Prehistoric couples were hunters and gatherers. Today's twosomes spend a lot of time house-hunting, gathering information about homes to rent or buy.
Life with my partner has involved much house-hunting. From the Karamchari Quarters, JNU, Delhi, to a town house in KL, Malaysia, we've stayed in all kinds of housing over the course of more than 30 years. For I love a man who is fairly footloose, a proper rolling stone.
We've shifted home some sixteen times. From Delhi to Noida to Gurgaon. With a five year Malaysian interlude. From KL back to Gurgaon. From Gurgaon to Pune. And, now, twice in Pune.
Each time, it's been love reaffirmed in a new setting: watching the seasons change athwart the open field seen from the Karamchari flat in the old down campus JNU, Delhi or the tree outside our
house in KL turning rainy evenings magical as droplets twinkled on its branches.
With the passage of time, house hunting has evolved from tapping the grapevine to scanning newspaper ads to surfing cutting edge real estate web sites.
Driving from address to address until we found a suitable flat in the 80's was rather tedious and one was just grateful to find a place. There was no room for a wish list.
Even so, each place had its charms: the place near Buddha Vihar, opposite JNU, Delhi, was a small low roofed room with no attached toilet, nor a kitchen. But it had a large terrace where peacocks would dance of a morning and the nights were splendid with stars.
Minus tawa, kadchi and chimta and other such kitchen utensils dear to an Indian woman, I had to reinvent myself anew in Malaysia in 2006 when I discovered the quaint concept of a wet and a dry kitchen, and got used to stoves designed for the stir fry genre where only I simmered while the food burned to a cinder. Having sworn to stick to Frost Free, I had to re-learn how to defrost a fridge as hubby’d bought a temporary fridge before I joined him but it was all good fun.
I do not know where we’ll be living next but I do hope it has a bath tub or, at the very least, ample space in the bathroom for a makeshift bath tub for, high on my wish list, is a nice leisurely soak in warm water. Tathastu!
Today, it’s not an idle dream for I can simply log on to Housing.com and find my dream abode! It's pleasant to visit, very non-interfering and really well organised. What I love the most is that it takes you to a map of the place. This makes it very convenient to locate what you need quickly. And they have customer care which is responsive, intelligent and quick on the uptake.
I'm sure I'll find my bath tub equipped home for nowadays most flats are furnished. In our most recent move, I’m beginning to appreciate the superior virtues of a semi automatic washing machine. And a rather ancient but solid as gold 4 burner gas stove which far surpasses the one I used in the previous flat-a 4 burner from a well advertised company which never worked well and always cost a fortune for the least repair.
With each move, the stage is set anew. The décor changes as does our relationship. Like newlyweds we set out on shopping sprees to feather our new nest. It's really romantic!
As of now, we have a little garden where the occasional mongoose undulates across the boundary wall furtively as many diverse birds enchant us with their melodious prattle.
This time round we're gardeners! In the previous place we felt like hotel guests. Each new setting implies new role play.
Who will we be tomorrow when the love of my life decides once again to start a new life? Where will we find ourselves? Just up and shifting home and hearth does have its ups and downs. Each move implies something lost in transit but, on the other hand, shifting is just like starting over!
Life with my partner has involved much house-hunting. From the Karamchari Quarters, JNU, Delhi, to a town house in KL, Malaysia, we've stayed in all kinds of housing over the course of more than 30 years. For I love a man who is fairly footloose, a proper rolling stone.
We've shifted home some sixteen times. From Delhi to Noida to Gurgaon. With a five year Malaysian interlude. From KL back to Gurgaon. From Gurgaon to Pune. And, now, twice in Pune.
Each time, it's been love reaffirmed in a new setting: watching the seasons change athwart the open field seen from the Karamchari flat in the old down campus JNU, Delhi or the tree outside our
With the passage of time, house hunting has evolved from tapping the grapevine to scanning newspaper ads to surfing cutting edge real estate web sites.
Driving from address to address until we found a suitable flat in the 80's was rather tedious and one was just grateful to find a place. There was no room for a wish list.
Even so, each place had its charms: the place near Buddha Vihar, opposite JNU, Delhi, was a small low roofed room with no attached toilet, nor a kitchen. But it had a large terrace where peacocks would dance of a morning and the nights were splendid with stars.
Minus tawa, kadchi and chimta and other such kitchen utensils dear to an Indian woman, I had to reinvent myself anew in Malaysia in 2006 when I discovered the quaint concept of a wet and a dry kitchen, and got used to stoves designed for the stir fry genre where only I simmered while the food burned to a cinder. Having sworn to stick to Frost Free, I had to re-learn how to defrost a fridge as hubby’d bought a temporary fridge before I joined him but it was all good fun.
I do not know where we’ll be living next but I do hope it has a bath tub or, at the very least, ample space in the bathroom for a makeshift bath tub for, high on my wish list, is a nice leisurely soak in warm water. Tathastu!
Today, it’s not an idle dream for I can simply log on to Housing.com and find my dream abode! It's pleasant to visit, very non-interfering and really well organised. What I love the most is that it takes you to a map of the place. This makes it very convenient to locate what you need quickly. And they have customer care which is responsive, intelligent and quick on the uptake.
I'm sure I'll find my bath tub equipped home for nowadays most flats are furnished. In our most recent move, I’m beginning to appreciate the superior virtues of a semi automatic washing machine. And a rather ancient but solid as gold 4 burner gas stove which far surpasses the one I used in the previous flat-a 4 burner from a well advertised company which never worked well and always cost a fortune for the least repair.
With each move, the stage is set anew. The décor changes as does our relationship. Like newlyweds we set out on shopping sprees to feather our new nest. It's really romantic!
As of now, we have a little garden where the occasional mongoose undulates across the boundary wall furtively as many diverse birds enchant us with their melodious prattle.
This time round we're gardeners! In the previous place we felt like hotel guests. Each new setting implies new role play.
Who will we be tomorrow when the love of my life decides once again to start a new life? Where will we find ourselves? Just up and shifting home and hearth does have its ups and downs. Each move implies something lost in transit but, on the other hand, shifting is just like starting over!
1 comment:
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