Floating homes, dugout caves and other wonders…

Around the world, from North to South and East to West, we see several remarkable types of dwellings of native people, modified according to local needs.
Starting with our own country, we have the captivating example of houseboats which survive in Kashmir even today. Whoever goes to Kashmir - visitors from India or tourists from around the world - is fascinated by these wonders. (The author of this piece being no exception!).

Reading about these, I discovered the interesting history of houseboats, which goes back to the Raj era. The British colonisers, drawn by the immense natural attractions of Kashmir, wanted to buy property in the state. However, according to local land laws, they could not do so. To get around the legal hitch, they came up with the brilliant idea of living in houseboats moored on the banks of lakes. And in this way, an iconic symbol of the cultural history of Kashmir was born.

When the British vacated these houseboats and left India following Independence in 1947, the ownership of these properties was transferred to local Kashmiris. They refitted and repurposed these houseboats, launching them as floating hotels. Stationed on Srinagar’s Dal and Nigeen Lakes, these beautiful homes have equally beautiful names - Noorjehan, Anaarkali, Jannat, Sukoon, and so on.

Expensive, beautifully carved and luxuriously-fitted houseboats on the Dal Lake are rented out as mini-hotels to visiting tourists, while the plain and modest houseboats stationed on the Jehlum river are the humble homes of local communities. Houseboats are typically made of cedar wood which is supposed to last for years even when immersed in water. There’s even a floating post office in a houseboat in Srinagar!

Halfway around the world, in faraway North America, we have the example of 'wigwams'. A symbol of Native American culture, wigwams were domed huts which were used as homes by Native Americans. ‘Wigwam’ comes from the Algonquian word 'wikewam' - meaning "dwelling.”

The construction of a wigwam started with a frame of arched poles made of wood. Then the frame was covered with roofing material - whatever was available in the region. As North America has a vast and varied geography, the materials varied from location to location. These included birchbark, grass, brush, reeds, or even animal hides. The finished wigwam was a small cozy home about 10 feet high, keeping its occupants safe in different weather conditions.

From North America, let us travel to the frigid, snowy vastness of Lapland. This region covers an area of around 100,000 square kilometres, most of which lies within the Arctic Circle. What materials could possibly be available for people to make houses out of? After all, the region is covered with snow the year round, and there isn't much vegetation either.

So the local people, (known as Eskimos), make houses out of...snow! Known as 'igloo', these dome-shaped Eskimo dwellings are made out of nothing but snow, but it is not the freshly fallen snow, as that isn’t strong enough. The snow that is used to construct an igloo is the ice that has been on the ground for several days. This type of snow is much firmer, and it can be cut into large blocks.

Considering that an igloo is a simple structure made out of frozen water, it is strong enough to last for several months without collapsing. One may wonder how an igloo can keep its occupants warm when it is itself made of snow! The thick walls of the igloo give protection from the wind outside - and as we know, wind can make the cold seem colder.

Secondly, as the igloo doesn’t have any windows (and only one door), the heat from the inhabitants’ body warmth is conserved. The thick ice walls then work as an insulator and keep everyone inside the igloo warm. Did you know that the temperature inside an igloo is 30 degrees warmer than outside?!

And from the frozen landscape of the Arctic Circle with its icy igloos, I am going to take you to the Southern Hemisphere. Coober Pedy, a mining town located near the Great Victoria Desert in South Australia, is an excellent example of ‘adapted’ living. Referred to as the "opal capital of the world", Coober Pedy is home to more than 1,500 people.

Soon after opals were discovered there in 1915, miners started coming into the town with their families. However, they soon realised that it was impossible to live in the scorching heat of the treeless desert where temperatures cross 50°C. And so, the residents came up with the ingenious idea of cave homes, creating an entire underground city comprising homes and other buildings.

Incidentally, these caves (known as ‘dugouts’), containing a three-bedroom home with kitchen and bathroom, costs the same as a house above ground. These homes remain at a constant, comfortable temperature, while ‘normal’ buildings need air conditioning during the peak summer months.

Today, tourism generates almost as much income for Coober Pedy residents as the opal mining industry. Tourists visiting the town not only visit the mines but also the homes and the underground churches.

There’s even an underground jewelry shop. And not just that…the town even has a drive-in theatre and its own football club, the Coober Pedy Saints. Amazing, isn’t it?

BY SHARIKA MUTHU

The author is a free-lance writer and translator based in Gurgaon.