This is not just a house. This is history in lime and mortar and wood. The walls of this house resonate with stories of people who lived there and accounts of events that have made it famous.
But, this house is also history that is slipping from memory. For, after 137 years, ‘time’ is tightening its grip on this house in Triplicane, called Gautham Asharam, threatening to snatch away heritage and tradition along with the building.
“After my father, everyone moved out of this house. I was in Delhi for 30 years and came back only recently. The house has fallen into disuse. Lack of maintenance has led to cracks on the structure. The branch of a tree has entered the house through a major crack. I have built an outhouse and now live there. For this long, we have kept this house for sentimental reasons. Now it is up to my children to do whatever they wish with the house,” says the only resident at the house, 97-year-old S. Parthasarathy whose smile seems to hide a lot of grief.
He has accepted the fate of his ancestral home. Built in 1877, this house shares its compound with the Parthasarathy Temple and has long associations with it. “Before every procession, the idol of the deity is taken through this house to the chariot. The house opens up to around five lakh people who walk through the front portion of the house before the annual ther,” says Parthasarathy.
Apart from its connection to the temple, the house has also had political links. “My father Kirshnamachariyar and his brothers have played hosts to leaders such as Bala Gangadar Tilak, Bipin Chadra Pal, Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturibha Gandhi. Even Bharathiyar would frequently visit the house and conduct meetings here. The family also started a monthly magazine Bala Bharath , for which Bharathiyar was the editor,” he says.
Though the house has seen periodic modifications, the basic structure has remained the same. The frontal part was once covered with pandal made of dried palm leaves, then tin sheets were put in its place and now it has been turned into a concrete roof. “The main hall could accommodate an entire marriage party. Only the four main walls are made of lime and mortar and the partitions are made out of wood. These partitions were dismantled before any big function. Also the concept of a room has been foreign to us. So everyone would eat, play and sleep in the same place. No one thought about privacy then,” he adds.
The most fascinating part of the house is the six wooden, beautifully carved pillars that were gifted to the family by the Nawab of Carnatic when they planned to construct the house. “The height of the ceiling was redesigned to the height of the pillar. The Madras terrace roof also had Mangalorean beams, which were later removed due to wear and tear. But a 40 feet beam covering the entire breath of the house is still providing support to the house. The one-foot thick wall would keep the temperature almost 5 degrees lower than the ambient temperature. Some walls ever even made of clay. We never needed fans, let alone air conditioners,” says Parthasarathy.
On why the family never thought about reconstructing the house over the years, he says it was convenient for people who lived here then. “There were around 30 people living here and it suited them to have this old-type of house.”
