BARSATI
"Barsati design" typically refers to a type of architectural design common in South Asia,
particularly in cities like Delhi. A barsati is a small, typically one-room apartment built on the
rooftop of a larger building, often used as a living space or a rental property. Barsati designs
often prioritize compactness, efficiency, and making the most of limited space, given the
constrained area available on rooftops. They can vary in style and layout depending on the
preferences of the owner or architect.
Buildings in Delhi’s residential areas were restricted to two storeys, with construction
permitted on only a fraction of the space on the third floor, so on top of homes, families built
small dwellings for their own use, as accommodation for domestic staff or to rent out
cheaply. Exposed to the elements, the single room on the top floor became known
evocatively as the barsati – derived from the Hindi word for rain, barsaat.
"These apartments – generally, a small shack with a large terrace – afforded a new
generation of urbanites cheap living space near the centre of town... But it’s a typology that,
as land values rise and the population grows, is fast disappearing. While there are no official
figures, anecdotal evidence suggests that in the 1980s, 75% of small rentable properties in
many residential suburbs were barsatis – the same areas today have only a few dozen such
properties, but many more apartment blocks."
It’s vanishing. The barsati. The small room at the top of the house where the family could
enjoy the cool breeze during the monsoon. A unique Delhi phenomenon.
The city’s real estate regulations spawned a way of life that was artistic and idealistic,
temporary and flamboyant. Taking its name from barsat, Urdu for heavy showers, the
barsati was a room with a large terrace. Holed up in these below-the-sky capsules, young,
unconventional middle-class migrants waited for new opportunities.
A few barsati residents later became famous. Painter M.F. Husain lived in a Jangpura barsati.
British author Ian Jack had a barsati near the railway tracks in Defence Colony. Writer
Arundhati Roy shaped her world view in a string of barsatis in Lajpat Nagar, Nizamuddin
West and Malcha Marg. Author William Dalrymple’s first year in Delhi was spent in a barsati
in Nizamuddin West.
The barsati is now in terminal decline. “In the 1980s, 75% of renting places in Defence
Colony were barsatis,” says Shankar, a real estate agent in this upscale south Delhi
neighbourhood. “Today, most bungalows have turned into multi-floor apartments. The
entire area has only 25 barsatis.”
The 1990s arrived with barsati renters who were lawyers and executives waiting to grab the
next promotion. “I was the only one among the barsati people with a different career,” says
hairstylist Sylvie. Her barsati in Green Park had a bamboo terrace with 200 palms, a tandoor,
a bar and a giant birdcage, which was home to cockatoos, love birds and fowls. “We had
parties till 4am,” says Ms Sylvie, who now lives in a bungalow in Gurgaon.
Before buying an apartment in Mehrauli, thumri singer Vidya Rao was a rooftop dweller. “A
barsati is in the house, yet not contained by it,” says Ms Rao. “This is a metaphor for the
way I would like to live. Engaged in this world’s ups and downs, yet not submerged in its
noise, always open to the sky’s mysterious vastness.”
To many who could not afford bungalows with gardens, barsatis gave a chance to create a
forest of potted plants. Till 2008, architect Golak Khandual lived in a series of barsatis,
including one on Malcha Marg which had been vacated by Ms Roy. “In my last barsati, I
grew tomato, green chilli, herbs, spinach and once a pumpkin,” says Mr Khandual.
At his barsati in Jangpura, interior designer and architect Sanju Mahle has basil, asparagus,
lilies, arrack palms, cement cranes, birdcages, a granite table and a garden bench.
Bougainvilleas climb the wall. “Open space is important to me where I can have my own
greenery, different from that cultivated in parks,” says Mr Mahle, who has been living in
barsatis since he arrived from Mumbai in 1984. Once known for his barsati parties, he now
spends quiet evenings in the “green house” with his dog Sonu.
In BK Dutt Colony, Mr Tato loves the monsoon shower. “There is this huge open space from
the staircase to my room and when I’m entering the barsati, I have to run if I don’t want to
get wet,” he says. “But I always get wet.”
