Building a house of one’s own probably might be the most cherished dream of a person. However, he/she has to get through lots of hurdles before seeing this dream come true. Vaijesh Madhu, a native of Adoor, Pathanamthitta, Kerala, shares his incredible story of turning his leaking, old and dilapidated house into a safe and sturdy structure that has all the basic amenities. In a touching note shared on his Facebook page, Vaijesh opens up about the various challenges that his family had to overcome to finally build their dream dwelling.
It was his father’s words, “I wish I could sleep in a concrete house before I die,” that motivated Vaijesh to build a new house in place of their old house that had a tarpaulin sheet for roof. Now, the youngster is happy and proud that he and his older brother Vysakh had gifted their parents the house of their dreams.
Vaijesh begins his Facebook post saying that the family had waited for 23 years to have a proper roof above their heads. His mother used to go to the neighbouring houses to watch TV as they didn’t have electricity in their house. She was often reminded by owners of those houses not to lean on the wall as the dirt from her hair would stain the wall.
“The roof of our house was just a tarpaulin sheet and it leaked during heavy rains. Our parents would sit up throughout the night and moved us around to drier spots as we slept. There were days when we had nothing to eat; hung our heads in shame as people chided us. We had to hide from the ‘annachi’ (loan shark) if the loan amount was defaulted by a week. We had struggled a lot. We were ashamed to invite our friends home (even though we had no food to eat, we were indeed proud) I was sure that I would never be an expatriate. However, on 15 August in 2018, I went abroad,” wrote Vaijesh.
Vaijesh had very few dreams when he decided to become an expatriate. He wished to gift a gold chain to his mother and build a small yet decent house.
He gifted the gold chain to his mother when he came home for his first vacation from abroad. One night, as they were having dinner, Vaijesh’s father expressed his desire to have a proper, concrete 'waterproof' house. His words motivated the brothers and they decided to build a new house as soon as possible. Vaijesh and Vysakh were determined to do it for their parents. Before Vaijesh went back to his place of work the construction of their house had begun. However, things weren’t easy for them. Vaijesh credits friends for helping and supporting them during the time of crisis. “Though there are some debts, we recently celebrated the house warming ceremony. By the grace of God, we now own a small yet beautiful house. My parents stepped into their dream abode that they had longed for ages. We are grateful to all our friends who helped and supported us throughout this journey,” Vaijesh concludes his Facebook post.
