chowkinuma house

Roshan Lal Sharma’s  house is located right behind the school. On entering the house, one can exit from a level above, through a back door leading to the wheat fields behind.  Seven people live in this house. Sharmaji’s wife Disha Sharma, his son Vaibhav, his daughter Purnima. Sharmaji’s younger brother and his wife. Roshanlal Sharma is the head of the family. He also owns a radio and TV repair shop near the Pangna Bus Stop. His wife is a Hindi teacher in the GSS Pangna school, which is right opposite to their house. His son, Vaibhav is completing his graduation, his daughter is also a teacher in a private school. Bhupendrelal and Roshanlal Sharma also own a farm. Their house dates back to 150 yr. It is a G+1 structure. It is made of wood, slate and mud plaster. Slate is used for the roof and also to build the walls. Slate is an  indigenous material. The wood that is used for construction  is called ‘Deodar wood’. It is a great building material and is widely used in this region. It is highly durable and rot resistant, which makes it ideal for construction. However, in the present day this wood has become unavailable, as the government has put a ban on cutting down trees because of which it has also become very expensive.  Due to the short supply of older materials, RCC houses are coming up in this area. The Sharmas’ existing house also expanded behind, vertically with the back section of the old house being demolished and replaced by an RCC building housing newer rooms, modern  bathspaces and toilets.

The spatial configuration of this particular type  is such that  the central open space- ‘Chowki’  is the courtyard. A semi open space -‘praud’ wraps around the chauki. The praud acts as a buffer space between the closed  rooms- ‘obra’and the open chowki.

The activities throughout the day take place against the contrasting backgrounds of the old and the new type.Though a new part is built the type of the chowki is maintained. All the religious as well as cultural activities are performed in the central courtyard. The new part does have a new kitchen and temple but the family prefers to use the one in their old part. Everyday in the morning, jalarpan and tulsi puja happen in the chowki.The rasoi or the kitchen continues to be the in the old part with a low ceiling, mudwalls, floor clad with(gheu-mud-dung ) .The addition of a temple room  in the new extension remains unused as the temple in the old part still in operation.The  reason the family uses the chowki for  their everyday activities in addition to the new part is also because of the climatic comfort, which the old house provides. Sharmaji's morning starts with doing jalarpan in the ‘chowki’ . Alongside his wife, Disha prepares food in the ‘rasoi’ . By the time it's 9, she leaves for the school right across the street. Back at home, her son spends most of his time in the new section.In the chowki, Sharma ji’s uncle sits on one of the three staircases leading to the ‘praud ’. Dishaji returns from school during the lunch break. Sharmaji returns from his televion repair shop and rests upstairs adjacent to the rasoi in the living space, a part of the new addition. Food prepared in the rasoi comes to the living room. The floor transitions from the mud-gheu-dung clad floor into the finished plywood where they sit and have lunch together.