My Dream Home

I have always dreamt of my dream house amidst tall and stately deodar trees in a valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains, gurgling springs, and roaring waterfalls. My dream house is a small cottage with a lovely garden in front and a small verandah where I sit in a rocking chair sipping a piping hot cup of tea. Flora and fauna around me are lush green with flowers of all colors and hues. Birds shall be chirping around and multicolored butterflies fluttering about. Wouldn't it be like a little piece of heaven on this earth?

And as John Muir, a naturalist, says, this grand show is eternal. "It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; mist and fog are ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and twilight on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls." But alas, my dream for my dream house is still a dream. I am eighty now, but do not worry, I am a soldier with a never-say-die spirit. So what if the flesh is weak? Believe me, my spirit is still willing. Who says miracles never happen? They do, and poet and philosopher Rumi says if you desire something strongly, the entire universe conspires to help you. And then, like everybody else in this universe, I also have the right to dream. As the saying goes, climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of autumn. After all, what is the goal of life?

To make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.

It is not that I never tried. You can say I was so near and yet so far. Perhaps it was not in my destiny to have a dream home. How true is the saying, you do not get anything without luck and before time. A Urdu couplet explains my predicament effectively; Kismet ki khoobi dekhiye tooti kahan kamand, Dau char haath Jub Keh lab e baam reh gaya. The year was 2004. I had just retired from government service. I had done my groundwork and purchased a small plot of land at Bhimtal, a small hill station in Uttarakhand. The land was just two nali, a measurement for land in the hills. Two nali is equal to 250 square yards. In front of the plot was about twenty-five yards of panchayat land where you can grow vegetables and plants but cannot do any construction. As a matter of fact, the plot was 500 square yards, and half of it, 250 square yards, was taken by my friend, DV Mahindra. We had to go to nearby

Nainital courts for registration of land.

Since the plot was in the name of my wife and myself, we had to get black-and-white photographs for registration of land. The photographer at a small shop looked at us and inquired, buying land sir? Yes, was my reply. He looked sad. Look at the irony of fate, he said. Locals here sell their ancestral land to outsiders, waste the money earned in drinks and other vices, and then take the job of chowkidar from the same people for the security of the same land. I had no answer. It was indeed sad. Now the main hurdle was getting the map of my dream house approved by Lake Authority, which consisted of eight departments.

According to locals, it was a tough job and usually took a long time to get approval. The district magistrate of Nainital, whose office was the final approving authority, was under orders of transfer at that time. Everyone in his office agreed that DM was a thorough gentleman and honest. I do not know why, but I had a feeling that I should meet this honest officer. I had just retired as additional director general News All India Radio at that time. I sent in my visiting card to his office room through his peon. He straightaway called me in, stood up, and shook hands with me, saying, how are you sir? He called for tea and asked, tell me sir, what can I do for you? My reply was nothing much, basically, I wanted to meet the officer about whom everyone in the office spoke so highly. He thanked me and said, but you must have come to my office with some work. Yes, I just submitted a map for my house in Bhimtal for approval.

He smiled and said just leave your particulars here, please. And within a week, I got a ring from the DM’s office that the map had been approved. I was elated. I was a proud owner of land in the hills now. Soon, it would be my second home in the hills. The next step was the development of the plot, which cost me 50 thousand rupees. It included flattening the land and constructing a stone wall at the back. It was the same time my son Ankur had to leave for America for higher studies in Master Of Public Health. He was also to appear for the USMLE, United States Medical Licensing Examination there. Before leaving for America, he wished to have a look at our proposed home in the hills. The location of our plot of land was just two kilometers from Bhimtal market. It was next to the village which grew exotic flower plants for export. Just next to this village, you take a turn to the right and start climbing a dust road.

As you reach near the top, we are at our plot of land. As you look down, there is a sprawling estate on the slopes of the hill. On the top of the hill is where the owner of the land lives and his fields are there. As you look in front of our land, there is a range of hills, and lush green flora and fauna and a canal full of water. I was happy, my second home would at least fulfill part of my dream. But my son, Dr. Ankur Segon had other ideas. He did not like the location. He said, sorry papa, you and mama cannot live here. There are no medical facilities, no transport, and the market is far away. We will have a cottage next to a metallic road where the market is nearby and medical facilities are there. Since our son is a doctor, we respected his opinion. Before I could put my land on sale, my friend offered to buy it at cost price without paying for development charges of fifty thousand rupees. As they say, man proposes and God disposes. Perhaps it was not our destiny to live here. But alas, to this day, I have not been able to build my dream home in the hills. My dream of a dream home still remains a dream. But I am not the one to lose heart easily. So what if I could not have my dream home in the hills? At least I could visit the mountains more often, and that is what I did, and I am at peace with myself.

I firmly believe in what Anne Frank says in "Diary of a Young Girl": “The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.” For the last thirteen years, I have made Aastha Homestay near Fagu in Shimla district of Himachal as my second home in the mountains. I have visited this place every year for at least one month and at times for two months in a year, except during the Covid period. It comes quite near to my dream. My children and grandchildren have also visited this place often. The only thing I can say is that all through my life, the new sights of nature made me rejoice like a child. I believe in the maxim that study nature, love nature, and stay close to nature. It will never fail you. I would have loved to stay in the lap of nature in my dream home forever, but it was not to be. But that did not dishearten me. I chose to stay in the lap of nature in different seasons at different locations like snow-capped mountains, gurgling springs and waterfalls, and lush green flora and fauna. Every time, I would say goodbye to them to come back again.

As Lewis Carroll says, “I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says ‘Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.’”