Swami Satchidananda's Boyhood Home

Yesterday Karthi drove us out to see Swami Satchidananda's boyhood home, about 45 minutes drive from the Integral Yoga Institute.  It was situated on an acre of land, partially fenced in by an 8 foot whitewashed concrete wall.  The house was one story, approximately 1,000 square feet.  The roof was shingled with clay tiles.  The floors seemed to be concrete, but the caretaker told us that they weren't concrete, they were a mixture of crushed limestone and sand that is manually compacted.  It is traditional to rub cow dung over the floor, which gives is a yellowish finish.  Cow dung is reputedly antiseptic and also acts as an insect repellent.  We'll try that on our floors when we get home.  The home is very well maintained, with painted teak posts and beams, painted patterns around the edges of the floors, and pictures of Swamiji's family.  There were two places in the main room where the concrete floor gave way to a concrete tank about 5 feet by 5 feet by 4 feet deep, and the roof drained into these two pools inside the house.  The pools had drainage pipes at their bottom to drain that rain water out to the yard, but the pipes could be stopped up to allow the water to collect into these pools.  The caretaker informed me that they would use this rainwater to make a certain sort of dahl (similar to a thick lentil soup) that was very good for the stomach.