Thoughts

While watching these episodes, my mind would often start to compare the lifestyle in London
to what we had in India, during the same period of time. It was interesting to observe the slight
changes in tradition and mentality that makes such a huge difference in the way people lead their
lives, with numerous similarities and dissimilarities, starting from little things as to where the head
of the family sits. Earlier in London, the head of the family or the eldest member occupies the one of
the seats in the longitudinal side of the table, reason being they would be able to face and listen to
each and every person on the table, loudly and clearly, whereas, in India this member occupies the
only seat on the shorter side of the table to mark his/her authority.

These minor differences also grow to form major ones, as in the case of a gathering place, where
spaces that were inside the house such as a bedroom and a living room were preferred or utilized as
a social space, whereas, back at home, the outside spaces such as courtyards and verandas always
seemed to be a more communal space.
However, this reason could also revolve around the difference in climatic conditions in both regions,
just like in the case of large volumes of spaces, which were described as ‘undomestic’ in the video
because compact and cosier rooms were preferred for the colder climate. On the other hand, large
volumes are something which was fairly desirable in India.

Never the less, there also existed numerous similarities between the two worlds, especially when it
comes to social hierarchy as well as women, their status in the society and the image of an ‘ideal
women’ and how this has influenced the architecture of the homes, specifically in the case of its
organisations and proximities.

Another interesting aspect was how the idea of privacy has evolved over the past centuries.
Initially, the idea of privacy played very minimal or no role in their lives as all seemed to be a
communal space from their bedrooms to bathrooms. The distinctions between daily activities was so
less that often all of these things were performed in the same room. However, with time people
slowly started to demand and appreciate the idea of privacy, starting from a curtain creating a space
of encloser for the couple in a room that consists of their children and other servants, up to the
extent that not a only the couple had a room for themselves but also possessed a room individually,
where each one of them is able to be themselves without anyone being around. The similar pattern
of seclusion could said to be followed for all the rooms apart from the bedroom itself, such as in the
case of the kitchen, bathrooms and living rooms as well.