A 150 year old house...

My friend/co worker and fellow mud house enthusiast, Mr. Sunil, has done some research in his area, Pasyala, and has come across a "mud" house built 150 years ago. He has got permission from the owner to take some pictures. According to Mr. Sunil, it is impossible to say that it was built from "mud". The material used for the structure of the house was soil dug from the land site. In fact, some of the pits dug thus, are still remaining. Water was added to the soil and it was worked with the feet and covered and kept for three days, after which some chemical process occurring in the soil would enable it to be made into balls and used to build up the walls. The foundation was made with rocks and then the same soil as added in between and pressed down.

This is a big house, complete with inner courtyard and built with two stories or what is known as a loft.
Here is a bit of the inner courtyard:

This house is built in the architectural style of those years and has inner arched entryways : and pillars and verandas

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Here is the "mud wall" exposed in one place, where the lime and sand plaster has broken away:

And here is a picture of the foundation. Mr Sunil says the foundation is quite high and the whole house is built about one foot off the ground.

It gives me great happiness to know that there are such houses built of totally natural material like this. And also that it is possible to build from the most simplest form to the most complicated, using the same material.

Till next time...

Rook-my journey into a simpler life.

I have bought a land in a suburban area. Thirty perches, perched on a small hill, covered in trees so much so that there as almost no sunlight..which was what really drew me to the land. I was tired of hot weather, relentless sun....I wanted to creep into a shady area....to revive...to be born again.

This was the picture which captured me. This is actually the way to the land. Past the jak trees on the right, up the small hillock...come! see it...my Rook.

Rook/ruk in my language means trees. An apt name...there are two jak trees, 3 coconut trees, one mango tree, two graviola trees...and a nut meg tree which is just outside the border, its branches gently bowing into the Rook..

These pictures are before we cleared up a little. Our team consisted of three, Baasunnahe, a professional mason worker, who is an old family friend, and Sumathipala, a cheerful villager from the area and myself. This is after clearing up the dense undergrowth, a little:

In front is the Jak tree, with lichen on its bark.

And the happiest event of all! The previous owners of the land had done the road for me as a surprise!!!! So I could bring our little red march right up to the Rook...

I am so thankful....
And I will conclude today with this....this, that I truly believe..