Saturday 8 September 2012

I almost got a Taj Mahal...

   It took Shahjahan 20 years to build his Taj Mahal for Mumtaz Mahal. It took my husband 12 years to give me mine. Only, that the Emperor was building a mausoleum for his beloved wife and my husband was trying to provide a roof over his only wife, after years of nomadic life.

   Booking for an apartment 12 years ago, at Dwarka, a sub city of Delhi, we never realised it would be a long agonised wait.We paid every instalment and waited and waited and waited...With each wait, the builder's demands for more finances grew and our hopes gradually gave way to despair. The battle between the builder and the members of the apartment, is another story.

 I'd almost begun to believe that the builder had a mausoleum in mind for the members.  And finally, two days back my husband brings home a bunch of keys in a ziploc bag," Keys to our Flat!" In a ziploc bag? They should have come in puja plates, complete with Band, Baja and Baraat! Er... not the Baraat.

 Now we are on an over-drive to make the place liveable. You can very well imagine our joy, sudden burst and clash of ideas. Its now a battle between practicality and aesthetics, requirements and finances,working out the nooks and niches, optimising space...but its a battle that's making us smile. As a couple of families have already shifted into our building, they give us an insight into the teething problemsof a yet-to-live apartment. I wonder if this is how the first settlers of any place shared their concerns and arrived at solutions...

   For hours together, my husband studiously studies the monitor that searches for his product information till late night. I'm sure he has never burned the midnight oil in his entire student life, painstakingly jotting down information. Armed with this, he literally interrogates various vendors, till the vendor is probably contemplating change of profession and I'm  squirming in my seat.

  Wherever we go, unconsciously we take in the details of smart optimising techniques of other homes. On our morning walks, our gaze is mostly drawn to the high rise apartments to see if we can spy on something useful. This invariably has us stepping on pet dogs' poo. Now, thats another pet peeve of mine- pet dog poo on public pavements...

   However,still jumping over poo , with rising costs and over- shooting budget, we plan to move in, in a couple of months with our sanity intact and marriage still in one piece. Friends! Please feel free to drop by at our abodeand bless this mahal of mine, I mean ours...  





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Courtesy Google Images
 
   
 

8 comments:

  1. Awwwww so cute miki Ba... I can't wait to see this mahal now!!!!

    Love you
    Mamu

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  2. :) Drop by anytime after December..

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  3. Bou, many many Congratulations... (olop late hoi golu) love reading all ur blogs so so much....
    aahi aasu to enjoy in your Mahal... !!!!
    love n hugss !

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  4. Waiting for you to drop by :) And muah! for appreciating my blog :D

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  5. hahaha... that's a warm welcome and I am tempted to come to Dwarka. Even the name sounds appealing. :D

    Congrats on your new home. I wish you warm and fun filled bliss at your new place.

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  6. @Muthu Thank you!It'll be a pleasure to host friends :)

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  7. Hey Ilakshee,
    I can so identify with the latter part...doing up a dream home, where everything is perfect - so much fun and the confusion, uncertainty, will red go with green? green with yellow?....do i need squares or circles? or just floral designs? do i use fabric curtains or blinds? the lamps?....an unending trauma :), well worth the effort in the end. Loved your blog and loved the way you write, makes one wanna go on and on.
    Keep writing.
    Kunjan mendake
    http://rasoirendezvous.com/

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  8. The exotic marble structure only bears cold death inside . Your Tajmahal is warm with life and hope.

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Your words keep me going :)