I moved to Chester Hills soon after COVID restrictions were lifted after the first lockdown. During that time, workation was a rarely heard or known concept in India. And no one really thought that some time like this could exist.
However, once people realized they did not have to go to the office every day and could work from anywhere that had power and internet connectivity, the whole phenomenon just took over the world. India, being an epicenter of ever-growing I.T. Industry has seen the greatest increase in people moving to remote locations that are closer to nature and prefer to work from there.
I rented out an apartment in a project named Chester Hills and started working from there. As far as basic necessities go, I had pretty good internet connectivity, the homes came with power backup, elevators, daily need shops nearby and a plethora of things to turn to when you wish to not look at your computer screen anymore. I woke up everyday to a beautiful sunrise from the hills with a cool breeze every morning flowing in through the windows. No Air Conditioning and still it felt so nice throughout the year.
However, my fairy-tale-like-story was about to come to an end when in 2022, my organization requested me to join the office in-person at-least 2 days a week. This meant I either had to commute for 10 hours twice a week or move back to my home in the city. I discussed this with my parents and told them that I did not want to leave what I had here in Chester Hills. And that’s when my father came up with an idea that was amazing. He suggested that we buy the property that I was living in as a second home in the hills. Chester Hills provided an option where they provide rental income if we let them manage our property and that’s what we chose. Alongside this, they also provided free stays in the property which we can use as and when we please. And then again, we can always have our home back and enjoy the luxuries of nature.
We did exactly that, and since then, our Chester home does not just bring us memories, but also regular income that is so much more than we could have asked for.
That’s my Chester Hills story. What’s yours?