Bungalows and baan baths
The tube light in my toilet went out recently, forcing me to bathe next morning by the dim streaks of a night-light installed for emergency use. Little surprise that in the process, my mind conjured up an image of a baan bath of childhood days at Oorgaum House!
About 65 years ago, the rooms of such mansions as we consider them today were poorly lit, the bathrooms were dark and always damp, and the ‘baan’ to provide boiling hot bathing water was an enormous iron or copper pot fitted into the external wall of a large bathroom. The water drawn from a well in the compound was carried and emptied into the baan, bucket after bucket. The task seemed never-ending, as in addition, another pot was kept by the side to store cold water. The heating process was initiated from the other side of the bathroom wall by a person who pushed logs of wood through a space designed for such and placed them beneath the ‘baan’, lit them, and attended the fire that filtered into the bathroom too, as it threw up flames around the pot while discarding ashes from embers below, simultaneously creating an amazing aroma of steaming water for our use, albeit with a sniff of smoke!
Our clan was huge and converged in extra numbers on the grandparents’ home during summer holidays; hence, bathing went on for hours and the fire attendant had his work for as long!
I remember being jolted with fear by frogs who found their way into the bathroom and other creepy crawlies too, when it rained. Indeed, in the rainy season, though dim, the lights attracted winged insects, and mercilessly, a basin of water would be kept below to trap them as they fell attracted by the reflection.
Stories of snakes were few, but there must’ve been some lurking around the 2-acre property as well!
One fine day years later, modern systems of piped water entered the fray, geysers heated the bath water, and better voltage brightened the lights at night!
The old house and acreage have given way to a new view of bungalows and high-rise apartments within what, fortunately, is still known as the P G D’Souza layout. Many of the clan reside there. Where Oorgaum House stood now stands Oorgaum Apartments... It’s the same across the road too that has a new name as well. Once called Grant Road, it is today Vittal Mallya Road!