Although this house had many striking features, today I will write only about the roof. When you imagine a roof, do you really imagine parts of it to be flexible? I did not. Formally trained as an architect, I had always envisioned roof only as a cover. (Until I visited this house!)
It was a beautiful day in the month of July that I visited this house. That day, all the elements of weather were certainly welcome inside the house. The windows were open and so was the roof. Yes! So was the roof! It is a matter of simple innovation/adaptation. The slate tiles were fixed only at one end to the roof. The other end being free- tiles could be rotated, allowing the weather gods inside. How innovative!
Small innovations like these are abundant in houses of Indian villages. I feel my visits to these houses would be incomplete if I do not talk to the residents about ‘how they constructed their house’. Unfortunately, in this case the residents did not know. It is not surprising; people do not prefer to build in conventional ways now.
Pakhee 