They Aren’t Just Walls

It’s not really found everywhere, though it’s present all around us. This is what we all keep looking for and the search never ends. For days together and at times it takes months, to find just the right one. It shouldn’t be too big nor should it be too small, but just enough to accommodate us. Neither close to the city nor too far from it, either in its vicinity or near a farm where freshness dwells and it can pour in as the door opens, that’s how it has to be.

When we find it, well, it’s just an apartment and right from the moment we know that’s the one, we try making it a house. But how does one actually convert this flat to a home? By painting it new with vibrant colours or adding new furniture? Will the curtains do it or should we install new lights?

No matter what you do, no matter where it is, a brick-walled room becomes a house when you add a few members of your family to it. Only when you have a group of people sitting together over lunch or dinner to talk and share their thoughts is when you can call it home.

And just when you add memories and feelings to it, it becomes yours. It turns out to be the right place, to be in when you are sad or happy. You receive the greatest levels of comfort after being exhausted by a long day. You get charged up here after being supersaturated at work. This is the most amazing place where you will find the best of all worlds under one roof, only if you have a family staying in it.

Oh! It is a wonder how walls and a roof can together provide you the blessing of being in heaven on earth. Staying in them for just a few days makes you realize that they aren’t just walls. They are what you use to rest your head on when upset, to lean on when you are tired and still have to work, to your baby they are endless boards to write and draw on; they are so you can be safe from the harsh winter chills, the hot summer air and the monsoon thunderstorm.

If you look at this photograph, this might look like a house in the middle of nowhere. But for me, I have spent the best and worst days of my life here, laughed out loud and cried my heart out. For me, this concrete room surrounded by the lush green is a home to my family.