Why watch reality T.V when I can just open my blinds and look out my window to all the reality I can handle?”
-Jacod Kintz
Childhood was spent playing in open spaces, lush green meadows and huge play grounds, when confined indoors by parents and doors of the house were shut and latched, the “Windows ” acted as a connection to the outside world, as well as my teachers, observing the outside world from the brim of my window taught me to frame various views in my mind and also making me a day-dreamer many times. These windows so beautifully connected me to the exteriors from the interior of my house. The open windows every time made me feel exhilarated ; the soft breeze, the bright sunlight and cooing of the cuckoo in the near by mango trees was so enchanting.
Every house has some common features of having doors and windows, where doors gives us entry in the house and exiting the threshold of the door makes us see the outside world but once the door of the house is shut it acts as a protector acting as our guard and if shut on us then we become roofless but where as my favorite feature of the house is concerned “the windows”, it never isolates us from the outside world even if the glass panes are shut or grilled cases are shut , we still can have the glimpse of the outside world from inside without feeling scared or lonely.
Windows of childhood symbolised emancipation for me but today having so many windows i feel myself confined to a cocoon, I have window phone, windows XP on my computer, I follow ‘The White Windows’ on my instagram account, my mobile phone stops functioning if I open too many windows on it and so I have to shut them , at times my What’s App messages go to wrong windows , all these updated new windows invented by the technology are my new companions giving me preview , knowledge and information about the new and real happenings around the Universe and at the same time disconnecting me from the real world, even from my own relatives, friends and neighbours.
The windows of my childhood and youth played a significant role in my development , made especially in the directions to witness the pleasant view which was soon taken over by the chaotic traffic jams on busy roads , these windows still continue to educate me . Observing the passer by vendors, students, mothers, children lost in their own hum-drum of lives. These windows are giving me the real outside world even when I’m sitting lonely.
As a student I use to peep from these windows to check whether the teacher is on his way or not or at times bunking classes and escaping from these windows was made all the more easier and thrilling.
Travelling by bus, train or plane was never fun if window seat was not available.
My favorite window is the window at my grandfather’s ancestral house , a wide opening of it leads us to the fields where animals graze and men and women of the village work in unison, this view is full of warmth and love. As a child my grand mother made me sit on the window sill and handing over a glass full of milk to finish, which I happily did.
From rich to poor every one has windows in their houses to see the outside world without letting them know, once the doors are open the privacy is lost but once the windows are open the fresh light and air comes in.
I still sit in my bedroom sipping my tea and gazing outside from my window, looking at my kitchen garden, the nostalgia still sets in giving a strange pull towards my childhood, opening an amazing world view towards the present and windows of opportunities towards the future.
At times of financial upheavals, the windows give me a much needed relief in the form of ‘window shopping’ and I just say these lines by Edith Wharton to my self : “Set wide the window . Let me drink the day.”
I hate looking through the tinted glasses of the windows, because for me windows are symbolic with a clear passage of air, light, thoughts, like the open windows of our mind and eyes.
The word “eagpyrl” meaning the “eye-hole” was replaced by the word ” windows” in the 13th century, windows acts as our saviours protects us from the blustering winds , as a child playing ‘ hide and seek’, hiding behind the curtains of the window gave me a unique space. Windows like the doors never sleep there is only temporary shut-down.
In ‘ Room with a view’ by Forster the window created in front of a view is a glimpse of various happenings.
‘The Open Window’ by Saki is story revolving around a big French window which becomes a tool to fool.
But my favorite is “The Last Leaf” by O’ Henry where a lady named Johnsy is suffering from pneumonia in autumn fears death, her only hope was the last leaf on a vine creeper climbing the brick wall outside the window, depicting human beliefs, turmoils and hopes.
I have a deep association with windows since my childhood for all good reasons, windows are not for the proactive people and so i love my real windows which are a true portal from outside to inside, as I watch and observe.
Stay home Stay safe and just
Peep through your window
Anjali, with a masters in English is a teacher on a sabbatical, loves travelling and spending time in the lap of nature, observing its bounties and being thankful to the hills.
