How Did We Become So Scared of Colour in Homes?

My sons and I have this rhetorical banter. One of us will ask: "Who is the most difficult person to know?" To which, one of us responds: "Myself." When people ask me what I do, I often say I write about design, but what I actually write about is homes. What makes a home the way it is? Why do we shape it the way we do? How do we think about it more deeply?

- MANJU SARA RAJAN

My sons and I have this rhetorical banter. One of us will ask: "Who is the most difficult person to know?" To which, one of us responds: "Myself." When people ask me what I do, I often say I write about design, but what I actually write about is homes. What makes a home the way it is? Why do we shape it the way we do? How do we think about it more deeply? As my mind sifts through the many spaces I've seen these past few weeks and conversations I've had about the topic of home, the conclusion that I've come to is that many folks are unaware of themselves as they begin making homes. It is a performance, our home. So many different types of performance. Performative authenticity. Performative minimalism.

I just sat through two days of research on the subject of Indian homes. A cascade of information about consumer segments and the sorts of homes people are making across various income groups and cities in the country. In the case of the vast majority of probably 100-plus residences surveyed, I'd say people had done far too much to their dwellings and mostly, and maybe unintentionally, as an act of exhibition. If you don't know yourself, at a very fundamental level, then it's very difficult to make a home that is more than just an illusion.