Several years ago, sifting wheat from the chaff, moments that represented waiting on someone was watching the window. Inevitably the effort paid rich rewards as it wasn’t an empty wait, ammi would return from grocery shopping with few chocolates, papa would return with a cricket bat and the likes. The act of window watching in spite of its seemingly boring undertones was selfish and very childish to say the least. Fast forward the clock to the mayhem days of youth; window watching was dedicated to the act of waiting on love interests. Through the windows I could see the girl waiting for her love interest to arrive and chew the proverbial fat. This was often followed with promises of meeting in the colony park so the conversation could be more private and yet clandestine. But the very act of window watching was sufficiently debased because it was not the end goal in itself as it was used as a stepping stone to discover more. What still remains noteworthy is the fact that window continued to offer something; though it wasn’t given the best of the treatments (open window is a happy window whereas a closed window feels caged). We can’t forget how on numerous occasions windows had to be shut in the name of privacy, secrecy or infidelity but every time it opened it offered sunshine, rain drops, a view of the world at large and one’s family/friends in particular. Of course we live in a world where non-living beings aren’t exactly selfish. May be that’s beside the point, more importantly till early youth windows definitely had something to offer.
Add a few more years to the body and may be lesser hair on the head window watching still remains a coveted act. I am sure logical mind of the readers of this piece must be asking the question, “and why is it so?”. There is such a thing called nostalgia and then there is a thing called blank thinking, I get that in rich quantity now when I stand by the windows and look outside into the horizon, disrespectful of the high rise buildings obstructing my far reaching gaze. There is a certain novelty in this act of window watching; it is less expectant but more curious, less selfish but more materliastic, less optimistic but more aspirant, highlighting the longest running contradiction in life i.e. life itself.
Different things in a different context have different meanings at different stages of life, but what remains constant is the window. It is still the same always offering something…
