It was twelve years ago that Sethu, a young High Court lawyer bought 19 cents of land in Edappally. The land had belonged to one of the great actors of Malayalam cinema, the late G. Soman. He considers it destiny that he could build a house on that land which he had often contemplated selling. It was in memory of his first film Gayatri that Soman had bought a house and adjacent land in Edappally. He also named the house Gayatri. The 19 cents of the land adjacent to the house was what Sethu bought. Sethu who had no filmi connections whatsoever was to build a house there 12 years later from money that films brought him.
Sethu is a known scriptwriter today. Thanks to this fine coincidence Sethu has a special affection for his own house.
Design: Sethu – Meena
Filmi friends and relatives like Jayaram, Parvathy, Kunchacko Boban and Manoj. K. Jayan who came for the house warming all had one question on their lips -– about the architect. Even as Sethu and wife Meena swore that it was them, it seemed implausible to accept that such a beautiful house as this was the duo’s own design.
The idea of building a house sprouted after first film Chocolate came out in 2007. Sethu recounts the story behind the house. From then on for four years we were voyaging into dream that was the house. We bought Interior magazines, studied those and prepared a plan. My father’s elder brother Padmanabhan Nair chalked up the structural plan based on our plan. Sethu laid out every corner of the house in his mind’s frame in the manner of envisaging filmi scenes. The workers were clearly told what was in the mind by providing reference sketches for each part. Elevation also was borne of Sethu’s imagination.
Passion, not quality paramount
Sethu is keen not to confine the house to its dimensions. Therefore he is opposed to the idea of insisting on “a house of this much square feet”. “Design a house according to our needs. Stick to whatever square feet it comes to. Do not build an inch more or less than what is required. If the area is surplus for the house, maintenance becomes a pain in the neck. When the house was designed as per tastes, it ground to a halt at 3,200 square feet. Even though there are 19 cents lands, the area around the house save the yard has been segregated. This is not based on any exact measurement. Once the house was built, it was decided to utilise a certain portion of land for courtyard and the rest blockaded. There is also a specific reason for doing this. A yard needs only as much land as can be maintained.
Unfamiliar Vastu
There is no steadfast adherence to the rules of Vastu sastra here. Sethu neither believes nor disbelieves in Vastu. ‘Earlier the stay was in the family home. Vastu was never consulted for that house. We did not have any mishaps living there. I thought it prudent not to develop a new habit. Some popularly observed rules like the position of the well and not having bathroom in the kannimoola were taken care of.
The elegance of white
Even though he had been to several places in connection with shooting, Sethu insists that no house had mesmerized him. His desire to paint house in white stemmed from the memory of positive energy radiated by the white paint of a restaurant he used to frequent during college days. He gave the walls white colour and spread white Italian marble on the sit out, living and dining room floors. Special care has been given to cross-ventilation. As the windows are aligned facing one another, there is free and unhindered reign for air in the house. Windows are set at the corners as much as possible. These are designed such as to open to the courtyard. When it came to windows, Sethu has borrowed the construction style of old mansions.
Setting up wash area under the stair case based on the decision not to have wash basin in dining area and sprucing up an aquarium in place of railings for the upstairs landing stairs proved refreshing new visual experiences.
Sethu and wife never adopted the method of dressing up and going furniture and furnishings shopping. Instead, whenever they went out they scoured many shops and took possession of the exact same designs that they desired in mind. Furniture for the upstairs floor has not yet been procured. Both Sethu and Meena are in patient wait for the furniture which they have in mind.
Life lesson
“When you build a house without expert assistance, there are not just advantages but disadvantages also. Only when you start inhabiting it will be issues come to light. Until then only the benefits had met your eye. The main problem is our lack of technical know how. Pergola was built at my instance. My workers were building a pergola for the first time.
The drawbacks of that are being known now. Another lesson is that one has to oversee the entire construction process. Often time it is while returning from the filmi trips that one realized that something was not built as intended. I have had to rebuild as a result. I noticed moisture inside the house. Only then it was known that instead of interior putty, exterior putty should have been used inside as well.
The advice to those who want to build a house of their own is to set aside time for picking up technical knowledge also in the same way you do homework for its beautification. Then there will not be any issues.