the approximately 300 coliving properties in bengaluru were earlier an ideal setup for several students and millenials but the number of residents drastically dropped with the outbreak of the covid19 pandemic leaving many properties nearly empty residents like 25yearold shivshankar machiraju from hyderabad were quick to return home when no measures were taken as soon as the pandemic struck now to adapt to the new norms of social distancing and reassure residents coliving spaces have started coming up with adjustments and changes in their living arrangements we take a closer look reduced rent to cope with the crisisone such space nestaway has waived off rs 1 million in the past month by reducing rent for its members they plan to keep it that way even after the lockdown is lifted sneha ghosh one of the residents says reducing the rent helps students who form a majority of the residents of these spaces since im not earning and my parents are also working with paycuts this was a great movepreventive measures take prioritythrough meetings on video call these spaces have been discussing new measures with residents faisal mohammad resident of a colive property in bengaluru suggested doing away with finger print scanners on one such meeting i dont know whether wed need voice recognition or pass key swipe as security features to replace the fingerprint scan but that security feature could put us at risk so i suggested the change and they were completely on board with it he sharesproviding an ideal workfromhome setupsince many of its residents are working from home coliving space zolo is now providing cheaper internet services sromona mukherjee a representative says we have decided on 24x7 power backup with extra fuel available if the power outage lasts longer extra desks and chairs are available to residents who need a bigger workstation we are working on the bandwidth of the internet to make it more efficient and faster in short we are trying to build a connection with our members so that they can count on usrecreational activities go online colive and nestaway usually provide multiple sets of board and card games for their residents prior to the lockdown saturday night used to be game night at colive an evening of fun board games that the residents could enjoy with their neighbours now these companies are planning to provide online versions of the same games to avoid proximity with other residentscolive is also introducing online recreation like fancydress competitions and disco nights for community members these competitions will have prizes like a topnotch inhouse privilege for a month in storenew rules in common areasareas that are common to residents are a cause for concern in coliving spaces as appliances like washing machines are shared while zolo has decided to temporarily shut off their common areas colive has installed sanitizers in every corner asking residents to thoroughly clean and sanitize if theyre using something or are sitting in a common space meals are still available