Author: Beloo Mehra
Date published: September 18, 2025
As a Collaborating Center of SAIEN (Sri Aurobindo Integral Education Network), BhāratShakti regularly contributes to the SAIEN Blog. Home Improvement, Self Improvement is our fifth blog published on SAIEN platform.
Some years ago, my husband and I spent about 6 weeks getting several long-overdue renovation and repair projects completed around our home. The projects involved all sorts of works including masonry, carpentry, plumbing, electrical, and some basic landscape designing. These projects happened one after another and sometimes simultaneously for about 6 weeks, which meant that we were sharing our home for at least 8 to 10 hours every day with a group of 4 to 5 workers!
This extended duration of being in a somewhat chaotic living space was a learning experience in its own way. Let me share some of the lessons I learned along the way.
Lesson # 1
First lesson is the most obvious. It is actually more of an important reminder, which came in a very concrete way, literally. That is — all new construction is preceded by destruction. Unless we are ready to destroy that which is no longer serving us, which is actually hindering our path, working as a roadblock and preventing us from being and performing at our best, we are not able to make space for the new formation that is yet to take shape. Just as the old tiles have to be painstakingly taken out one by one and the floor has to be reduced to its core, the old and rotten patterns of our minds have to be broken — sometimes carefully, sometimes with strong hammer-blows.
Lesson # 2
My second lesson was about identity.
While selecting the new floor tiles for the kitchen, new slab of granite and fixtures for the bathroom or new electrical fittings I was confronted with so many choices. Some of the products were highly stylish because of their modern and contemporary appeal, some others stood out because of their traditional designs, and some others because of their quirky or artistic styles. What to choose? What do I like? What would suit my home and fit in my budget? Do I have a particular style or preference? Is it modern? Do I like traditional? Do I like quirky? Do I like a little bit of all? Such questions filled my mind for several days, and numbers of visits to the various shops kept increasing because selection process took its own sweet time. Finally, am I happy with the choices we made? Yes, I am. But what did I learn about myself in this process?
I learned that I am after all an Indian. What’s new about this, you ask? Am I not an Indian?