Inspiration
What Does 'Home' Truly Mean?
What is a home? Is it simply a place of comfort? For us, a home is more than just a roof over our heads. It’s where we feel comfort. Buying our first property filled us with accomplishment, but with the constant rise in housing costs, affording a home has become a real struggle, something we experienced firsthand when we decided to move to a better property.
The Transition from House to Home
Owning a house is just the first step; turning it into a home is another emotional rollercoaster. For my family, buying our first flat in Karachi brought immense relief, finally free from the watchful eyes of landlords. Some landlords, unfortunately, can be quite intrusive, questioning your personal life, counting how many people visit or live with you.
Living Under a Landlord’s Shadow
One experience that stands out was when we rented from a religious family. The house had everything we needed, and we thought we were settled. However, we soon uncovered an uncomfortable truth, the landlord had been charging us double for water bills. This was confirmed when the tanker driver revealed the actual cost. When confronted, the landlord’s wife argued with him, but tensions escalated. We had no choice but to move.
Through this, we learned an important lesson: in Pakistan, a rented space can never offer true peace of mind. There's always someone interfering.
The First Flat: A False Sense of Security
More than a decade ago, we purchased our first flat, hoping it would bring comfort and stability. But we hadn’t anticipated the challenges that come with apartment living-politics, restrictions, and corruption by the apartment representatives. Despite owning our space, it still felt like there was a landlord constantly looming over us.
The Unseen Battle: Rust and Decay
As time went on, the lack of maintenance in the building became apparent. Corruption within the apartment meant funds were mismanaged, and the building began to rust. Rust spread through everything, our clothes, our dishes, and despite our best efforts with cleaning chemicals. After 10+ years, we were facing a losing battle.
A Fresh Start in a Rental Flat
We’ve now decided to move to a rental flat, where we hope to find fresh air, no rust, and peace. Our flat, located in a prime area of Karachi just 15 minutes from the airport, will be rented out. Though the decision wasn’t easy, the challenges we’ve faced make this the right choice for us.
Planning for the Future: A Dream of a Home
With three earners in the family and my youngest sister’s upcoming marriage, finances are tight. We plan to pool our resources, rental income, salaries, and my father’s retirement fund to finally move into a house. Our goal is a double-story house in a prime area of Karachi, but it won’t be easy. We also own plots in Lahore and some heritage land, which we may sell if necessary.
The journey is daunting, and we’re mentally exhausted from the daily struggles. But this step feels necessary, and we’re determined to make it work.
Steps of Artwork:
Gathering Tools:
Sketching the Outline
Adding Details and Depth
Inking the Sketch
Adding Color
Final Touches
In today's time, buying or building a house in a good place is a very difficult task. Half of a person's life is spent earning money but he is not able to save money for a house. On top of that, inflation is increasing so much every year and the prices of real estate are skyrocketing. It is very difficult for a common man to buy his own house. Nowadays, the way people are leaving their ancestral homes and migrating, due to this, the demand for houses in big cities is very high and due to this their prices are so high.
Well, I liked your sketching a lot and seeing the struggle you have done so far regarding the home, it seems that soon you will build the house of your dreams. This dream of yours will soon come true and the way you have designed your house, it will be almost the same.
It is very important to write down your dreams because this is the very first beginning of their fulfillment.
My drawing is somewhat cartoonish. The house of my dreams would be very different. The representation in my artwork focuses on open air and nature, but I know the structure would differ since I once lived in a similar rented space.
Does that drawing represent the house of your dreams?
I see that they have gone through many difficulties, but that is life, complex. It is necessary to feel a lot of pain to be able to move forward (and value) things.
The landlords are just as corrupt here in Venezuela, they always seek to fill their pockets.
The important thing about this whole experience is that now they are cautious, they think about the future. A good idea is to try to save 10% or more of all the income that you have to make a common fund to purchase the new house.
You are a very enterprising boy and you work hard, now that I know you a little more, I can attest that you make an effort and fight for your loved ones and your community, which is very ethical and respectable.
Keep fighting, there is a long way to go to win the war, and the battles will only begin when you have the new home, so keep going, I know you will make it.
Pretty good drawing by the way.
Not really. It's about my current flat's problems (without the problems); this is just a representation.
The reason I wrote this piece and created the artwork was to share that I, too, face difficulties. In the midst of social facades, some might assume I'm immune to trouble. I wanted to have an honest conversation with my readers.
I may write a detailed blog about what I'm sharing here, but I'm unsure if I'll write it, so let me tell you.
My dad has cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure. It’s been years, and I'm used to it, but the reason I'm sharing this is that he's unwell. Recently, he gave a loan to a real estate agent. The agent called, and my dad, without hesitation, lent him money. The problem is, the agent never returned it.
My dad ended up waiting in the agent's office four different times, and on the fourth day, he waited for over five hours, with the agent promising he'd arrive in 5-10 minutes each hour. By the time I found out, it was too late.
Considering my father's health, it enraged me. I confronted the agent and his family, but he kept giving us vague responses. In response, I took all his legal documents into custody through the court, which has since disrupted his business. He can't move forward until he settles the loan.
I wasn’t angry because he lacked money to repay, if he'd just informed us he couldn’t pay that month, I would've spoken to my dad about extending the deadline. But the fact that he made my sick father wait like that is unforgivable, especially knowing the back pain my dad suffered. He was aware of his health condition and showed an irresponsible attitude. He intentionally made him suffer on different occasions.
Please understand I can’t share all the details in this comment, so please don’t judge. The point is, I care about others deeply, but I won't tolerate anyone who intentionally harms my circle.
Thanks.
It is very understandable and brave of you to tell me publicly, for which I thank you, for showing your vulnerabilities and what you are going through.
I believe that all things in life have a pattern, I make an analogy with an algorithm, if x situation happens = such an event will occur, and that is how things happen, at least that is how I have observed it during my life.
Regarding your father, I hope you manage to achieve a better quality of life, because that is the most important thing when you suffer from different illnesses, I know this because I also suffer from several conditions in my body, and I share diabetes with you. father, so I know how difficult it has been for me (I have a bleeding ulcer on my leg that has not healed for 5 months, due to my diabetes it is difficult to do so).
And about the agent, well I hope that the law is in charge of resolving that quickly.
Thank you, I think you made the right decision. Regarding my personal affairs, I am very delicate when it comes to sharing them on the blockchain, since it is something very personal. So I respect your decision and it seems like the best one.
I would never ask you for details about something so personal, I really respect these types of things.
I also tell you that things are going to improve, because of the natural patterns that I have studied, everything follows a cycle, of growth - climax - decay and it is repeated until the patterns of each one are progressively altered. But this is a topic of conversation for another talk, for now, I thank you again for your explanation, you are a gentleman.
First, that's such a beautiful sketch and I love the whole inspiration behind it. True it drains a lot when wanting to build or even buy a house cause of how the price of goods have doubled up in the market but since you guys are determined, it would birth a great manifestation.
And again congratulations to your your younger sister, wishing her a happy married life in advance.
Neither of us has found a suitable match for her yet. I was discussing plans for upcoming expenses. In our culture, there's a typical age range for marriage, but it varies depending on individual circumstances and emotions.
Alright!! I pray you guys find the perfect match for her, cause she sure deserves to be treated like a princess.
Happy weekend.
Your drawing skill is amazing and fabulous, my home is my comfort place, my sanctuary and i cant wish to be in any other place than my home. Success and kudos to you
Thanks, Happy for you!
Your sketching skill is quite good and that amazed me naturally.
My honest opinion is I feel without colors the sketch looks much better.
!LUV
I am exploring this new art style, but I may struggle with adding colors.
Your story shows how moving from house to home can be a real journey, and your artwork perfectly reflects that. .. great work
Thank you for appreciating my artwork. I've moved six times in my life, and I think two more moves are expected.
!LUV 💞
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Thanks. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.