A perch with a view

Our veranda is a perch for all seasons. It offers you the best of two worlds 8212; a unique inside-outside space. Its utility during the monsoon is especially unmatched. What a joy it is to savour the heavy downpour or the musical trill of a gentle drizzle without having to get drenched. During summer there is nothing as enjoyable as sleeping in the veranda at night. The aroma of the 8216;raat-ki-rani8217; from the garden perfumes your bed, and the partly visible star-spangled sky induces restful slumber.

Little wonder, then, that our ancestors made ample use of such climate friendly, aesthetic spaces in their structures. Most old palaces and gardens have a lot of pavilions. Just open arcades and no walls. These permit cool breezes to waft in without allowing the a harsh sun the right of entry. The famous 8216;Sawan Bhadon8217; pavilion in Delhi8217;s Red Fort, built especially to savour the panorama of rains during the monsoon, speaks highly of the sensitivity of the then rulers to the mausam. The British, too, found the veranda to be a very simple and indigenous way of keeping buildings cool in summers. They made it an integral part of their architecture. At hill stations, of course, they glazed the verandas from all sides, just for the opposite reasons 8212; to invite the warm winter sun in, but shut out the cold winds.

I have often partaken of the delights of sitting out in the veranda of remote rest houses spread all over Himachal Pradesh. Whether you want to curl up with an engrossing book or view the enchanting Himalayan peaks 8212; the veranda offers the most vantage position.

One feels feel sorry for the people of metropolitan towns, holed up in their matchbox apartments with their stamp-sized balconies. Even if verandas get banished from the drawing boards of modern architects, for me they will always occupy a large space in the heart.