PERMANENT ADDRESS

Point to Ponder:  Every time I fill a form that asks for ‘permanent address’ I smile….

Storyline: The real folly of human desire.....PERMANENT ADDRESS  Written by Javed Akhtar......a good read..... Very thought provoking!

 

Our joint family home housed 14 of us from age 5 to 95 years.

 

Today, I watch both the houses abandoned and nature taking over the garden my mother used to tend for hours every day. The Jamun, the Drumstick, a few Ashok, Neem and Peepal have survived, but all beauty is both transient and fragile, and the law of entropy is powerful. The lovely flowers of myriad colors are all gone. I wonder what happened to the peacock family that came every day and ate from my moms hand. The Bulbul, the sparrows, the parrots, spotted flycatchers, Cuckoos, a huge troop of monkeys that once in a month would upset the order of the place

 

*Once people leave, a home becomes a house*. Initially, I didn’t feel like selling, and now I don’t feel like going. Time has taken away ten of its fourteen occupants.

 

I walk around our neighborhood and see the similar fate of so many homes once full of life now replaced or lying still.

 

Why do we stretch and stress to build houses? In most cases, our kids won’t need it or worse, fight over it. 

*What is this human folly of attempting permanent ownership in a leased life with an uncertain tenure given by a landlord whose terms are non-negotiable and there is no court of appeal*

 

One day, all we have built with love and EMIs will either be demolished, fought over, sold, or lie in ruins. 

 

Every time I fill a form that asks for ‘permanent address’ I smile at human folly. 

 

There is a Zen story that an old monk walked into a Kings palace demanding he wanted to spend the night in this Inn and the guards told him, “What Inn, can’t you see its a palace?”. The monk said “I came here a few decades back. Someone was staying there. A few years later, someone else took the throne from him, then someone else. Any place where the occupant keeps changing is an Inn.”

 

George Carlin says “The House is just a place where you keep your stuff as you go out and get more stuff”

 

As houses get bigger, families get smaller. *When the house has occupants, we desire privacy, and when the nest empties, we crave for company.* 

 

Birds and Animals must be laughing at us humans who give up living in order to build their dream home and, in the end, depart the Inn they mistook as a permanent residence.

 

Article Courtesy of Mr. Basant Rajput

 

Reflection: We received this article from a former neighbor and a friend. Having started on this journey (nomad life) three years ago we could relate with the key message, loved it and decided to share with You, our loyal friends around the world. 

Nowadays, Every time we fill a form that asks for ‘permanent address’ we  smile and ask: Is there one? 

 

Comments

[Maria]

Haahahah. By faith I claim one day I would also travel the world 🙂

[Nandeep]

Dear Anand
Hope all is well. this is the most wonderful piece I have read ever.

[KJ]

You make it sound so scary😬

[Prasad Vepa]

Thanks for sharing this very poignant, thought provoking and insightful little essay by the great Javed Akhtar. Homes are remembered for hosting and enabling warm, wonderful and loving memories of time spent with others, enabling their dreams, aspirations, joys and sorrows, trials, tribulations and triumphs, in other words lives lived, much like Thomas Gray's Elegy in a country churchyard.

[Amita]

Anand Fantastic...so true👍👍👍👏👏

[Sharad]

Permanent address: Globe
Occupation: Globe Trotter

[EastCoast]

I have a house, but more importantly, it is a home.

[SJ]

I guess anywhere, or anyone, that we fill with love and memories, is “home.”❤️

[Bipin Shah]

Anand:
One can live a nomadic life only after the children are gone and you are empty nesters! The other consideration for many is to be able to pay for hotels and meals if you stop living in a home that for most people may not have a mortgage. For those like you in Si Valley, if you sell a home with couple of miles in equity, nomadic life may be fine.
Just thought I share this with you and other readers. By the some people like to sleep in their own beds and nomadic life doe not work for them either.
Best,
Bipin Shah

[Carol]

Inspirational and thought provoking. Home is where the heart is, and where memories are made. Thanks for sharing!

[Anand]

To Bipin
Bipin
Thanks for your comment. Having experienced most of the things in the main storyline and childhood teachings of four phases of life in India ( fourth one being detachment) were behind our decision to try nomad life, not because of our life and status in Silicon Valley. We are happy no matter whether it’s a hotel or Nipa Hut.

The beautiful home I grew up in India, with fond memories, is not taken care of and looks like Khander. Only pigeons and monkeys enjoy the luxury of the home.

Here in USA, none of our kids wanted our home in Silicon Valley. Logistics of taking care of it and traveling were not totally peace of mind.

And the childhood learnings of four phases of life Childhood, Youth, Family and Career and the detachment years had been deeply embedded in mind.

So long before reading this article, we are trying the teachings of fourth phase of life. Detachment from all things. To be honest, giving away all material possessions was not difficult but the emotional attachment with family and friends is still very strong and only time will tell how successful we are in that area.

Hope this clarifies.

[FE-Japan]

I enjoyed reading the article. It made me reflect and thought about the pilgrims. We are like them in a way.