Maryknoll, A Dream House

Last month I went to Maryknoll again. [Do these words remind you of the most famous opening sentence in English fiction? See Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.]

I was going to Trivandrum (see A New Year in Kerala) and to Maryknoll after a long time. Now, Maryknoll was a dream of Dr. Jacob Taliat, F.R.C.S. who was the Palace Doctor to the Travancore Royal Family, and the Surgeon General of Travancore-Cochin State. (See The greatness of human nature – a true story.) The Mary after whom he named the hilltop house in Trivandrum was his wife. She was also my aunt, my father’s sister.

On my trips to Trivandrum I used to visit Maryknoll and stay there sometimes. The responsibility of the architect of the building was, I am sure, only to put together the details including the design of the window grills the famous surgeon had worked out. There are five splendid bedrooms, spacious drawing, dining, living rooms and pantry. A veranda leads to the kitchen area which includes living facilities for servants as well.

But what is more important is the atmosphere of Maryknoll which is on a one and a half acres plot in the heart of Trivandrum city. It is so quiet and peaceful. Perhaps it combines the best of Vastu also. In Astrology: Horoscope for houses? I wrote “It is meant to harness the positive energies from the elements and create the perfect ambiance for physical and mental health, and prosperity and happiness of those who stay in the house.”

When I stayed at Maryknoll last December 28 and 29, there were eight others in our family group. One of them had been very depressed for some time following a heart problem. He would hardly talk or eat properly. But on 29^th morning he came for breakfast bright and shining, saying that there was something about the house that made him feel so good. He talked almost non-stop and ate very well!

Jacob Taliat (Jagan), the grandson of Dr. Jacob Taliat and son of Dr. George Taliat F.R.C.S., has converted Maryknoll into a homestay; a different kind of homestay, I must say. You can read more about it and see pictures at http://www.maryknoll.in/

Some of the photos I took at Maryknoll are reproduced below:

Astrology: Horoscope for houses?

Yesterday I came across A TEMPLE WITH A MUSICAL HISTORY, AND A VISIT TO THE PAST in Raji’s Ramblings. It is an interesting post, well written, and includes two photographs. One is of a vast expanse of green rice fields and the other of an old house which has certainly seen better days and now lies unoccupied.

The second image reminded me of an evening in the early 1990s at my lawyer friend K. Vijayakumar’s house in Cherthala, Kerala. He had one of the most brilliant legal brains that I have come across, internationally. He was also well informed on many subjects.

We got to talking about Vastu (the science related to buildings). Vijayakumar told me that a house could have a horoscope which would indicate births and deaths that take place there, periods when it would be vacant, how and when the building comes to its own end, and several other things.

There is logic to this. If horoscopes of human beings are drawn up based on planetary positions at the time of birth, why can’t it be done for houses though they are considered inanimate? After all, in the olden days, houses were constructed based on Vastu Shastra. Now there is a resurgence of Vastu.

Evolved during the Vedic times, Vastu is a combination of astronomy, astrology, art and architecture. It is meant to harness the positive energies from the elements and create the perfect ambiance for physical and mental health, and prosperity and happiness of those who stay in the house. Feng Shui, the system practiced in China and Japan, it is said, had its origin from Vastu.

There is a belief that if the design of a building is not in conformity with Vastu, calamities can befall the person who built it and those who live there. I know two cases which indicate this could be true.

A cousin of mine had the outhouse shifted to a new location within the compound to remodel his house. Soon his family ran into a series of major health problems. On the advice of Thomas George (“Shilpi” Babu), a senior Architect and Vastu expert of Cochin, the outhouse was brought back to the original location and the troubles vanished.

The second instance again involves a cousin, who built a beautiful new house. I drew a rough sketch of it and showed “Shilpi” Babu. He took one look and said, “The man who built this won’t live for long.” Actually, the cousin had died the same night the house was occupied.

How do you explain these? I didn’t have much faith in astrology but a few meetings with the famous astrologer Mithran Namboori made me think that there is substance to the system. (See: Three predictions.). I also wrote a short fiction piece (The story of a story.) with a strong astrology background.

If you have any information on horoscope for houses, can you share it with us?

Ends.