Treasure hunt

I never knew that building a house would be so demanding, so difficult. But as the saying goes (in Marathi) “Ghar pahava baandhoon ani lagna pahava karun”, I attempted to personify the former. Had booked a flat in Jan’05 when they were digging up the site for leveling and foundation purposes. Had a look at the plan and finalized a south-west facing flat much to the delight and satisfaction of my parents. We were assured of the possession by March’06.

The wait was long, really long. Monsoon overwhelmed whole of Pune stagnating construction work for about two months, the delay was genuine. But good things seldom come like deer in the headlights; we generally know them well in advance. It’s the advent of good things we enjoy planning and dreaming.

Last two months were quiet eventful. Now that we had taken the possession, it was time for proceeding with the interiors. Discussions of overhead cupboard, double bed orientation, dressing table, glass shelves, wardrobe compartments, television unit and shoe rack seemed to go on for ever. Eventually we finalized on the designs and the outcome was satisfactory enough. We needed to select the laminates and as we flipped through the laminate cards ………..

Me: “We need to give a traditional touch to your bed room my bedroom should be contemporary. The guest bedroom should be vibrant and jazzy; after all it is going to be a ‘Enter at your own risk zone!!!’”
Mom: “I don’t understand this traditional and contemporary stuff; they should look decent”
Me: “How about teakwood and orchid white in my room, yellow and aster in the guest bedroom?”
Dad: “Don’t you feel its too loud? May be red burl or mahogany will look good”
Me: “Nah, that’s too conventional ……”

We flipped again and again through the cards till vendor specific codes for most of the laminates were by heart. At first we had decided to repaint only those walls that needed chiseling for light fixtures. But on second thoughts dad, who was earlier adamant, gave in to our pleas for repainting the whole house. This new go ahead added fuel to the fire, arguments were full of “Mera wala green, mera wala orange”

Finally the D-day arrived when we were going to shift. Mover & Packers assisted us in shifting. As usual they arrived two hours late. They barged into the kitchen, bedroom and hall to pack up all the things that qualified as an item ‘worth’ shifting. Utensils, clothes, show pieces, television, fridge, washing machine etc everything left their places and adjusted with each other in Sansui, HP, Onida boxes. When in doubt an item would pass the scrutiny of me or my parents, who sealed its fate of going to the new house or thrash bin. I was surprised seeing the number of boxes; God knows in past twenty odd years what all had we stacked in our house; all of this excluding major furniture like dining table and double beds, trolleys etc.

The 407 stopped in our parking lot. The soldiers of packing moved quickly, shifting all the boxes one by one into our new apartment. How much ever we try, its difficult to achieve perfection; this was personified when we started opening the boxes. Spatula shared space with woofer, satellites with frying pans and “Nirniralya Koshimbiri” book along side Computer Network’s by Tanen Baum. We were in a real mess but slowly we unpacked, at times to find serendipity, at times not. One of my aunts, who had experience of shifting thrice, helped mom in setting up the kitchen.

The real fun started the next morning.

Me: “Where is my towel? Any whereabouts? And do you remember me taking my I-card?”
Mom: “Million dollar questions, search in our heavenly abode”

The search for good night repellant was as tough as finding needle in a hay stack. It was similar to playing in-house treasure hunt. Everybody was hunting for one thing or the other.

I lay on the bed staring at the ceiling. Wasn’t that accustomed to the choir mattress but I knew I had to get used to it. Mind clouded with lot of thoughts, some which can be articulated, some obscure enough for me to understand and others like a prevue of treasures locked away in the chest. So much achieved but still a long way to tread. I felt empty. Something was definitely not in place. I missed my old house a lot. We left back lot of memories, priceless sentimental values. I missed my favorite corner of the balcony where I used to relished Maggi, the couches by the window where I relaxed after coming back from college or office, the study table where burned the table lamp for 7 long years from SSC to last year of Garduation, I missed them all.

It’s time for a new journey now and ummmmmmmmmmm ………. I guess not in solitude ………….. I am working towards attempting the latter!!!!!!!!