Terrace Garden

Tossing and turning? With a plant in your bedroom/balcony, you’ll fall asleep faster, have fewer nighttime awakenings and enjoy a deeper sleep. Scientist say sleeping in space with lots of oxygen in the air increases the duration of deep sleep by 10% and even helps cure sleep apnea.

Most plants emit oxygen during the day, but some work night shift, absorbing toxins and carbon monoxide and giving off more pure oxygen at night, when you need it most!

We can help you select from plants that will accentuate the look and feel of your apartment. Apart from the oxygen, plants provide a rich, aesthetic and luxurious visual comfort and feel that is also natural and healthy.

At Samskruti, we ensure your indoor air quality is better by using materials with lower emissions, ample day-lighting, free air flow and lot of other factors. This allows a lot of fresh air to your rooms and more oxygen with lots of plants in your balcony.

All apartments at Samskruti Hoysala have a private designer family area with planters and green space which allows you to breath better, feel better and live better.


Pic is from here.

Control indoor pollutants

Tips that will help control indoor pollutants:

1. Test for radon and fix if there is a problem
2. Reduce asthma triggers such as mold and dust mites
3. Do not let people smoke indoors
4. Keep all areas clean and dry. Clean up any mold and get rid of excess water or moisture
5. Always ventilate when using products that can release pollutants into the air; if products must be stored following use, make sure to close tightly
6. Inspect fuel-burning appliances regularly for leaks, and make repairs when necessary
7. Consider installing a carbon monoxide alarm

At Samskruti, we ensure your indoor air quality is better by using materials with lower emissions, ample daylighting, free air flow and lot of other factors.

You live better when you breath better.


Read more tips here & image is from here.

Pay bills online

Pay as many bills as you can online. This saves your time, fuel, energy and is a smarter way to keep track.

Image is from here.

Samskruti Indus Valley

A video shot at Samskruti Indus Valley, a residential eco-friendly plotted development in Bangalore. This is a video shot in March, 2011 @Phase I.

Say no to the plastic spoon!

Lot of effort goes in to the making of a plastic spoon(which is very inefficient and clumsy) that you hardly use for 15 mts. It is not biodegradable easily and ends up polluting.

Refuse | Reuse | Reduce | Recycle  # Samskruti Builders


Image by maxistentialism.com

Dream neighbourhood

Just a dream home isn't the goal now. A dream neighbourhood where you know people around you and share the values and beliefs you share, think on similar lines and grow together.

At Samskruti, we strongly believe likeminded people will make the community vibrant. In all our properties we ensure that most of the points discussed in the video above are taken care of in order to ensure a healthy and smart way of living.

How to grow tomatoes in your garden!

Home grown!

My grandfather was a freedom fighter and lived most of his life in a village barring few trips to a nearby town for an occasional movie. Yes, the good old black and white movies where the script and lyrics were more important than actors and music.After settling all his children he still stays in his village despite all of us inviting him to our homes. Every morning he wakes up early, takes a walk, collects milk from his cattle yard and then is fresh and ready by the time we usually wake up. He has a small piece of land where he grows paddy and toiled on his own. You might not believe it but he is more fitter than I am now!

Change of scene when he visits his daughter, my mother and it is fun to watch him fuss around the house with our comfort, if we are misguided to think it is, and keeps telling us what to do and what not. A part of him still looks at us as grand children who grew up on his shoulders in summers and accompanied to the fields for trips constantly asking him lots of questions to which he patiently answered. I love spending time with him as he is better than wikipedia!

When he saw our small home garden my mom tends to, he gets going. He cleans it, touches the plants, rips off leaves, adjusts the angles, provides support and weeds it while continuously telling us which plants to keep and why we should have tulsi leaves with tea, keep digging the soil and what natural manure we should use and so on. He doesn't mind eating brinjals every day of the week if it is from our garden. Every time he has the first morsel, we know what happens. If it is from our garden for him it tastes better and if it is from the supermarket, it doesn't. He can even taste plastic in which it is packed and pesticides and overall unhealthy feeling.

Over the years after I moved out of home for studies and years of living in hostels, I yearn for my mom's food. Don't know how many times, I had posted about my mom's food on facebook and orkut and how many likes I got :)

Every once in a while when someone is coming from home, I get a dabba. Home cooked food from mom and trust me there is nothing better. May be I have grown to appreciate it more now but it tastes 100 times better than the food I have had in the best of hotels. I don't have the measure but it tastes much better when the vegetables are from my home garden. I know it is healthy, tastes better, is cooked with love and affection. I also know it is smarter and more eco-friendly than what I buy from the supermarket.

At Samskruti, we want you to get an opportunity to have small happy moments that you miss or have no time for. Every home @Samskruti, either in Maurya or Hoysala or Indus Valley, have an option to have a terrace garden or a roof-top garden where you can grow vegetables, flowering plants and even fruits. This is not just for decorative purposes but for more aesthetic purposes than one.

You can teach your children, like we learnt and appreciate now more than ever, where their food comes from and how much effort goes into that. Research suggests that gardening is an excellent therapeutic tool and if it comes with several advantages, then why not! Skip the supermarket option and see if you can grow something in your backyard. More than the money you save, the joy you would get out of this would be priceless.

Improving Indoor Air Quality

Steps to improve Indoor Air Quality:

• Environmental asthma triggers: are found around the home and can be eliminated with simple steps
• Don’t allow smoking in your home or car
• Dust and clean your home regularly
• Clean up mold and fix water leaks
• Wash sheets and blankets weekly in hot water
• Use allergen-proof mattress and pillow covers
• Keep pets out of the bedroom and off soft furniture
• Control pests—close up cracks and crevices and seal leaks; don’t leave food out

At Samskruti, we ensure your indoor air quality is better by using materials with lower emissions, ample daylighting, free air flow and lot of other factors. You live better when you breath better.

Read more tips here & image is from here.

Unplug!

Most of the devices still consumer power when in standby/off mode if plugged. Unplug to save power and ensure a longer life to the appliance.

Watermelon, The Healer!

Summer is fast approaching and you are already observing the first signs of dehydration. Water alone cannot quench thirst. You need to supplement that with many more interesting ingredients and nothing is more easy and simple than the watermelon!

Yes. No other fruit says summer quite like thirst-quenching watermelon. This member of the Cucurbitaceae family owes much of its health-giving powers, as well as its fetching blush, to an abundance of the phytochemical lycopene. 

"By helping counter oxidative stress, lycopene may play a role in taming certain cancers and maintaining healthy eyesight," says Wendy Bazilian, DrPH, RD, coauthor of The SuperFoods Rx Diet. A study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women with the highest levels of lycopene in their blood were half as likely to develop cardiovascular disease as women with low amounts. 

Watermelon is also rich in citrulline, "an amino acid used to make arginine, which relaxes blood vessels to help maintain a healthy heart," Bazilian adds. And those seeds we tend to discard? They're packed with magnesium, a mineral vital for nerve function, blood pressure regulation, immunity, and bone health.

Sweet, juicy watermelon wedges are perfect fare for a picnic snack. Try pouring puréed seedless watermelon into ice cube trays, freezing, and adding to your favorite beverage. Watermelon also livens up salsas, chutneys, compotes, vinaigrettes, and spinach or watercress salads. A carved-out watermelon filled with seasonal fruits can create a colorful centerpiece. I also found a watermelon pickle in Namdari's last year! As for the seeds, try roasting them, then tossing into oatmeal, soups, or salads.

Research suggests that keeping whole watermelons at room temperature can increase their lycopene levels by up to 40 percent. Once cut, watermelons should be refrigerated to help preserve freshness and flavor.

Now you know a healthier choice for quenching thirst and not adding to your calories.

Pic is from here.

Minus one project

I saw this video sometime back and makes sense. Just by reducing a font size, if you can reduce paper consumption, then why not? It is easy to carry, exchange and simple.

Eat Smart. Your Food Choices Affect the Climate

(Click on the image to see full size)

GHG data based on lifecycle assessment by www.CleanMetrics.com.

Take shorter showers

Spending only 5 minutes in the shower saves up to 30 litres water each time!

Go out and play!

If you think your children are glued more to the computer or tablet then it is time to worry. Encouraging more physical activity can help in reducing risks like obesity and improve better health. Playing outside the house also encourages social interaction, improves problem solving ability and confidence as they learn to negotiate, cooperate, and share.

So outdoor play area has always been an important component in all our designs. At Samskruti Indus Valley, we have a spacious play area coming up with all the modern amenities. At Samskruti Maurya, we have a 4.75 acre playgound which would cater to the 525 villas in the property. 

Top 5 ways to Live Green

Living Green isn't difficult. It starts with making a decision to start changing and then making one small change every day to your lifestyle.

Small changes like disposing waste in a proper manner and using less of water and energy which we usually ignore can make small but imortant choices. You would end up not just saving money but also healthy.

@Samskruti we ensure we make a smarter decision by choosing the eco-friendly way. Our systems, choices and decisions are dominated by the conscious choice of being a greener, smarter builder.

The Future Begins Now!

We are on facebook now!

You can sign up for more details and it is an easier option to stay updated on what is happening at Samskruti!