The Hamlet

When a cottage is built

The days between Dusehra and Diwali are days for travelling, for buying property/gifts/cars/gizmos. The weather is cool and crisp, the sky a pure blue and the mighty mountains emerge after their summer hibernation.

cottage01

Fresh snow paints the white peaks on the sky. The dark green foothills , the snaking valleys, the clumps of huts stuck to the hill slopes—it’s a sight for sore eyes. The sore eyes want more, and the decision to buy a plot of land to build that dream cottage (with fat roses and ivy covering the walls) is taken.

The brokers and builders take over at this point. One gets driven to sites all over the hills—Yes, road will be made, water will appear, the view will be just like this, the cottage will be constructed, the dream will become reality—just hand over the money.

cottage04

Swiss chalets, gated communities, apartments, row houses—all have been built, and all have been equipped with modern amenities, and all lie empty and locked. The dream has been acquired, let’s go back to working hard, networking hard, earning big and let’s get the next dream now…

cottage03

The dream home is visited thrice the first year, twice the next year and then, its drawing room conversation in the big city—“W have a cottage in the hills, do take the keys and stay there when you take that holiday, we have a man there who will cook and clean for you, do go”.

And when one asks, “What about you? When do you go there?”… “I would LOVE to live there, but you know, we want to do Europe/Canada/Turkey this year ( I want to visit the world while this body holds up)…and the kids get bored there…and business just doesn’t give us the time… but you must go and stay in our cottage”

cottage02

Another one (cottage) bites the dust!

In the village nearby, in a modestly “pucca” house with some goats and a cow in the outhouse, sits a brooding man. He sold that land for the cottage for some meager amount which got the house repaired and renovated, a daughter married, and a cow tied in the shed. The money has finished….the son has completed school and wants a shiny bike to zip around town…the wife is busy with house work, feeding the animals, feeding the family.

The man stares at the big glass windows, the large cottage, the well tended garden…all ensconced in the land which belonged to his ancestors. He watches a big SUV drive up to the porch, a confident and smart man walk around the property, throw out orders to the staff (village folks and neighbors of that watching man). The man doesn’t see the long hours of office work, the hard toil of business trips and late nights at the office which have given the SUV man this property.

cottage05

He just watches and smolders and broods. There is no land to farm and produce some grain (even though the monkeys and wild boars would take most of it), there is no money left to fulfill the ever growing demands of his sons ( even as they drop out of school/college ), there is nothing for him to do in the house ( even though his wife is working herself to the bone and is fast asleep as soon as her head touches the bed)..so what does this man do? As do zillions of men in the Kumaon hills these days? Drink, play cards, rant and rave and curse the SUV men, beat up the woman and/or the children.

And life goes on…on one side, a dream realized and then rejected. On the other side, past land replaced by present and future despair.

3 thoughts on “When a cottage is built

  1. Anurag says:

    In my case, it will be a dream realized but definitely not rejected. I’m committed to building a ‘Vanaprastha’ home, not a sparingly used vacation home.

    BTW, good to see the pictures. The setting for this article is Vimoksha Valley 1 in Digoti. My land is further down the hill in VV3 – so you now know where I will live.

  2. chandralekha says:

    I know exactly what you mean,Mala,and have been pondering this for some time…we city folks yearn for a place in the countryside,where we can sink our feet into the earth,and see unsullied skies at night…..it would be nice if we didnt have to buy out land under cultivation,and replace it with concrete and steel….and then to not actually live in it,is really terrible…….instead if we just supported in a farmer,in some small way,and in turn could keep a room in his place,for us to stay whenever we could or wanted,it would be a win -win situation,…..I wish there some organisation that made something like this feasible ….

    1. needlestosaymore says:

      Lekha, many such options have been tried out here in the hills, and some of them are doing really well…in Munsiyari and even a little further up, these village home-stays are a great draw. the issue actually, is the desire to have a place and call it MINE….possess the land, the view, the rooms, the stuff within. What is wrong with coming and plonking yourself in a good home-stay for a vacation? get pampered, get fed, get the hills and countryside feel and leave with a minimal carbon footprint?!
      But alas, the desire to possess and to add one more thing to the list over-rules all concerns for the environment or the hill farmer! so many people tell me ” nothing like having one’s own home, with one’s own photographs and one’s own bedsheets!! “. It makes me grind my teeth in despair!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *