This morning I woke up fresh, ready for a new day, calm. I never quite felt this way in the past few years. Something was always missing. Something was not right.
Then I realised something I did for the first time, since I moved to Aarau. Apart from moving in with the man I love, in our new humble-old-apartment closer to the trainstation – I actually listened to my parents and implemented “Vastu” at home. As a designer, and a student of Anthropology and Indology, I highly recommend it.
What is Vastu? Although I simplify it for the West as Indian Feng shui, it’s a bit more. Now let’s not argue about which one is the original… given China’s reputation, I get that they marketed their acquired knowledge/product better than India ever could! Sorry. No hocus-pokus here – no rivalry here. So – as you will find online, apart from IIT’s (falls under top 200 universities in the world, amongst 1700 best ones recorded) syllabus asserting that it was developed in ancient India between 6000 BC and 3000 BC, – “Vastu shastra (vāstu śāstra – literally “science of architecture”), texts on the traditional Indian system of architecture. Part of ‘Vastu Vidya’ or ‘home wisdom’ – the broader knowledge about architecture and design theories from ancient India. These texts describe principles of design, layout, measurements, ground preparation, space arrangement, and spatial geometry. The designs aim to integrate architecture with nature, the relative functions of various parts of the structure, and ancient beliefs utilising geometric patterns (yantra), symmetry, and directional alignments. And all of Indian architecture, be it in ancient times or in modern India, is vastly organised around Vastu. So there must be something to it, right?
We are far from moving in all my stuff. To be honest, I can barely stand 30mins without getting a backache – let alone lifting heavy objects! So he basically did it all. So we have an apartment full of boxes and more to get there. Yet, the little we unpacked, is well placed, in the “Vastu” way. And despite last two days of moving (well him doing all the moving) – I woke up fresh. It’s a positivity I haven’t felt in a long long time.
ANTHROPOLOGY OF LOVE 