Finally

Finally - yes, finally I have managed to get a house in Salt Lake and today I got the keys of the house. It has been an experience - funny when I look back.

Houseowners come in all types - all trying to sell their house. And the brokers, for them every house is "the best, you will not get a better house. Why dont you extend your budget sir, this is worth more than what you are being charged". Well, on and on and on.
I remember the first house I saw in BD Block. On the ground floor. The house owner's son came to show the house. "See, you have a window here, a door here, we will give you electric connection along with the place", well dont all houses have doors and windows, electric connections?
One house I saw near AB Block, there the house onwer showed a small house and when I asked him if it was possible to get western toilets instead of the Indian ones, he asked What is that?

One house owner kept telling me he was a lawyer, I dont know whether he was trying to impress me or not, he did scare me off. He had his conditions - "You will not use room for anything except Puja. Your guests will not be allowed to visit and stay with you".

When I remember more, I will jot them down, maybe write a book one day titled , Hunting for a House in Salt Lake, Kolkata.

What do they call them in English?

In Bengali they call them SHALIK. A pair brings good luck, when spotted - that what's told.
What are these birds called in English?

Heres a pair:

A house spoke or was it just my imagination?

Has anyone felt something funny when stepping into a place? All houses have their histories - some good, some not so good. And its the atmosphere, that then communicates. And its all difficult to comprehend what the house is trying to communicate. One has to be psychic to understand and comprehend the feeling.Also, Vaastu of a house may have a role to play also.
Yesterday (4th June) I went to this house popularly known as JAHAJBAARI in Salt Lake, Kolkata. Some years back I had seen the house - shaped like a ship, when I had visited Salt Lake for the first time. That time it was a house. Someone had built it for staying there.
Sometime back, a reputed hotel in Kolkata took over the house and converted that into a Guest House. Changes made to the house were minimal. Knick-knacks, mantle-pieces owned by the owner of the house, were retained. Had something happened in the house?
You enter a hallway. Big seating areas and a marble staircase leads to the first floor. The landing has a small temple with Ganesha and Krishna there.
The room that I went to was on the second floor. A big long room - Grantite floor, Wooden walls and ceilings. Room full of ming vases, antique writing table, a piano, sofas, a 4 pillar bed, a nice bathroom. Now, something about the room somehow did not strike me okay. Was it that the room had not been used for long and had a starnge smell, was it because the heavy curtains were not allowing any natural light in and yesterday was a cloudy day or was it the dim lights or was there something else? Was the Vaastu of the house all wrong - Vaastu states that walls have to be straight, no circular walls and the house should not be in the shapes of boats and ships. Had something happened in the house prompting the owner to sell off or was it just my imagination?
I would love some answers.

Some pictures from the house:
The small temple:

A view of the room


A view of a wall of the room