It is often rare to find a friendship that transcends decades of life’s milestones …that shares common aspirations and passions…and forges such a strong bond, that two people seem like parts of the same whole. It is one such friendship that led me to this Home Tour! The story of the friendship of Rashmi and Sushma.
Rashmi wrote to me from Hong Kong one day -“Suppi..the Aalayam feature on Sridevi’s house was awesome! That gave me an idea..I have a friend in Texas, who has just bought and done up her house beautifully…painstakingly collected pieces. I was wondering if her home could be featured on your blog?”.
And my answer to Rashmi was a resounding Yes!!! Not only was I humbled at her feedback about Aalayam, I considered it a privilege to bring to our readers a poignant story about two friends who have grown up together, and are sharing their everyday lives with such zing, color and passion, even though separated by tens of thousands of miles!
Rashmi even wrote a blurb about Sushma’s home –
"Madhurageethe" in Austin, Texas, is a beautiful home named after Ramesh's and Sushma's loving mothers respectively. It is a haven built in 2012. Sushma likes to keep things simple, elegant, functional and Indian. The living/family room is their favorite place to hang out in their home. A touch of easy-to -maintain greenery sprinkled around the home keeps Sushma’s green thumb satisfied and adds a live energy to every room. Warm and vibrant colors are her type and she loves to keep moving things around in her home, cushion covers change to brighten up the room according to the season. These pictures were taken in Fall of last year, as you can probably see from the light streaming into her rooms!”
Thank you Rashmi, for introducing Aalayam to Madhurageethe. Maybe we can tempt you to share pictures of the corners from your home on Aalayam sometime. That is what Aalayam is all about, sharing glimpses of real people, their spaces and their inspirations. And this story touched our heart.
Let’s hear from the home owners themselves..about how they have brought INDIA home!
We (Ramesh and Sushma) are basically hard core 'Bangaloreans'-Simple and Cosmopolitan. Yet we are very 'Indian' in whatever we do-be it our way of life, the food we eat and the home we live in :)
We moved to Austin in 2007 and lived in an apartment till 2011. We eventually fell in love with the City and wanted to buy our home here, simply because it was so culturally close to the Bangalore we LOVE. Then began our home search…we looked for about 6 months to find the right kind of a house, not too big, not too small and not “over the top”. After a couple of compromises, we eventually settled for this one. We were lucky to have at least a couple of things the 'Karnataka' way-we did a traditional 'Bhoomi Puje' or the ground breaking ceremony, and then when the house was built and ready, we did our own private 'Gruhapravesha' :). Private because, the 'Muhurtha' fell on a working day when all of our dear friends were at work !! The priest doubled as our photographer :) which was actually interesting because he was clicking pictures from our mobile phone as and when he was saying the 'mantras'- amusing nevertheless!!
All, I can now say is..Way to go Sushma and Ramesh!! You have truly brought INDIA home! Thank you for letting us into your home and your heart.
Love,
Supriya