Home as an Ecosystem

Parmita Mukherjee

THE CONCEPT
A place that somebody calls home can be a house, a street, a city, a country,
even a planet. This space is shared by many different people and families, who
identify with the space in completely different ways, and may even have
completely different ideas about what home is.
Nevertheless, everybody who identifies with a common space shares a home,
whether or not each member acknowledges the other as a part of the same
home. There could be boundaries of trust and divisions of religion, community,
class, or even personal biases or prejudices. Yet in the same divided society, the
members are interdependent on each other, and instinctively place each other
member as inherent parts of their home, without whom their memories and
affinity towards the place would be different.

THE SET & THE CHARACTERS

THE STORY
There is a large house in one of the
quieter little nooks of human
civilization, which is a home for the
humans living in it, along with an
assortment of other creatures that
share their home with them some
for several generations, and some
who are recent immigrants or
temporary tenants.

Aarifah has been living in this house

for the entirety of her 7 year old life,
and it is in this place that she has
created so many worlds of her own
that she is perfectly happy spending
any amount of time by herself here.

It is a drowsy afternoon in summer,

and the suns pallid lethargy infuses
itself into everybody in the house.
The youngest human member of the
household is named Aarifah. For all
the suns listlessness, she is at the
peak of her day, with the entire
house empty of adult human
company and the world ready to play
to the whims of her imagination. Her
optimism for the afternoon is only
slightly dimmed by the dogs
unwillingness to cooperate in her
schemes, but she is content with
violently swinging in the garden for
the time being.

He also knew to play with the human

pup and beg for food and maintain
cordial relations with the cat who
occasionally made an appearance
and shared his home. He also knew
that he was safe and comfortable,
but most of all loved so much by his
adoptive family that wherever they
would go, so would he.

***
The dog is taking an entirely
undeserved nap in the cool of the
hallway, and is feeling an overall
geniality that comes naturally to
those who have so little to tax their
brains with. He knew but a few
things in his life, and only that what
was necessary. He knew to answer
when called Stay, which was an
unfortunate name, for nothing was
more confusing for him than when
his adoptive family decided to
entertain themselves by telling him
to Come, Stay!

notice. But they didnt know that one

of the street cats took this place as
her home, and they were constantly
plagued of the fear that shed
torment their family, as she did their
neighbours. But as the family settled
down, they realised the comfort of
their basic needs being satisfied, of
the sufficient food to feed their
family and the shelter that this house
provided, and over time, the house
slowly grew into a home.

***
There is a cat streaking up the stairs,
to capture her favourite spot on the
softest sofa in this house. She is
called Mashi by the humans and a
very rude word by the rats. This was
one of her favourite homes on the
street because there was always fish
kept for her, and that the humans
and the dog she adopted doted on
her. As a favour to her pets, she also
had her fun in tormenting the rats
living in the tool-shed.
After her pleasant afternoon siesta,
she will go on one of her social
appointments, and catch an evening
meal on the way. Maybe tonight,
she thought, Ill sleep in the
Mukherjees house. Ive not been
home for a while
***
Mother rat suddenly woke up. Did
you hear that? Its the cat. Shh!
Father rat shushed the kids. He said,
shes gone upstairs, she wont bother
us now. The family relaxed. Not so
long ago, they were evicted from
their
previous
home
quite
vindictively, and fled to the best
house they could find at such a short

***
A lizard, still a bachelor, is currently
fast asleep in a cosy dark crevice
above the garage. He is resting
himself in preparation for a new
night, for he has planned a small
party by himself, to continue his
absorbing art project, and then a
pleasant walk where he would also
catch a bit of breakfast. Those baby
spiders around the attic sound like a
delicious meal for tomorrow. He
dreamt of them as he slept on.

***
The elder spider sighed. He let his
busy mind rest. It is usually occupied
in the various responsibilities that
come with managing his everincreasing household. He let the
tranquillity of the shady attic calm
him, and his mind wandered. He
nodded in contentment as he
thought of his children sharing his
burdens in keeping the community
alive and their youngest safe.
His family has lived here for
generations, and have been fiercely
guarding their clan from harm. In his
life, he has seen their beloved
country go through slow but drastic
changes, as old families leave and
new families and other immigrants
move in. He brooded upon his
memories, filled with changing hopes
and fears. We are lucky, to have
lodged humans that have left our
families to live in peace, he thought.
Only once did his grandfather tell

him, of a tragic massacre that he

survived, when, one monsoon, the
entire country was raided by
humans, armed with the weapons
they call brooms, which annihilated
all their carefully built structures and
left their families to scuttle for
shelter till they would begin the slow
and
tedious
process
of
reconstruction. The only thing that
bothered the Elder spider right now
was the recent immigration of a
lizard in the lower quarters of the
house. He was a menace, and cause
great grief to their families by
preying on the younger ones.
Nevertheless, this was their home,
and they would brave any number of
threats from the outside to keep it
safe, to pass on their history and
culture to their descendants, for
generations to come.

THE END