How (Not) To build a house

Continuing the Naugarh saga:

I stayed with Dr. S.P. Singh at Naugarh. Dr. Singh has been living in Naugarh for past 13-14 years, having decided to work with the villages in this area.

His house is on the Main Naugarh Bazaar street, above a kirana store. You enter through a narrow passage, which is unlit. Then you climb a steep staircase. And come to a verandah. The floor of the verandah is covered by grill so step on it at your own peril. On either side of the verandah are rooms.
On the left side is one long room, with no windows, that leads into another room. This is probably is the kitchen though you might not find any accouterments other than a place for washing utensils. In cases, like when you a women like me stays, it can also be used as a bathroom. This room is blessed with one window though you might not want to look out through it for all you would be able to see is garbage and a water pump.
On the right side are two more rooms and a balcony where you can gaze at the bazaar. These rooms too are without windows but thanks to the balcony you can have sunlight in one of the rooms.
There is no bathroom or toilet in this entire space. There is a common toilet downstairs, which is for the use of all the tenants. There are no taps and if you want water, get it from the water pump in the backyard.
I did not see the downstairs area but other than the store there is also living space for rent.
Each room is a house and available for rent. There are no leases to be signed and rent should be paid by cash.
This type of housing I should add is not an unique feature of Naugarh. I have visited Rekha's flat in Varanasi and found the same features.
I was puzzled by the lack of windows till I visited the village houses. Built of mud, there is only one entrance and no windows. These houses are high-maintenance, requiring repair after the rains, and every alternate day the floor has to be swabbed with cow dung mixed mud. But in the blistering heat, these houses remain blessedly cool. And in winter they provide warmth.
But when this windowless concept is transplanted into the city, where the houses are built with concrete, you get entirely the opposite effect. The houses, as the ones in Naugarh or Varanasi, are extremely hot in summer and shiveringly cold in winter.