Buying a house is as important, if not more, than having a child, the world seems to think. I have been asked of my intentions of buying a house so many more times than about when I would have a child. In the beginning I was enthusiastic about wanting a house of my own, now a few years into marriage and with one child I don’t see the need to buy one pronto. Infact, I might never see the point at all. Yes, you get a tax break, yes, you have an asset in your name, yes, it is a place you can call home. But wait, you still have that loan to repay until which time technically the house isn’t your ‘home’. And also isn’t home where the heart is?!?

 

“You know even they have bought a house,” I found myself telling my husband. He looked at me quizzically and said, “so what? Since when does that affect you?” It apparently does. I am at an age where all my peers are buying houses, whether as investments or to live in and here we are still paying a hefty sum as rent but happy, mind you. Then why did it bother me that someone else, who didn’t even matter too much in the larger scheme of things, is buying a house?

 

For the generations before mine, buying a house was equivalent to having ‘arrived’ in life. My generation doesn’t look at it in the same way. Most of the people I know are either buying a house, or are in the process of finalising buying a house to tick a box on that lost never-ending list of things to do before I die list. Why does ‘home’ have to be a constant permanent place? I am not suggesting living like a hippie or nomad. All I am asking is why should the purchase of a house be the yardstick of judging my progress in life?

 

I remember an interesting article by Priya Ramani in the lounge section of Mint in which she spoke of how she would like to go back to the student way of living. That article rang a bell, what happened to living without having to worry about too many things? Buying a house just come with so many issues to consider that honestly it scares me. Am I ready to take on so much responsibility? The answer to that is – you produced a child so you jolly well can take on the responsibility of maintaining and looking after a house. *Sigh*