Inspired after watching an Italian movie ‘The Olive’ , I was feeling good, all I could think of was our grandparents house in Hassan. How can we save it !
I have very fond memories of the house ( Ajji Mane ). The house was big enough to accommodate 6 children and 10 grand children at one time. This house was built for the British officers in Hassan, according to my grandmother it was built in early 1900. It is a large 4 bedroom , mangalore tailed house. The house has a servant quarters , open air veranda , large garden in the front. Every vacation I would search the kabbinada petite , library bearow for small nick knacks from older times, I was never disappointed. I have found old reading glasses, light switches , harmonium box, Medals earned by the previous generation, old story books, rat poo ;). Other intriguing things in this house were the wood burning stove to heat water, well in the servant quarters, sandle wood box in the hall, Huge Jewelry box that ajji used to open and perform pooja every friday, the pooja room with huge pictures of gods .. There were a lot of such things and places that i was very very fascinated about. The house was like a treasure chest inside treasure chest, everything in the house was unique , antique , artistic.
This house brings out very pleasent memories of childhood. Even though I don’t have a ownership right to the house, I of all the grandkids stayed in this house the most.
The people in this house are more important that the house itself . I always called it Ajji mane ( grandmothers house). I user to love my Ajji , she was a awesome cook, a generous , pious person .. we had a special bond .. Ajji was always nice to us, Ajji was very good looking in her age. I can only remember the Kodbale , Rave Onde , Kaima onde she used to make. Tata was a TV addict , sports fanatic who turned his interests from sports to kannada soap operas. Tata was a gentle person who was bossed abound by Ajji. There was this servant lady Bhagirathi … hard working , loyal women in her advanced age. She used to stay in the servant quarters other than doing all the house hold chores , she would collect seeds of Honge Mara ( this was very fascinating to me).
It was a house of immense activity during Dasara vacations, summer vacations, deepavali and sometimes christmas vacation. It was busting with kids playing hide and seek in the two rooms and veranda. It was a very living entity.
The other prominent feature of this house was 2 huge Honge mara ( Trees ). The shade of these trees was always cool.
The fate of this house was sealed by Shuba Attey and Raghu Mama. Without going into the details of the circumstances I can say both were more keen on selling this house rather than preserving it for future generations. One man's treasure is other man's trash !!
Whatever I do , I am not able to figure out how we can save this house for our future generations.
I can probably save it in celluloid. I don’t think our kids will be interested in seeing this house. The picture are more for me :)
Everyone is waiting for payout from this house. I hope the payout can compensate the loss to future generations.
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