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Saturday, April 27, 2013

A Scent of Summer



Summer is here. We’re in Chennai, it's hot and humid outside. I sit under the fan enjoying its breeze, resisting the temptation to switch on the AC. Trying to save some electricity, with all the power-cuts one feels like conserving.

But looking out onto the verandah what distracts me is the Neem tree branches with its dense foliage, some of it practically at arm’s length. The newly-sprouted leaves give it lovely hues of green, and at the moment it is flowering profusely with tiny white flowers. The scent from these flowers is sweet jasmine-like and quite intense.

The scent lifts my spirits, and seeing the greenery at such close quarters always make me smile.  I know it is not going to last very long but I enjoy it, distracted from the thought that summer has more in store for us, both pleasant and not so pleasant.




The Neem from my Verandah

Thursday, April 18, 2013

I took a shine to the floor



After a tiresome house-hunting spree last November we nearly gave up.  There seemed to be nothing available within our budget which appealed to us.

I am very fussy about a few things like the bathrooms, the floors, the colour of the walls and of course the state of the kitchen, the space and greenery around ...  Basically the energies of the place. The list could go on.

IS insists I’ll never find the ideal home unless it was my own house built to my own specifications.  But since the immediate plan was to rent an apartment, we decided that whatever its other minuses, it should at least be a fairly new building, like 5 years old or less.

But after 2 weeks of hard searching without success (we must have seen about 20 units) we agreed to see this older apartment suggested by a broker friend, who knowing our tastes was somewhat hesitant (if not reluctant) to show it to us.  Anyway we had no choice, so we insisted.

As we walk into this apartment the space seemed large as it was one large hall comprising of the sitting and dining areas.  Having seen some real poky living rooms during our search, that itself was a plus.

But before that the first thing that struck me was the floor.  The brick-red colour and the shine caught my eye. The same flooring continued through-out the flat which gave a lot of character to the place. My idea of floors is that they should be spotless and clean and in neutral shades. Among the dark floors, wooden floors are my favourite.  But this dark floor ... I got sold!

I’d not really seen these type of tiles before but I knew they were hand-made Athangudi tiles, very special to South Indian, basically Chettinad homes (though not too many left any more).

Despite disadvantages (like the building’s proximity to the main road so quite noisy, age of the building, etc.), there were positives as well, like the flat’s very convenient location in the heart of the city, the quite clean upkeep of the building, etc.

I contained my excitement .... I’d made up my mind.  This was to be our new home.