Indian real estate advertisements have always sold us a dream. “3BHK,” they promise — three bedrooms, hall and kitchen. It sounds grand, modern, aspirational. But in middle‑aged homes across the country, one of those bedrooms quietly becomes the most revealing square footage in the entire house. The guest room, so proudly included in the floor plan, rarely sees an actual guest. Instead, it becomes the space where the people who live there do their most private, silent negotiating.On paper, it’s a symbol of status, the ability to host. In practice, it’s usually an ironing station, a place to dry laundry when the balcony’s full, a part‑time storeroom for unopened Amazon boxes, the wedding trunk nobody opens, or a slightly guilty spot where old clothes pile up because “someone might need them someday.”
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