Back Home!!!

After spending over 3 months in Mumbai, we reached home couple of weeks back - ironically, from a slow life in Mumbai to a hectic one back home! Loads of plans are to be executed. But first, the home has to be made fit to live in. But more than executing plans, we (at least Rekha and I) were longing to return. We were just waiting for the rains to retreat. That had already happened by the end of Sep. We were required to stay back for a few days more because Rekha’s passport was to be delivered, but we finally decided to return before that. We just had to get back asap.

Back home was such a good feeling. I’ll just recap the status of house construction. The walls were done. We’d done the roofing with stones – placed on iron girders. So, the inside of the house was protected from sun and wind, but not from rain. We hadn’t found a workman to do the asbestos sheet roofing. So, before the rains, we’d placed the asbestos sheets on top of the stone roof, so that the water can slide down. The mud walls also required protection from the outside. Two layers of polythene were wrapped around the entire house. It looked like a gift box from a distance. The flooring inside the house was yet to be done. I’d visited a couple of times to check on the status. From outside, it seemed alright. However, when we came back, we found that there were 5 places from where water had leaked from the sheets – mainly because sheets had cracked. Four spots were minor, but one, inside the store-room was a big leak. There was water in the buckets and utensils. One wall was wet from top to bottom and perhaps taking advantage of the loosened mud, some animal had burrowed through the all in 3-4 places, eaten into some bags and boxes inside. I haven’t seen the animal yet, but looking at the hole, a perfect round, people around said it was a mongoose like longish animal – not a rat. The wall though stood strong, though it had swelled at a few places. It took us the first two days to just clear up. I’d got the flooring of the guest room done during my last visit. So, we put our luggage there and cooked in the 4 ft by 3.5 ft entrance lobby for 2-3 days.

Roofing was the most important and urgent jobs to be taken up. But flooring had to be done immediately. So, we took up that job first. The help I’d hired to do the flooring in the guest room hadn’t done a good job. So, we decided to do the flooring ourselves, with the help of one labour. It took us almost a week, but the flooring of the inside of the house is now done. Quite a good job done, though we did it for the first time! I learnt a lot of basics of mud flooring on the job. While we did this, daily activities of cooking, washing clothes, utensils, etc were on. Water and electricity are available.

As it stands today, the house is quite comfortable to live in. In fact, both Rekha and I are very pleased with the way the house has come up so far. We're back to a schedule of 8.30 pm bed time, 5.30 am wake up, loads of physical activity, sleeping under the stars, increased appetite, more family time. Missing people in Mumbai, not the place really.

We have begun the roof work two days back. We’ve decided to do a two level roof. We’ll use the stone roofing as first floor and do a tiled roofing at a very low height. The second level of roofing will be outside the walls on all 4 sides, which will also create a veranda – where we will spend most of the time. The total carpet area of the veranda will be about 900 sq ft, while that of the inside house is approx 400 sq ft.

Completion of the roof work will be a major milestone. The house will then be fit for all seasons. Looking forward to that milestone!