Kaani Nilam vendum

I have grown up listening to Mahakavi Subramani Bharati's  songs, Thanks to my mom who was a fan of his compositions and played his kuyil pattu( cuckoo song) melodiusly on the veena. My mom would play "kaani nilam vendum" especially, a song in which the poet asks the supreme power ( God) to bless him with an ideal home in exchange for his verses. This is one of my favorite song too.

The Ideal home he describes in the song is something i dream to have....a small independent home on a piece of land surrounded with greenery...only to that i would add my dream home would be a simple sustainable environment friendly home.

A home that would completely be off the grid for energy, harvests rain water for its daily needs, an organic kitchen garden and is built with native wisdom and sustainable and recycled materials and has a feel of the past.

And I did come across such a beautiful new  home right in the heart of Jayanagar recently at Bangalore and had a chance to stay there a night, where i felt i time travelled and lived in a home of the past.

The rusty earthy red oxide flooring, yellow oxide and black oxide in other, The athangudi handcrafted tiles, the wooden stair case, the rough granite seater ( sopanakallu), the central courtyard (nadu mittam) which has a skylight from where rain , breeze and sunshine filters into the home, the pin mittam ( back yard) with an oonjal (wooden swing and mural...all these and more evoked a sense of familiar native warmth combined with a fine sense of design aesthetics.

The house showed signs of saving materials everywhere, the main door and all the doors, windows were restored and repurposed from old discards from Karaikudi. The bricks for the home were made at the site from the mud excavated and mud plastered ( along with some native gum).

Overall a beautiful eco-friendly energy efficient green home.....just like my dream home, hopefully i will build and live someday. 

Below are some of the pictures,

                                               The elevation

                                                             the main door

                                                way to guest bedroom across central courtyard

                              The sky lights over nadu mittam( below) around which the rooms are built

the  w ooden staircase leading to master bedroom at one level and the sopanakallu 3 step stair leading to study and a bamboo stair in another room

                                 The drawing room view from the study above note the mismatch in windows since they are  restored  discard windows no two are the same

                                                    Drawing room view and the louvered windows of master bedroom

                                                             a view of the entry to master room from study and a section of the skylight lighting.....enjoyed the warmth and glow of the sunshine in the morning with a cup of hot tea in the drawing room.

                                                 The well ventilated big open kitchen facing the drawing room and a side door leads to pin mittam where one can relax on  a lovely wooden swing

                                       Ssome reminders from paati's kitchen

                                   how many remember this switch board?

                                                            

This post written for the prompt "Use the lyrics of your favourite song as the basis of a short story or a post"  #Friday Reflections @ Write tribe and the lyrics of my favorite song which is the basis for this post is the tamil song   Kani nilam vendum 

I need one kaani (1.32 acres) land, Oh supreme power!, I need one kaani land! 
In its midst, with pillars and multiple storeys in pure and pristine colors,
you should build me a palace (home) in it,
In there should be a well, near which should be placed coconut tree leaves and tender coconuts,


Around ten to twelve coconut trees should be near,
there should be moonlight like the lustre of a flawless pearl,
the melodious music from cuckoos chirping should subtly touch my ears,
amidst all this, as my soul(intellect) rejoices, the soothing breeze should flow!

As my song mingles with the breeze, at that magical moment, I want a chaste woman by my side,
As we are joyous, poetic verses should start flowing freely,
In this land, amidst the forest, Oh Supreme power! You should stand guard and protect us!
In return, with the prowess of my poems, you may grace (or save) this world!