Skip to main content

The Zen of Shifting Home


If I have not informed you earlier, I have moved out of Pasir Ris. The primary motive was to get closer to Trisha’s school. The other objectives include sniffing, if not rejoicing, some finer things in life. You know, like most filial Eastern men, I had dedicated half my life for others. So I shall make my ‘fine list’ now before its time to make the ‘bucket list’ soon. This house was love at first sight and my mind refused to even flirt with the other choices. Its bigger, brighter, windier, has sea views AND fits my thin wallet. After all, finesse is directly proportional to how much one can pay through his nose.

So we bought this house and the rest of the story is me fulfilling my artistic quest. I drew inspirations from cubism, Zen interior design and minimalism. Cubism is Picasso’s post modern response to breaking traditional patterns in painting. It is simplification of natural forms into cubes, cylinders, spheres, and cones (And there is a lot more to it. Beer session topic!). I have taken cubes from that list. You might notice the cubes everywhere – even in the electrical light on the beam and the bath mixer (sorry for the low quality photo there). Sujatha was very agitated with my obsession to cubes but she was given very little chance to unsettle me on this.

Zen interior is to give a soothing tranquility. This can be achieved with reduced color palettes, clear spaces, reduced clutter and a harmonious furnishing. Minimalism is stripping it down to fundamentals. Nothing ‘bling’, nothing that grabs attention or tries to impress. As you can see, I have restrained from using more than 3 colors and filling up the wall and space with things. It was a happy shopping, spending and managing the contractor not to disturb the concept. You may click the pictures to see them big.


But coming to the moving phase… man, that made me cough bricks. And that is where I learned a great spiritual lesson about life. Next post is on that.

Comments

  1. Nice house...

    Why is the kitchen crocked.. the contractor forgot to use his leveling tool?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yea, its designed that way. You better take some training from NASA before you come visiting us.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful. I like how you designed and decorated it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. that's a nice condo raja. Good choice - Ram

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Pam, Ram and Babul. Visit us sometime :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Birthdays and Facebook

I read about a guy who had 400+ friends in Facebook. One day he woke up as a curious little wanker and wondered if he is really that sociable. So he organized a party and sent invitations to all his contacts over Facebook. 50% confirmed and another 20% were tentative. He was delighted - that’s one hell of a response, actually. The real day came. Our man waited at the venue, which happened to be a popular joint, but no single soul turned up. An hour later, one woman came but she also left in the next 30 minutes. He had 400 friends and yet he ended up drinking alone that night. So the question to ponder is how close are our virtual worlds to the reality? . But my case was quite not as somber. Yesterday was my birthday. Facebook reminded of it to a whole lot of my gang. Some of them have never wished me in decades and some are new. How exciting! So here is my big thanks to all my dear friends for the wishes over calls, sms and facebook. You made me feel special. Special thanks to cutie p...

A Date - Part 1

“Good Morning. How is everything? Did you manage to have an early breakfast date with yourself?” I was on the bed in a hotel room in Jakarta when that SMS woke me up. I only managed to get a very few hours of sleep that night. Even in that, my mind went churning non-stop on some meaningless, unconnected things. I was literally aware of all that turmoil in the half sleep, twisting and tossing through it. Back to the SMS. All the SMS I get usually are with a single consistent purpose - my colleagues trying to find my whereabouts. Note - none of them is a hot babe. (This is altogether a different topic - how come no hot chick in this whole damn world manages to become an IT architect!!) Oh, for a change, I do occasionally get some irritating marketing campaigns. So, it is not a wonder that this message sprang me awake like a Maasai Warrior. (Maasai are an African tribe famous for their ability to rise from the deepest sleep to a state of total combat readiness in a matter of seconds)...

What is my utilitarianism?

I am a utilitarian. Do you know how hard it is to live as a utilitarian these days? You often get mocked in closer circles. In the pretentious places, you are looked down upon. You are generally pushed to feel like a flying swine - strange, curious and out of place. The problem is the word ‘utility’ in it. The commoners derive a shallow meaning that it is utility before happiness. Utility before pleasure. Stretching it a bit, they think that a utilitarian denies pleasures, leads a boring life of a miser, does not appreciate finer things in life and is generally a philistine. But utilitarianism is exactly opposite of that. I will be a damned liar if I declare that I am holy and have renounced all the pleasures. The tricky thing, and here in lies a great secret about the art of living, is to understand what pleasure really is. I think there is such a thing as ‘ supreme ’ pleasure. And by virtue of the existence of a supreme pleasure, there are also ‘ inferio...