I love my bed and he underwent angioplasty at the age of 36

But I don't love this place called my bedroom.

On dictionary.com, I find two meanings articulated for this concept called bedroom.

One says: a room furnished and used for sleeping

Another says: a room furnished with beds or used for sleeping

Just in case the meaning of room is debated and philosophized and spiritualized, here are two meanings that, to my mind, hold sway:

1. space or extent of space occupied by or available for something
2. opportunity or scope for something

Space available for something. Opportunity or scope for something. In this world called India, what kind of space is available for anything? I mean, for practical purposes. If room is 'opportunity or scope', what kind of opportunity or scope is available given our notions, ideas and imaginations of 'bedroom'?

Now have a look at this bedroom. I randomly picked it up searching on Google.

All the houses that you've been to, how many bedrooms have a similar layout? There goes room that means 'availability', 'scope', 'opportunity'.

And all construction companies, including the mightiest ones which are considered 'brands', keep feeding us with the ideas of 'BHK' (bedroom, hall, kitchen). With those thoughts we dream, we buy, we get into the cycles of EMIs, and so often get into those ever-debilitating problems called Lifestyle Diseases, in spite of the earnest attempts to visit the best of the gyms, and to work out on the best of the equipment.

Just yesterday, son of my Dad's good friend, at the age of 36, underwent angioplasty. Going by what I've seen of them, he lives in a house with a fair number of bedrooms and a little lawn as well to boast of.  

Disturbing pic of my early morning bedroom and how the Japanese got it right

The funniness of what we call as 'bedroom', in the modern context, has dawned upon me. And quite conclusively.

In the second line of the wikipedia page on 'bedroom', you find this:

To be considered a bedroom the room needs to have a bed.

Actually, this line makes it feel like 'bed' is just one of the objects in the bedroom. Quite so. But mathematics isn't just about numbers. It's also about space. The modern bedroom is typically filled with the bed, in a manner that no other substantial object can be placed or accommodated in the bedroom. At least, for the majority of people who've been able to afford a bedroom.

And that no other substantial object can be placed in the bedroom, means other than resting or sleeping or making love (variants of the same posture I would say), no substantial activity can take place.

Given that a mighty number of us find ourselves doing work which doesn't quite make us exert ourselves, at least physically, in any great manner, this bedroom turns out to be a great roadblock on the way to good health. Let me elaborate.

We have risen substantially in population. Per capita space available is very limited. That's the reason we find such congestion on the roads, in the malls, in the gyms et al. And when I mention gym, I can easily say that reaching the gym is also an inconvenience in general, in a world which has made contraptions for convenience of all kinds even for the smallest of things we do.

After entering the gym, the nightmare doesn't end. Certain gadgets or equipment might have queues for use.

That makes whatever per capita space available to us a really precious thing. Space that is undividedly available for personal use, no matter the time. And that is occupied by the bed.

First you shape the building, then the building shapes you.

So you start shaping your undivided personal space with a good bed in the little space you have for yourself. Now is the bed's turn to shape you. And shapes you, it does. Pretty well.

Am I saying bed isn't needed?

Nope! Given the space an individual has to himself and the work he does in the modern context, I am saying naming the space blindly as 'bedroom' has entailed a massive cost on our well-being. We've taken it for granted that such a space can be nothing but a 'bedroom'. And the thing that we end up doing is installing a bed that doesn't leave much space for very very important things. And our architects and interior designers perpetuate the crime.

Let me go back a bit. When the convenient technologies weren't available and when majority of the people exerted themselves physically and really hard during the day, they perhaps found it very very comforting to come back home, do nothing more than cooking and eating, and simply go to bed. Having a ready mattress would be the perfect luxury. Since the space outside the house exercised majority of the people, inside the house dedicating space to sleeping was just a great complement. But now, no longer so.

In fact, there's very little space outside for healthy exertion. And, even inside, there's mostly the bed.

If we really want to make the space available count and if we really want a healthy body, here are a couple of things.

Futon. We all have seen this thing. From wikipedia:

A futon is traditional Japanese bedding consisting of padded mattresses and quilts pliable enough to be folded and stored away during the day, allowing the room to serve for purposes other than as a bedroom.

Perfect!

There's more. Wall-bed. Also called Murphy bed. Wikipedia narrates the legend:

According to legend, he (William Lawrence Murphy) was wooing an opera singer, but living in a one-room apartment in San Francisco, and the moral code of the time frowned upon a woman entering a man's bedroom. Murphy's invention converted his bedroom into a parlor, enabling him to entertain.

Now that surely takes care of a man's health, no!

Buildings shape us

Winston Churchill's quote: We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.

I've got this little desk which gets occupied by the laptop and the wires behind. I don't get enough space to place an open diary when the laptop's open and on. And when I say 'when the laptop...' it's almost all the time that I spend at my desk. Instead of scribbling useful stuff on paper, now I find myself staring at the laptop screen so often with very little to do. And I also find myself numbly jogging my memory to remember to do something, of course on the laptop, since it occupies all the space.

Did I anticipate this when the interior work was happening? No. Why don't I change the setting now? I am thinking about it. So what's stopping? That so much effort and money has been put in and one change could mean changes to a lot of other things. So it's gonna take time to change the setting. Until then, this shape that I gave to the desk and the space around, and this laptop that's been created by humans, will shape me.

BHK - Residential Architecture thinking

Check the letters highlight by the red circle above. Says 3BHK. B stands for bedroom, H for Hall, K for kitchen. That's what typical residential projects highlight.

How much space does an individual typically get in this country? Parks and tracks are very limited to say the least. Either hopelessly maintained or crowded to the brim.

And the specific space which is always available to a common man, is called bedroom. That's right. That word has 'bed' embedded. And since it's a bedroom, the central element of the room is bed. So what is a person likely to do? Hit the bed and laze or sleep.

I reckon, instead of calling it bedroom, if it were called personal-room, it would be far better. The emphasis would move from 'bed' to the person and how he would use the available space.

Also perhaps, the space might not necessarily be filled with bed. It could just as well be free for this person to do whatever. Bed could be spread or unfolded when needed.

Having personal space could be the biggest factor in cultivating habits that lead to fit and healthy bodies.

Blindness

I call it blindness coz calling it insensitivity or senselessness might be misconstrued. Apathy might work but blindness is well understood even for senses other than eyes.

Every time I pass a relatively green patch here in Ahmedabad, I can immediately feel the coolness on my skin and the freshness of the air I breathe in. Guess, everyone must be experiencing the same thing. If not better, the impact is at par when compared to that of ACs.

Is it so hard to feel that both, economics and ecology of this country, would improve with planting trees instead of feverishly intaling ACs wherever we find four walls?

Living without Air Conditioners

isn't easy. More so when you live in a place like Bhilwara. So the obvious thing to do is install air-conditioners and stop thinking. But the damage that ACs do to the environment puts your life at stake anyway. If not now, sometime tomorrow.

I've been trying to find out whether there exist architectural models which make us stay cool without ACs. So after a few days of searching, I have found these interesting bits:

Syrian Beehive Houses

Dano Secondary School
More on the same here.

And the most interesting place Green School in Bali, Indonesia. I want to open one such place too. Or rather many such places across the country. Or across the world. :)