With marriage, I started moving with my husband to accompany him to his places of posting. The stay tenure in each place is about two to three years, and the places range from remote locations to metropolitan cities within India. These postings give broad exposure not only to the person in service but also to the accompanying families. The first two postings were at remote locations and I felt one with these locations in no time. In our third posting, we were allotted a 1904 constructed bungalow on the banks of a prominent river in India. The bungalow had a huge front and backyard. It was spread over two floors with very high ceilings, much more spacious than the modern-day constructions. I was mesmerized by the beauty of the house. For us, we felt very lucky about it.

With much enthusiasm, we shifted to this vintage bungalow after doing some essential maintenance work. Then started the other side of the story. The huge bungalow and quietness started making me feel lonely and empty. And, the huge space started making me feel tired even in doing some basic household work. I spoke to my close people, and they were simply clueless – How can such a rare opportunity and luxury make her feel distressed? I thought of confining myself to one floor, but this was not a practical idea. I came to know about two cases where the allottees surrendered similar accommodations due to adjustment issues.  

Now, I had two choices. Be unhappy or happy, about this opportunity. I decided to choose the second option, be happy about this beautiful stay. I started following a routine, with different types of engagements and occasionally going out to the nearest city. Then I tried spending more and more time in the home to love it. I tried pursuing my hobby of painting and tried small assignments with work from home option. But something was missing. After four months of shifting to this bungalow, I went to New Delhi to visit my parents. To my dismay, after three to four days, the rush of New Delhi started making me miss my quiet and calm home. Now I was looking forward to going back to my home, the vintage home.

I came back after visiting my parents. I decided to enjoy the moments in this vintage bungalow. And then, I don’t know when I got used to and fell in love with this beautiful home. And not only this, I realized one day that I developed an interest in collecting and reading literature, and was spending much more time with canvas and brush, and on writing.

This experience made me realize one thing – Sometimes we receive much bigger and better, than our expectations. But it may not always be easy for everyone to cherish the abundance and the good things. However, to cherish what we receive is a choice that we make. And every choice has associated efforts to make.

This article was published by the author in Medium on May 21 2023. The views are personal.