What people might not know about me is that the first job I tried to get after my PhD was a photographer. It was a very serious hobby of mine when I had time. These photographs are the best ones I have taken over the course of the year – my favourite ones out of the whole collection. Because nowadays, most of my photographs are of other staff members at the places I work.
Feel free to share any images as long as you credit me as the photographer – Suneel Mehmi. All moral rights to the images are reserved by me as the photographer.
Today, I looked into the mind of a woman I like and learnt her thoughts about interior design. What are my own thoughts?
When we moved house about a year ago, I suddenly had space after several years of living in the smallest bedroom in the house. So, I thought that I would have the freedom of a blank canvas in creating the environment in which I lived. However, there is one elementary fact of life – perhaps not true in every life but which has certainly been true in mine – that you cannot neglect. The home is the domain of the woman. In short, I had severe constraints in designing my space. The room colour? Chosen by the woman. The curtains? Chosen by the woman. The cupboards? Chosen by the woman. Where everything was going to go? Chosen by the woman. The flooring? Woman. The bed? Woman. The bed covers? Woman. The desks had already been bought as well – I couldn’t even buy a desk that I wanted. And the desk is the place I spend all of my time.
What did I want to do? In my room, I was going to put one of those beds which have a desk built underneath. So all the space would have been empty. And then, I was going to fill the space with books and curios from around the world. Little statues from mythology, artwork on the wall. It was going to look like a museum, an art gallery, a thinker’s palace. There was going to be a lot of colour. Intense colour. The intensity of life.
But in the end, all there was was the constraint. I had to fit all of my stuff into these grey rooms. I wanted the bookcases to line the walls. Instead, there was only room for a few books.
So, how did I decorate what I was allowed to?
It had to be with little objects like the Hindu statues I had picked up when I went hiking in Nepal and which I had to argue with the bribe-taking authorities for: Kali the Dark Mother dancing upon her husband Shiva, Shiva the Creator and Destroyer, the Dancer, dancing upon evil. The creation and destruction of the universe.
Recently, I bought these statues of women that represent to me the Dark Mother because of the blackness of their bodies. They are not expensive but they look beautiful. They are displayed in my bookcase because all of my knowledge and thinking is dedicated to the Mother Goddess.
The coloured cushions are from around the place I work in in Greenwich. My first permanent job after my PhD and when I could feel comfortable spending money because I was earning. They are also Indian, the colours a revolt against the boring, camouflaged, dull colours in England that define the colour choices and the way of living of the sheep.
The stained glass flowers? Two loves: stained glass and flowers. The spirituality of light through stained glass in the church. And the beauty of the flowers for which we live in this mean spirited and shabby world. To kiss the petals. To smell the perfume. To drink their spirit. To gaze upon their loveliness.
And today, the purchase was a tote bag of Japanese wedding cranes. To be kept on one of the two bedside tables in my room. At a place that I volunteer, there was a red wedding kimono with cranes on it symbolising eternal love. I told myself that if I got married, I would buy a kimono like that for my wife. So, every night, before sleeping, I will look at the wedding cranes on that tote bag and think my thoughts of love to myself.
diary of a lone man 