The mad rush to find a place , my heart settled on this very rundown ground floor of an old house, High ceilings, a Verandah, largish rooms. It had potential. My heart fluttered. Others thought I was a bit crazy. I am impulsive to the core and jump in where angels would be reluctant to tread. Then began the slightly horrific journey of discovery of what it really was. Unfortunately the “before” pics have got deleted.

The beautiful red cement floors were covered in linoleum which couldn’t be scraped off. I had to put in tiles. The Bathroom was Indian style, some modifications needed. It being the ground floor, I hadn’t taken into account the flooding and the water coming up from the sewers. The walls made of Surki were porous and prone to damp, a disaster for my beautiful sarees. We needed waterproofing. I have an obsession with teak and the thrift bazaars were scoured for antique furniture which was restored and sized by a friend. My budget shot up exponentially and despite my friends and family thinking I was mad, doing all this for a rented place,  I persisted.

The place was transformed into the most beautiful imaginable, at a considerable cost. A colossal mistake. Despite happy moments spent here, I was unable to sustain the cost of maintenance, the overheads and interest of the original investment. Alas I wish I had heeded the counsel of a well meaning friend to start small and grow. I dreamt a dream and implemented it but could not afford it for the long run.

I prided myself on successfully setting up Opus. A test prep and textiles are two ends of the spectrum. I started with a bang and my money got diverted into infrastructure instead of stocks.

The rental etc was almost killing for a startup.

I should have started small. Baby steps and then built it brick by brick.

I built a castle… in the air and it came crashing down!