Storytelling

About a month back, when I went for a site visit for the renovation my house, Sai asked me to go to my favorite space of the house, and write about it. I had a lot of questions, I didn't  know the purpose of writing this. He didn't name the process or tell me what it was for, he just told me to write. "Don't think too much, just write", he said. 

Since it was my own house, I didn't have to go through too much trouble for this at all. I had one or multiple stories for every space in the house. So I wrote in detail about everything I felt and saw. And trust me, even though it was my house, I looked at it differently. The house I got out of wasn't the same one I got into - at least in my eyes. 

I have written 'narratives' for three houses after this. Each of these was a different experience. Coincidentally, each house ended up being very different from each other. One was in the process of being designed to be renovated, one was in the process of being constructed and the next one was already constructed.  The experience of writing was extremely different as well. 

So for today's blog, I thought it would be nice to share this experience with all of you. 

From being something that I thought was purposeless, writing these narratives have become one of the most favorite things I do at office. I usually start from one point of the house (mostly the entrance) and walk by the rest of the house, writing about what I feel and see. It's an extremely peaceful process - and surprisingly, I don't have to think too much either. Like Sai said the first time I tried doing this - the building would speak to me. It doesn't matter if it's the office I work at or the place I call home, I can't do this from memory. I sit in the space watch the patterns, the way the light falls, the structure of the building and all of these together, automatically tells me a story. I just have to listen and write it down. 

After this process, I am familiar with every little detail of the building - I know which window shows the best views, which one brings in the most light. I know which step is the best to sit on, or the details of the patterns the trees form on the ground.

Looking forward to writing the next one! And trust me guys, you should try this out too. Sit in the favorite space of your homes, and listen to it's story. You will end up looking at it way differently than how you look at it today.

- Ananya