Our Home - Survasant

Since I am a historian to me the past is very important and the documents in which this past is hidden become an important tool for research. Now when we are focusing more and more on history from below, the history of a home becomes very important especially when one is talking about women's history. It was the home which was the domain of the woman in the past and continues to be so at present. Hence I write today's posting focusing on our home.

We were earlier staying in a flat, Vijaya Towers at Ameer pet. My twins were born here and these were beautiful flats. In 1989, there was a huge pond next to it and many dhobis would wash their clothes. There was a Gold Spot factory next to it. This was very close to the market area and we could walk down and get our vegetables and the daily requirements . Our flats had sixteen flats on one floor and all these joined to form a corridor. We had a eight feet corridor and the children grew up here playing skates, football and cricket. Occasionally an aunty would come out once in a while asking the kids to be care full with the glass but no one really objectyed to the kids having a whale of a time. My University was nearly 23 K.M from here and the house hold depended only on sevants many of whom took great advantage of the fact that we left the house early and came back late.

We started exploring to have a house near to the University. Somu's office was also near this side and hence we zeroed it down to Gachi Bowli. My University was only four kilometers from here. We took a house in a colony called Lakshmi Enclave. There were few people from ICRISAT and the University who lived here. There was no development and the whole area was green and filled with large rocks and boulders. The first thing that I remember was when I looked up the sky looked so bi and vast and the crows and birds flying seemed very far. I wondered why this looked so and it was then that the fact struck me that I had been living on the fourth floor and the birds and crows looked near but my sky was only the balcony through which I could see the sky. Here suddently there was such an immense expanse and open spaces around that one did get a sense of freedom and the spirits soared high.

However when the house was being build I would get up at night and get afraid as to how we will take an auto to the station, How will we reach the airport, how will I get my bread and eggs daily. Soon the house was complete and we did the Grah Pravesh in summers. Bittu and Tarun Varun took a lot of interest in cleaning the area around it . Somu soon lay a garden which became his great passion. He put up a lawn and refused to take the help of a gardener. He believed in doing things himself. He continues to take care of the garden himself and does not believe in taking any help for this. Slowly beautiful flowers came around the house. In fact we immortalise our first roses by clicking them and framing them. We put them in the verandah of our house.

When we built the upper floors and remodelled our house many times we wanted to have a nme for the house. Finally it was with the help of Dipti and others in IIT that we kep the nmae of our house SUR Vasant. SU for Suresh, R for Rekha , Va for Varun , Sa for Sankalp and T for Tarun. I always wanted Sankalp to hold his two brothers by his side providing them emotional support.

Today , nearly fifteen years after we came to this area which was a village and had nothing much to boast off but the University, Gachi Bowli is the heart of the city. Gachibowli has grown into a software hub for companies operating out of Hyderabad. It is home to some top IT companies like the Microsoft, INFOSYS, Wipro, Satyam, Computer Associates, Polaris, Virtusa etc. There are International banking insitutions such as the Fraklin Tempelton Investments, Union Bank of Switzerland and Bank of America here.The area is growing at a very fast pace. A new IT SEZ is also coming up in this area. The Indian School of Business is also established here and so is the IIIT. The International Institute of Information Technology IIIT, is a well known center for excellence in technology. IIIT also houses the Oracle school of Advanced software technology, IBM School of enterprise wide Computing, E-Governance National Institute of Smart Governance. Apart from the IT industry, Gachibowli is also a sports hub. Some of the best stadiums in the city are located here. The GMC Athletic stadium, a world class Hockey stadium and an Indoor stadium are located here. The recently held Military World games were conducted here at Gachibowli and many more. A beautiful golf course with natural rock formations has come up here recently.

Alas but when I look around , there is only a concret jungle all around. Now I have to walk only 200 meters to go to Dominos Pizasa, Subway and the HDFC. But all this development has changed Gachi Bowli. Initially there was only a Doodhwala and few shops and each and every one knew each other , one could walk for hours and only see few trucks going on the road and now it is difficult to even turn the car and I have to wait for quite some time before I can turn towards home. Even morning walks have now become difficult due to the immense traffic on the roads. May be this is development, one that is very impersonal and no one has time to stand a stare and life goes at a very fast space.