Our House

Places we stay are memories
This house in Cochin built by us in late eighties has a story behind it like all our houses do .
For one its conception planning and building was all by one persons hard work and ingenuity
My father in law late sri Balakrishnan
Uncle as i called him was an architect in Military engineering service and was a honed and experienced professional .
The site too was facing the highway to Trivandrum from Ernakulam as those days the Ernakulam bye pass was yet to be made
Later it became a PWD high road .
It was quite busy all the time and a bit narrow too
Most KSRTC buses slowed down in front of our house due to traffic and i remember getting down or getting into them for some long distance trips right in front of my house like a VIP .
The disadvantage was most passengers sitting facing the house would look at house as it had an appealing elevation with a huge arch born out of the  creativity of uncle my FIL .
Of course our clinic was on right side with a smaller gate partitoned from house by a fence .
The clinic board the patients waiting in chairs watching TV the receptionist in front room with computer all this attracted the passrngers for whom it was an excellent time pass
We too could see them from clinic through our slotted windows .
FIL was very particular with elevation as he knew house was located in a place where all attention would be on it .
It was huge with a really big hall dining kitchen and a back verandah converted into a big room there were more than four bedrooms and master bedroom was huge with a colour matched big bathroom
Of course many houses have all this but iam talking of this three decades back .
The garden with a lawn had coconut trees mango tree a  jackfruit tree ornamental fern trees in front tall and majestic and teak trees more than five or six.
I remember our friend coleague and neighbour Dr Varkey coming home with the teak saplings
Varkey and usha varkey were well known doctors in the area and were our good friends
He hailed from Paala and was at heart a great farmer
He told me Hari grow this teak in no time it will grow as tall as your children
I reminded him of this recently of how his golden words had came so true .
Our children grew up in this house .
Of course our Shilpa left us from here too .
Both our mothers my FIL all left us when we were there .
Both Sruthi and Shyam were born when we were here and lived there till they left Cochin for studies .
The Choice school bus would come right on our door front to pick them up and drop them .
Iam sure they have fond memories of this house named Sruthishilpam .
The car porch was later converted into a lovely bhajan hall where thursday Sai bhajans were held and on sundays children had Bal vikas classes
 when shilpa special school was started it was in this porch etc till school got its own building .

Now its sold to a doctor couple who are continuing to practice there too like we did and we  moved to our apartment in Thripunithura.

Above all this house is a testimony to the creativity and the dedication of my FIL
He not only gave me his daughter but also built me an excellent house too .