Castles in the Air and Apartments on Earth

I have a strong feeling that the construction company that is building my future tiny abode in Goa, in its (in)finite wisdom, has decided that perhaps some of the world's greatest goals, perhaps, achieving world peace would be better served if I and my other fellow future neighbors remain ignorant of the expected date of the completion of the project. I, a mere spec on cosmic canvas, stuck in my own microcosm, however, believe that they are wrong. In fact, if anything good can really be achieved in the world it can be only achieved if I continue to suffer the agony of waiting and by inflicting such pain on myself I somehow indirectly contribute to reduction in global warming. We could be both wrong but since I am the writer of this Blog, its crystal clear that I am right and they are wrong.

No doubt people would try to convince me otherwise and suggest that I should carry on with my daily life and try to pretend that uncertainties in life do not matter, ‘it will happen when its meant to happen’, etc. etc., but where is the fun in that! So I don't make even an iota of an effort to try and keep the tsunamis in my tea-cup-world under control. To put it simply (now that I have satisfied my ego by indulging in meaningless banter!), it’s very difficult to keep up the pretense of sang-froid and my thoughts often do turn towards Goa and the endless wait becomes unbearable!

The upcoming October holidays are not helping…I do end up agonizing about how nice it would have been had I received possession of the apartment by now; I would have been in Goa! Sitting at the balcony, enjoying the morning cuppa while the cool sea breeze caressed my face, but alas! since that cannot be, what’s the second best alternative? Of course, to daydream!

But the above manner of daydreaming is not ‘constructive’ daydreaming! Constructive daydreaming is an altogether different creature and, as it happens, I am one of the budding experts in the field. So if you want some tips on this very promising field, keep visiting this Blog. Coming back to 'creative daydreaming', let me illustrate with the help of an example - in the present scenario ‘constructing’ castles in the air or the interior décor for the future apartment, once again, in the air, is the best way of constructive daydreaming. Look at the bright side you have infinite time at your disposal to plan the décor for an apartment since the possession date is yet outside the scope of time-space continuum!

The best place to begin constructive daydreaming, as the experts in the field are bound to tell you, is the Internet. I fired up the engines of search on the net and the God of all daydreamers immediately obliged. A plethora of websites came up on the screen immediately but unfortunately most of them were foreign in origin. This of course, meant that a zillion ideas bloomed but given that the men and material required to put most of these ideas into practice are conspicuous by their absence in India, even for the prolific daydreamers it poses an insurmountable challenge to ‘construct’ with these ideas. Furthermore, even if one is able to ‘construct’ the constructions are unusable given the that the climate for which most western ideas for interior decoration are planned is unsuited for our purpose in India. I understood my mistake immediately; I had been searching for castles and manor houses in the air while I should have been looking for durgs and purams. So I began my search anew, I began to look for India centric websites and especially Goa centric ones. The first few plunges were pretty frustrating – zilch, nada, nothing. So I pried (prayed?) a little harder and the God of Internet did oblige. I found some websites of furniture and furnishing stores in Goa but not enough to satisfy my appetite. What was missing was the experience of real consumers. I was seeking records of rich personal experiences, experiences which did not read like advertisements. What I wanted were ‘diaries of the quest’, successful and failed but I was drawing complete blanks. I tried various search parameters to explore the Goan world of home furniture and furnishings. Even went searching for more materialistic real world stuff like - where and for how much? But in the expanses and the depth of the Internet-Sea, quest for such experiences within India, more so town-specific, to put it mildly, underwhelmed me. What I got were mostly website of individual furniture stores or inanimate listings on glorified trade directories. But perseverance seldom goes completely unrewarded. Finally I found at least one website that gave me what I was looking for. Jyoti Bhargava, a human resource management professional had recently bought a second home in Goa and had shared her experiences relating to her hunt for furniture and other quests related to her apartment in Goa on her Blog - Jyoti's Musings.

I found Jyoti’s writing style to be sincere, frank and confidence inspiring. In other words, I was more inclined to accept her take on various furniture options available in Goa than what I had found in the descriptions on the various websites either advertising their ware or simply listings of shops. Jyoti’s, two very interesting and informative posts about furniture in Goa can be found here and here. The only other source that I found to be of some interest was at India Mike Goa section. You can find it here.

I am still looking for other similar sources of information. The question that begs more attention is - why is there a dearth of such user generated writings from India on the net? Does it tell us something about our attitude towards sharing? Do we have something against sharing information altruistically, experience from other subjects say, travel, surely does not corroborate any anti-sharing bias. Could it be that sharing of opinion is restricted by low Internet penetration and shortage of English language skills? In other words, is the lack of effort by people and the government of India to launch Indian language websites on the net responsible for low level of sharing of opinions? Or is it that the subject at hand draws little interest from Indian Internet denizens ? The jury is still out.

Now, given that I am cribbing about the dearth of information on the subject at hand I must at least practice what I preach. Hence, I promise to do two things. First, as and when I find more such resources I am going to report them here. Secondly, following Jyoti’s example (and to be honest with a little prodding from her), you can rest assured, a record of my own experiences with regards to furnishing my apartment, would appear on this Blog as soon as they begin. Till then, I am afraid its going to be more castles in the air! I hope you have the patience to wait till these air castles get transformed into apartments on earth.