Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Of Tenants and Houses without Windows

By Mriganka Dadwal

Prologue: They say a life sans books is like a room without windows

I could never have imagined the former but that the latter exists came quite as a shocker to me.

It all started the day my current landlady said those three dreaded words to me - U MUST VACATE!!!

Life has never been the same.

My quest for a house turned into urgency, urgency into desperation and desperation into do-or-die thou must.

It's been two months. By now I'm Google personified for all practical purposes. But still gotta meet accurate search results.

Not that I have not undergone the usual rigmarole of meeting a broker, negotiating the price, checking out endless buildings. Even stooped down to questioning local vendors, and asking chattering auntyjis if the locality can accommodate a harmless single occupant.

Not that I have not been shown something which has some semblance to a house.

I say some semblance to a house coz they all have four walls, one door blah blah - so architecturally speaking they qualify to be a house - but that's where the buck stops.

And that's where the phrase "a house sans windows" comes to my mind.

Architecturally it's a shortcoming, aesthetically a sin.

To build a house without windows.

To erect four walls without sparing a thought about who will occupy it.

More importantly will the occupant feel at home in the house???

Does this phenomenon limit itself to aesthetic felony on part of our society? Well, to imagine that a tenant is a tenant is a tenant ... nothing less, nothing more?

Or does it boil down deeper. Our tendency to shut out anything which might lighten our soul and brighten our life?

Are we becoming so accustomed to shutting out what comes naturally to us that we create barriers where we need to create channels?

Or is it plain simple that anything which shows us ourselves too clearly must be made a social taboo? Coz we are afraid that the reality won't be flattering?

I don't know the answer but I know one thing for sure and I speak figuratively as well. Someone has to put their foot down and let in the light. I refuse to put up in a house sans windows.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I read your blog and thought I could tell you about something else which would be useful for seeing maps and directions in India.

I am writing to tell you about MapmyIndia.com, a free interactive maps and directions portal for all India.

We have recently launched our next generation v2008, whose main focus is to provide meaningful and useful directions from anywhere to anywhere in India. Next time you need to go somewhere unfamiliar, we want you to know you have a reliable and easy option to get directions – MapmyIndia.com!

As a company and individual enthusiasts, we dream only of solving the problem of reliable directions and navigation for India. For your blog specifically, you can map enable it by using our youtube-style embeddable maps, and links to specific searches (of maps, directions, local and eLocation) on MapmyIndia.

Do give us feedback, suggestions, or get involved yourself by mailing me back at tarun@mapmyindia.com or marketing@mapmyindia.com.

And if you find the different services useful, we would be grateful to you for writing and telling your readers about us.

Warm Regards,
Tarun Gupta
The MapmyIndia Team
For directions in India, just search print and go with MapmyIndia.com

Unknown said...

So did u get a house? Interesting u said house and not home....