PlainGeets

“Petit à petit, l’oiseau fait son nid.”

(The bird makes its nest, step by step. In other words, Rome wasn’t built in a day.)

I love this French proverb for its poetry and for being so much more “real” than it’s English counterpart. I couldn’t care less about Rome, but I know that building a home is a process that happens over a period of time, step by step. In my case each step came after several months. When I first moved into my current apartment, all I had in guise of furniture were some chairs, a coffee table, a bunch of cushions and mattresses.

A lamp and some pretty cushion covers were purchased after a couple of months to add warmth and colour to my living room.

Corner tables and a TV console were added a few months later, doing away with the cartons I was using till then. A small dining table for two was added at Diwali and some “modhas” (traditional cane stools with woven jute rope seats) were added just before Christmas.

The new year saw me curling up on comfortable armchairs and sleeping on a bed after nearly two years. My cup runneth over and I thought my nest was ready.

And then I went to Nice Package, an exhibition of furniture and home accessories, organised by a student. I was going only out of solidarity, or so I thought. Barely five minutes after I stepped into Gallery Time and Space, where the exhibition was held,  I was dreaming. Dreaming and picturing where several beautiful pieces of furniture could be placed in my tiny apartment. Dreaming and wishing I had a bigger apartment and more importantly, a bigger salary !

I loved the marble-topped table and “lollypop” chairs in bright pink and could picture myself sitting at the table sharing a cup of tea or staring out into nothingness.

I drooled over the green dinner cabinet that made me start planning my ideal dining room.

I had to hold myself from buying one each of the gorgeous bedspreads with Kantha work and the beautiful mulmul dohar blankets. I did, however, indulge a bit and walked away with some beautiful cushion covers to add that much needed dash of colour (and drama) to my black armchairs and the prettiest bag I’ve owned – pink with motifs of flowers and birds, it’s just perfect for Spring and Summer in the garden city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am now waiting for the Nice Package store to open so I can go back, indulge some more and continue building the nest, one step at a time… 🙂