A dream house to promote Punjabi culture and values

Verka (Punjab), Dec.24 (ANI): A lecturer in Punjab has made a dream house, which captivates attention due to its traditional look. It's a joy for any city dweller to pay a visit here and feel the ambience of a typical pre-partition house of Punjab.

Manpreet Singh, a lecturer of Punjabi language at a local college, is very much drawn to Punjabi culture and customs. And, this overwhelming influence over the years motivated him to build his house and give it such a traditional appeal which most of the city dwellers have literally forgotten to value over the years.

As you enter his house, a giant wooden gate appeals you and gives an impression of a Haveli of olden times. One could only find such style of gates in Punjab villages before the 1947 Partition. All the walls of the house have been plastered with mud - cow-dung, old style switches and bulbs. Moreover, the old utensils made of brass arranged on the wooden racks in the kitchen, just like it used to be the style of arrangement in about six decades ago in villages, offer a captivating site for any visitor.

Initially, the mud-wall garages did not attract most of the village till they learnt that they were meant to park Mercedes and BMW cars.

Manpreet says t to have such kind on interior and exterior become a reality of his house after a lot of effort for years. It reveals it took him over 18 years to raise the collection from the olden times and built his dream house.

"First, I collected as many as artefacts, though some of them were available at home but for most of them I have to spent lot of money, even I have purchased more than seven wooden frames ranging between Rs.5,000 to Rs. 30,000 for the house", said Manpreet.

But he went on to spend over Rs. 50,00,000 (five million) to make traditional house become a reality.

Manpreet selected a plot located at the village corner, which had a giant tree and to construct his traditional style house. It included having arrangement a well, one living room, master bedroom with attached bathroom, an open courtyard, a beautiful verandah and three garages where his Mercedes and BMW adorn the house.

He did the designing all by himself but also took the help of an architect from Haryana. He believes that by living as per own tradition always enriches cultural values.

He opines that it's a shame that many of the people have started ignoring our traditions. He says he is just practicing what he preaches as a lecturer what he teaches to his students. He said that his house is open for all who revere traditions and want to experience culture of the olden days. By Ravinder Singh Robin (ANI)