Golconde

Trip to golconde was a very delightful one. Thanks a ton to shipra who should us around and pateintly gave us all the details.
At the first look the building appeared to me very hostile rigid structure made all of concrete. It looked massive and imposing to me. But as I entered and saw the details, it softened and seemed welcoming. A very beautiful place to stay at.

As you enter, you see a built in racks for shoes, neatly numbered for each person. Beside it is something that I liked the most. Its an umbrella stand in concrete. Its like a table with holes to put your umbrellas in with a concrete tray underneath to collect water and avoid a mess. Under your feet is a cool black cuddappa stone. 

Climbing the stairs, first thing you see are the louvered windows working so efficiently for the past 70 years! There are louvers made of asbestos, custom made for that very building. The metal rods hold them and they open up to allow light and air. The corridor is like a long row of louvered windows on one side and wooden shutters on the other. I would have never imagined that those wooden shutters would slide away so smoothly to reveal the rooms. There were no wheels. Just polished wood that did wonders. Also its not a panel of solid wood but has horizontal slats that rest onto the vertical ones. This allows for ventilation. In the room also there are similar louvered windows which when open up to offer the view of the garden at back.

Everything had a designated place. As if, while designing, the architects imagined how would the person be living, what all he would be requiring, the daily routine, the possesions, the activities all taken care of. There was a wooden bed with cane weaving and folding frames for mosquito nets; a cane woven wooden easy chair with armrest whose back one could tilt back for relaxing and a matching footstool with it. a study table and a chair facing the window. A cupboard for clothes and a rack for books. a little cabinet mounted on the wall for small personal things. There was a full length mirror too. The way it mounted was interesting. Just below the beam there was slit  that allowed the mirror to be hung without driving a nail in the wall. Oh yes , the plaster on the wall is chettinad plaster. Shipra told us that it was a technique used in a lot of forts and palaces in rajasthan.so similar to that they mixed egg shell powder,jiggery, lime etc for plastering the walls.

Everything in the room was true to its material. They were revealed as they are; grey were the cement walls, ceiling and windows; flooring was black; wood nicely polished to reveal its grains. It inspired you to be true to yourself in spirit and soul. The bathrooms and toilets were common and it goes without saying that were thoughtfully done too with hooks and racks in appropriate places. Cross the row of bathrooms and you will be find another staircase. A tiny one. It’s a service stair case. The texture on it is rough to avoid slipping while running up and down. The bathrooms are made on the floor of the landing of the staircase. On the top floor is the drying area and from here you can see the curved tiled roofs. Though they are too big to be called tiles but I guess that’s what they call them. The building runs east to west, the windows face north south to receive air and avoid direct sun. as it is really hot and humid in this part of the country, circulation of air is very important. The huge louvered windows very well take care of that.

Around the building shallow strip of water. This is to avoid the ants from entering the building. How very thoughtful was that. It like the same as we keep a bowl of sugar in a tray of water to prevent ants. Applying it in a whole building. There is semi basement to this building, which act like service rooms. There also there is place for everything; to mount the long cobweb brooms horizontly on the wall; space for ladders; to keep the soap near the basin and many other minute details. the windows here were very unexpected. It looked like wall of perforted concrete panels but to my amazement, shipra clicked open two locks on the sides, flipped the L-angles and the perforated concrete panels opened up on the central vertical pivot. He he he, it was like a magic trick for me. Oh wow this was place to be at. I can keep going on explaining it and killing it, so I should stop. I will not put any pictures as they are very bad clicks. Just taken for the sake of it.