Ajja Ajji’s House

Red gates look alarming to those who are unfamiliar but stand for passion and love. And this is exactly what you will find inside this compounded home. I have spent all my summers in this place since birth and know every square inch of this home. This elegant structure is painted cream/off-white with dark brown stripes in the groves that run horizontally a foot apart from each other. There are three small steps with a white railing lending to the orange door with round designs on it. There is a custard apple tree to give shade for guests while they wait outside. It is now tiled with 2 feet by 2 feet square limestone sheets on the outside verandah. Once I remember playing cricket in the red basalt that existed. Everything changes over time. The back of the house has a coconut tree that was born the day I was. He lets me climb up him even though it hurts him. to give him company is a fig tree and a rose bush. These three get along really well my grandpa used to say. A little farther is another group of friends. A lemon tree, a tree with spicy leaves and a tree with holy leaves on it. I don’t know their names, still.         

Now there is a water tank that is covered up after my sister fell in and almost drowned. That was scary. The house is surrounded by walls on all four sides even though they don’t really keep anyone out. On another side there are three plants with the most beautiful smelling flowers. My grandma told me that since they are white they stand for purity and peacefulness. The terrace on top is not only a place for solitude but the funnest game I have played. To try and balance on the edge, with the wind antagonizing you. The risk was great and not falling wasn’t an option.

There is also a giant rock place accordingly by my grandparents so that when any water fell on it trees would receive it. This rock has been used for years to wash clothes of those who have lived in the house. The dirt under your feet sort of slides when you are wearing footwear. But I don’t know much about wearing footwear in that house. But what I do know is that when it rains the house smells of the best possible combination of water and earth. The bricks that mark the boundary between tiles, the human world, and grass, dirt, tress, the world of endless possibilities turn blood red.

17 summers I have spent there for about 4 months a year. 1.3 years all together but I can tell you which rock belongs where and what the name if every bird that has ever lived there or that the taste of a custard apple doubles in its deliciousness when at home. Or when you drink the coconut water it makes feel like you are in heaven. Or that when the wind started blowing I watched my friends dance with their long branches and offer me fruits.

But like I said earlier, everything changes over time. My grandparents cannot live there anymore. And now knowing that this place will never be the same I must accept this change as well. We share a common destiny; we are all subject to change. And I will never be able to express how much I will miss my coconut tree.