The House in Kart-e-Sakhi

Yesterday my cousin and I went to see my father's old property in Kart-e-Sakhi. It's a small piece of land with mud-brick walls (gil-karee), a few rooms that serve as single-family homes, and a couple of rent-paying shops in the front; one is a bakery (naan-baayi) and the other a regular corner store with smokes and soda. Right now, one of my other cousins lives in one of the rooms and has rented out the rest of the space on a system here called "grao." Instead of paying rent, tenants pay a large fee to the landowner up front, sometimes $20 or $30 thousand. The tenants then get to stay on the property indefinitely until the landowner repays the fee. It's essentially a long-term loan and the interest paid is in the form of the use of a private residence; a pretty good deal for the tenants as long as inflation stays under control. Anyways, here some pics of the exterior. Someday I may own this property myself.


Below is the "corner store."
The front of the building. Bakery is on left, corner store is on right. Look up above at the houses built into the mountain.This is a view of the alley on the side of the building. Again, the houses built into the hillside are amazing.
Below, my cousin, her son and I are standing in front of the bakery. They are built up high with the floor at waist-level to fit the tandoor oven beneath the floor.