These are the pictures of my humble abode....a part of my sweet and simple abode in Terrace Garden Bangalore, where I shifted way back in October 2010, when our son Pappu after his undergraduate studies abroad, came back to India, to start his own venture, supercharged with youthful enthusiasm, brimming all over, dreaming of what all he really wanted to do, and the kind of career he wanted to pursue in future, during his playful school days.
All of us along with
Pappu have come a very long way in the last 10 years since 2010, seeing
many ups and many downs, many successes and many failures, many gains
many losses, that are the common features and part of all entrepreneurial
journey, all over the world.
I
gave a last look to my sweet home, and all its simple furniture and
collections, that have traveled with me, wherever I have moved, along
the length and breadth of our vast, expansive Indian subcontinent. Most of my
handicrafts collections, that I had collected in different stations,
during our nomadic, gypsy-like life, in the Indian Armed Forces, were
given away by me, most reluctantly with a heavy heart to our domestic helps, as the space
available in the current Retirement Villa, I mean our simple and humble Terrace Garden Apartment, was just
enough only for the most essential things.
Sorry for using the words nomadic, gypsy-like life etc, bcoz these words terribly hurt my dear bro Ramana very badly. He says, never ever mention these words Mala, coz you were very fortunate in life, and the kind of life you have had was simply beau....tiful, and most people would just envy that kind of a joyous life. May be Ramana is right. Else, would I have got the opportunity to explore all the hills and dales and mountains and valleys and deserts and uninhabited, glorious snow peaks of this breathtakingly vast Indian subcontinent? Perhaps no. So, as Ramana says, I am indeed extremely fortunate, for having been blessed by the great lord, with this kind of one of its kind joyous and fun-filled life.
I
took a few pictures of a part of the living room, and it's limited
contents. I have to part with all these possessions very soon. Pappu
says, he's going to renovate the house for us soon, replacing all the old-fashioned stuffs with simple and comfortable new ones, and make the
house completely clutter-free, and keep it absolutely minimalistic. I
have really made a junkyard of the simple apartment, even though I gave
away major portion of my arts and crafts collections, collected all through our Army life, when I shifted
here.
Pappu said, "Amma
either you decide whom you want to give away all the old furniture to,
or I will take the quick decision of keeping all the old furniture outside the
main door, so that whoever needs them may take them and use them."
I
thought, instead of keeping everything outside the main door, why not
write to the local Sivanandashram in Sivanandapuram Bangalore, to see if
they would like to use them for the 'Homes for Destitutes' and 'Charitable Dispensaries and Hospitals', associated with the Ashram in the garden city of
Bangalore. Looks like they would like to use those furniture. But in
this season of global pandemic and partial and complete lock-downs everywhere,
shifting all the stuffs to the local Sivanandapuram, is perhaps a bit of
a tough job. And I am still waiting looking for a favourable time.
The furniture may not look anything great, but they do have sentimental value for me.
Why
have attachments for paltry material things, when things far more
precious, and far more valuable, than all these mundane possessions, suddenly leave us one day and vanish permanently
from sight, never to come back again. Right or Wrong? is the simple and
awkward question I am asking all my social media buddies.
