DREAM HOUSE



A small one bedroom apartment, in the second or third floor of a nondescript building.Not one of those swank high-rises for me...from where everything thats beneath is a mere speck and all thats above is beyond your reach.No, some afternoons I would like to see the leaves of the trees outside the window, to hear stray bits of conversation float into the room.And have flies buzzing around that chocolate wrapper I forgot to throw away.

One single bed pushed against the wall.Which will double up as a couch when I have company.Simply covered in white.With emerald green satin cushions.The windows are to be unadorned.I've always hated curtains.And carpets.None of that in my room.

Windows are such beautiful things I feel they ought never to be covered .Not even glass panes.And definitely not those tinted officey ones.But of course I realise how inconvenient that will be ,the room will be flooded in monsoon and scorched in summer.Very impractical you say.But Ive never been any other way.

And now the most important important piece of furniture-the bookshelf.After much thought Ive decided that I like the tall narrow ones in dark polished wood best.It'll complement the white of the walls.Which ,by the way, will show between the shelves.That leaves no place for a cupboard which is all right.A cane box which will hold my clothes and an unframed full length mirror on the wall is all I'lle need to dress.

I cant of course lie on the bed and gaze at at the blue kites pasted on the ceiling all day,much as I'd like to.So I suppose there has to be a kitchen.A small one.Kitchennete I think its called.Single stove and fridge.Will regularly treat myself to some fish dish or the other.Which will obviously be delicious...

Ive been willing to compromise on space all along ..in fact I prefer cramped quarters but the loo must be large.That I insist on.It must be spacious and have grey mosaic walls and floor.And no shiney new taps and shower which will simply spoil the whole atmosphere.The bathroom too must have a large window which overlooks a tree .And ...how could I forget this?!A large glass covered bookshelf above the pot.For as Im sure you already know-the toilet is the room in the house where one reads.

Evenings in my house will be lovely.When the sky is a sad shade of orange.And so is the wall facing the window.And my long-stemmed lamp doing the best it can to keep out the dark from the rest of the room.Ille be sitting hunched up on the floor marvelling at the beauty of it all.

Dear reader, you have been very kind and infinitely patient to go through this tedious and (I must admit) boring description and the least I can do is to request you to visit sometime.Please come,You are cordially invited.