House and a Home

A primary question I ask myself is, what causes stress? The answer can be summarised as monotony. Given that I spend and spent
most of my adult life in bustling cities, monotony is usually what takes me down. Hence, when I would get to my apartment in Banga-
lore (India) during my bachelor I would call it my house, since it never brought me the sensation of home. Until it was filled with my
closest companions (usually just over the weekends). So, personally I could never call a place home until I was not alone anymore.
This sensation could however change if I did own a house of my own. More so, because it would solidify my need to be permanently
responsible for that space. Eventually even that would lead to boredom from monotony, which is the unpleasant emotional state we
eventually succumb to as described by human resources (1).

Travelling to me is a catalyst that refreshes your mind by giving you an escape to a new environment. As someone who always enjoys
the serenity of being in alone in a house, it is a portal to new sensations that you otherwise would not be introduced to. Whether it is
land, air or sea the journey always keeps you excited (unless the medium in unpleasant). This experience to me strengthens my under-
standing of home and what you leave behind, it does not always have to be something necessary but the thought of it is what creates
the sense of longing. It creates an anchor while you are out exploring new cities or the vast natural environments. An example would
be not having any wi-fi while camping outdoors, a hilariously modern world problem but it influences your senses. It could remind you
of the smell of your furniture or your kitchen that you had arranged as per your convenience. An old saying down the lines of “you will
never know what you have until its gone” (2) sums up this relationship.

During my time in high school my father used to manage an estate for a tea company which had us living in what I would describe as
an isolated environment (remote and rural). I eloquently remember the timber floors and vast front lawn I had to play around in. As
someone who studied in a boarding school the sensation of home is anchored quite deep since we only got to see our parents for 2
months every year. It was an old British colonial bungalow that I had the pleasure of visiting for until my father retired (January, 2019).

Parts of the house that stood out for me was the store room and tree house. The pantry when originally created was intended to be a
kitchen for the British members of that era but in our culture the kitchen is always a part of the house. It always smelled or wet wood
and brass polish, and when it rained the wooden plants stored in it brought to me the cosiest of sensations.
It took a lot of convincing but I finally managed to get my father to build me a tree house in the front lawn, it overlooked the vast tea
shrubs engulfing the entire landscapes as far as the eye can see. To this day I am not aware of where the tea garden ends.

1.HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY , vol. 27, no. 2, Summer 2016 © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.21249

2. This line is from the song “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell from the album Ladies of the Canyon (1970).
The anchor as of now is deeply rooted to what I would presumably define home, but this thought has clearly evolved after spending
the last 8 – 11 years in cities. The core for me will always be the idea of a safe haven created by me parents who I at the time rarely got
to see and sister who I always quarrelled with. Overtime this became normal and I longed for something new. Hence, the core of this
feeling will always be the same but the sources keep changing. The bungalow offered a quality of space that was healthy and it has a
huge impact on the way I think about spaces. I did not realise this until I started typing this article but it is definitely the reason I am
drawn to vernacular and sustainable design. Thus, I believe in choosing the right elements and the right environment to surrogate the
idea of a home.

Anubhav Kashyap

MIA 1
Zuyd University of Applied Sciences

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