Beauty lies inside. Or is it outside?
When my daughter was a mere toddler and starting to learn to draw, I taught her to draw a house the way a 90s kid would do it: the one with the slanting roof, a main door, two windows, and a chimney. She probably drew it like that for a year or two.
One fine day, she made a drawing with two long rectangles next to each other, each having several floors, with she and her friend at their respective first-floor windows, shouting out to each other.
That’s when I realised that this is the reality for these kids. The houses they have grown up in have always been flats in tall apartments. I realised my error in teaching her to draw something that was part of my childhood and not hers. It made me sad, though, that theirs looked so plain and drab.
This is precisely why the old areas of any city in India still hold charm with their independent houses, each showcasing the owner’s taste with its distinct architecture, charming gardens, aesthetic compound walls, intricate designs on the gate, and name plates that brought pride to the owners.
As I go past such houses, I walk slowly or pause and take in as much detail as I can. Houses with names like Saudades, Barretto Cottage, Busheri Bungalow, Roma, Philip’s Cottage, Thakur Bhavan, Janaki Sadan, and so many more. It must have been such a delight for the owners to have chosen the colours for the outer walls, some going for a monochrome look, others choosing vibrant colours to play with; using a combination of stained glass and trailing plants for that extra zing; deciding the look of the compound walls—rugged and formidable or quaint and friendly; pretty window frames and grills; neat and lined gardens or those that are wild and free; some with a patio with seats that allow you to enjoy the rains, soak up the sun, and be a spectator as life unravels.
Some exteriors are so fascinating, they look straight out of a story book. Mumbai’s suburbs are dotted with such gems. There is this one house that has a statue of a sailor at the top of it, and one that has a mosaic mural of the house itself on one of the front walls. It is a beauty called Rose Cottage. You can even see the name ‘Rose Cottage’ as it is on the house in the mural too! There’s another sprawling white house with a gorgeous garden all along the front, a white picket fence, and a beautiful breakfast table with a canopy over it.
As I wistfully gaze at these houses, I realise why there is so much focus on the fancy interiors of houses now. So few people have the luxury of creating the outside look they desire that all creativity has to be saved for indoors.
And in a city like Mumbai, even that could be miniature-sized.