But that's not the first thing Janak Malkani said when I asked him about the pluses of working in the booming real estate industry. Instead he said: "It's the happiness you get when a family plans its life in the empty houses you show it. When the woman plans the kitchen, the kids their bedroom...It's a great feeling."

Emotions. That's what the business is about. Money? Yes. But lot of emotion too. The real estate industry may be about brick and mortar with a glass façade and growing at 30 per cent annually. But when it comes to residential properties_which is an important area of specialization within the industry_it is all about finding that perfect house.

How does one do that in Mumbai where budgets are expanding and homes are shrinking both against the middle class buyer's will? Where you pay 45 lakhs for a 400-square-foot space in Andheri and end up with a bedroom that can take either your bed or your wardrobe? And, of course, spend the next 15 years of your life repaying the loan you take to buy this pigeonhole.