Ksheer Vasudha Kumar still remembers a game that her teacher made her play when she was in school. At the end of the exercise, they had to fill a box that asked them what they wanted to become in future. Architect, wrote little Vasudha. A lot of her friends, even the close ones, thought that that was due to her family background. Growing up with a successful father — Kumar of Navin Constructions — and a family closely involved with the realty business, it was but natural for her to write so, they figured.
Today, a couple of decades later, they might just look back at that moment and wonder why they did. For, this 25-year-old is now the proud owner of a nearly 150-year-old bungalow in the quaint cantonment area of St. Thomas Mount, which she has converted into House # 22, a café, boutique, meeting space, photo studio, rampwalk area... all rolled into one.
This particular mansion, earlier owned by an Anglo-Indian couple who sold it off to her father, was particularly striking for Vasudha. When in college — she studied architecture at SRM University, Kattankulathur — the walk from her house, just a stone’s throw from the ‘popular’ Parangimalai Jyothi, to the place where the bus would pick her up would be incomplete without a glance at this bungalow. “I didn’t want to demolish it, I wanted to do something about it,” she recalls.
That happened a few years later when, after passing out of college, she wanted to do something of her own. Along with a few friends, she studied the options for this colonial mansion — homestays were one, and youth clubs that’d host debates were another. The former wasn’t possible due to a lack of rooms. The latter involved a lot of networking and groundwork, which was tedious.
And thus, she zeroed in on the concept of an interactive space. Her parents were zapped when she used that word. So were her friends. They didn’t understand what she exactly meant. “They failed to realise that this has been happening since time immemorial. Why did our temples exist, other than serving as places of worship? They were meant to be spaces where people could meet and discuss. You had music, dance, an open space...and food!”
That’s the same ‘atmosphere’ she wanted to give people coming to her space. “I didn’t want a restaurant here... I just couldn’t imagine a lot of people coming and going,” she says, “I wanted an interactive space...with food. So, the idea of a café was born.” But that wasn’t enough — for, the 4.5 ground space of lush green landscape and 2,500 sq.ft. colonial mansion had much more to offer.
“As an architecture student, we worked on several projects that made us envision things. When I walked in to this bungalow, I started imagining things...of a chair here, a chandelier there, a stage in front that’d overlook the golf gardens,” she says.
Designing the interiors, she says, was pure joy. “It’s very much like doing your own house. Most girls enjoy decorating spaces. Hyderabad-based designer Shravan Kumar’s boutique is also housed inside the premises.”
At House # 22, mango yellow is the colour that rules (“most of the restaurants in town use red or purple”), with bottles and bike chains covering lights (“always recycle and restore”) and the houndstooth fabric (“to bring old fashion back to use”).
With a café named as unique as this, you expect a story. There is, and there isn’t one. The address of the place doesn’t have a 22 – so why did she have that number in the name? “Well, it was actually quite random,” she says matter-of-factly, “At the time we were setting up this place, the number ‘22’ just kept coming to me. My car, a CR-V, had the registration number 2200. I was also 22 when I made this place...and so, I thought, why not?” But why the word ‘house’, I insist. “After all, isn’t it one?” she replies.
After spending a considerable amount of time living in West Mambalam, Vasudha’s family moved to the Portuguese settlement of St. Thomas Mount when she was in class XII. The golf greens and the hill attracted her then. Even today, they still do. “Where else in Chennai will you get a place like this?” she challenges, pointing to the lush golf grounds that one can see from her café, “These grounds have been here for decades, and will continue to be there.”
Fortunately for her, the Cantonment and the presence of the Officers Training Academy nearby means very little change and commercialisation. “In fact, we are perhaps the first and only big commercial venture in the area,” she beams, “The officers there wanted to encourage a young entrepreneur!”
Vasudha has fond memories of the neighbourhood, some of them even hilarious. “Every time I hire an autorickshaw and ask the driver to drop me at Parangimalai Jyothi they would give me a dirty look,” she laughs, referring to the popular notion that used to prevail about this theatre, “But well, this is where I live....”
The Metro rail work on the main road parallel to North Parade Road, has proved to be a blessing in disguise. “Traffic has increased and people have started noticing my place,” she beams, “Once the metro becomes functional, Nungambakkam might no longer be the hotspot of Chennai. Kathipara will be the place where different railway lines will meet, making it the place to be. And, I’ll be at the centre of it all, won’t I?”
While buildings excite Vasudha, facing the camera too is also right up her alley. Ever since college, she’s been in demand in the modelling circuit and have even won a few beauty pageants. A few film offers followed. She chose a few short films to star in. “I love trying out new things to do,” she says, “It’s all about the experience...it's fun and enriching.”
Her latest tryst with filmdom, however, is not as an actress or a model. It’s a song that she’s crooned for a Tamil film. So, does she think she’s a good singer? “Well, I don’t rate myself pretty high. But this came to me and so I thought, why not?’”
It’s this why-not-give-it-a-shot attitude that she hopes will hold her in good stead for the future. There are no fixed big plans or dreams — it’s about taking one step at a time. “I go with the flow,” she says, “I do what excites me at that point of time. Some time ago, I thought about the possibility of having a small library inside the café. I’d gone to Hyderabad recently and spotted a machine that made spring potato.”
Immediately, she quizzed the owner about the probability of getting it down to her café. “It’ll be the first machine of its kind in Chennai,” she claims.
There are more interesting plans she’s lined up. But for the next one year, she’ll be busy balancing her everyday work at her father's firm and devoting evenings to what she calls her ‘first baby’. A baby that is just about 150 years old.
House # 22 is at 1/38, North Parade Road, St. Thomas Mount. Call 2234 1450 for details.
