Himanshu Badhani
The Migration
An abandoned and now disintegrating house in Falyani, a Kumaun village of the lower Himalayas. Migration to cities has made views like these all too normal in such villages. The intricate wooden design is now a lost art.
For me, the beautiful wood carvings (about a century old), the lock on the door, and the gaping hole next to the door of the disintegrating house that has now defeated the purpose of the lock, all of it together, narrate a deeply saddening story. It is the story of a homeowner locking their door for the last time, leaving a house built by their ancestors with so much love and affection, but with the hope that they will return home from time to time. The house, so far, has stood the test of time, as best as it could, slowly revealing its insides, giving us a peek into the process through which it was constructed, before it inevitably falls.
The Migration
An abandoned and now disintegrating house in Falyani, a Kumaun village of the lower Himalayas. Migration to cities has made views like these all too normal in such villages. The intricate wooden design is now a lost art.
For me, the beautiful wood carvings (about a century old), the lock on the door, and the gaping hole next to the door of the disintegrating house that has now defeated the purpose of the lock, all of it together, narrate a deeply saddening story. It is the story of a homeowner locking their door for the last time, leaving a house built by their ancestors with so much love and affection, but with the hope that they will return home from time to time. The house, so far, has stood the test of time, as best as it could, slowly revealing its insides, giving us a peek into the process through which it was constructed, before it inevitably falls.