A Room With a View – from window to door

“Through the small tall bathroom window, the December yard is gray and scratchy, the tree calligraphic. -Dave Eggers

Autumn had almost gone leaving behind this “calligraphic” tree. Earlier, I could barely see the birds on its branches for its leaves in Spring. It looks beautiful from my window in all seasons.

I love to have big windows in every room, and until now I’ve been fortunate enough to have grand windows opening to beautiful views. A window with a good view keeps me from feeling claustrophobic in a closed room. But things change with time and moving from country to country and different residences, puts you in rooms with smaller windows, sometimes.  And that’s where, now, I sit or stand and dream or reminisce or capture joy by just aiming and shooting!

These are photos from 2017-18. All I had was an old iPhone 8. No swanky, classy or new camera!

It didn’t dampen my spirit – I love clicking pictures of things that captivate me, engage my attention, revive memories or just… seep into me. I love looking at them later and reliving the moment.

May 28th, 2017, new places, new faces.

“A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside.   -Denis Waitley

Every morning, I find something or the other that’s click-worthy to me when I look out my window. So I click away. Mostly it’s clouds! My obsession! I might delete most of these photos later for very poor picture quality…yes, even my untrained eye can see a very bad click, lol.

Some days are rainy and grey and the window looks gloomy and there isn’t much I can see outside save for the tears of rain running down my window pane! Back from my school days, teenage years, come the notes of Mary Hopkins’ song, ‘Knock, knock who’s there,’ and I start to sing or hum, and soon slip into another old-time favorite – ‘Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain…’ and another and another. And my day gets set to a very romantic, lyrical note.

But gone away is the Spring, Summer and the Autumn… and the winter is here to stay, at least, for the next few months! We’ve had our first snowfall and I’m grounded! Well, not seriously. 

“People ask me what I do in winter… I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. 

-Rogers Hornsby

The seasons pass by as I watch the changing scenes through my window! Back to the present…in a new region; a new city. Bigger, busier, and bustling.

I miss the previous, comparatively smaller one. I miss my room with a view and my window that opened out to lovely views and open spaces. I hardly stand at my window now, in another place, which is more of a brick jungle. It’s better I don’t; It doesn’t afford me any great scenery through my window… this is not a room with a view.

Neither do my walks with buildings looming on either side of the sidewalk afford any breathing space for a person like me… a city girl, who gets claustrophobic in a concrete jungle if she has to live in it under these conditions!

That’s where my memories, like these, in pictures come to my aid. It helps. And I become grateful for the reminders of big mercies and wonderful moments captured in photographs. This puts me in a mellow mood and points me towards what is there rather than what is not.

And the small mercies are always there if we get ourselves out of the negativity and moaning. Some such ‘small mercies’ are the spacious deck and a lovely green grassy patch and a small garden in the backyard. It affords a lot of openness and fresh air. One can even walk on the grass that stretches from the side gate at the front all the way to the shed that stands way back by the rear fence.

So what if the backyard is bounded by tall fences on three sides.

So what if the double-storey houses outside these fences, on all three sides, block out the open view of the sky, the clouds, the trees, the open spaces.

So what if the only glimpses I get through my window are of cluttered backyards across the road from my room that’s front-facing or worse, a view from the windows and door of the dining room and family room into the interior of homes at the back whose windows stand with curtains undrawn or open blinds.

So what if I don’t have any window in any room, front or back, with a view worth gazing at.

I have something else…

I have a door with a view!

The big glass double door, in the dining room, that replaces the ‘window with a view’ and looks on the backyard and provides a lovely view of grassy greenery and brilliant colors of the season’s blooms. And the little creatures, feathered and furry, who keep me engrossed and amused as they scramble and flit around.

The feathered one that’s busy building a nest under the roof over the deck! And also its mate that hops around the deck pecking at something or the other.

And the ‘outdoors’ black cat, that isn’t ours but is a regular visitor in our backyard. It’s got to know about the nest and threatens the bird by sitting and gazing at it hungrily. Or then decides to be a peeping Tom!

The squirrels that run about and at times sneak into the deck.

It is a fairly spacious backyard. A patch of our own green, open space…flowers and birds. A few pine trees. What if all of these weren’t here?

But they’re here. And that’s something I appreciate. To have this in a big crowded city is in itself a blessing, all realities considered.

I can be miserable and moan and groan about things that are not exactly how I’d want them to be. Or appreciate what is here and be grateful for that good fortune. I can make the most of what is here and enjoy life or mope and make life miserable. I build my own happiness or misery. A window or a door? A room with a view or a room with no worthy view?

The choice is mine… pitiful or powerful?

Period.

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Should I, Shouldn’t I?

Buckle up! No one has to tell you, remind you to buckle up these days. I remember how traffic cops would be ever vigilant to challan anyone who didn’t bother to use their seat belt. Challan is the Hindi word used for traffic fines. You don’t buckle up, you pay a fine! Those were the days when buckling up became a traffic rule because no one cared to use the seat belts and the government was telling people to to use them, they were very controversial.

pic by senivpetro – http://www.freepik.com

Today, it isn’t necessary to remind anyone except, of course, if you’re driving with a kid. One doesn’t even have to specifically ‘think’ about it. It comes as a force of habit. I also recall how people grumbled about it. Found hundreds of flaws with it. Felt it was a money-making racket with the government in cahoots with businesses. However, all arguments and counter arguments were put to rest ages ago.

Then came the compulsory use of helmets.

Do we have to remind anyone driving a scooter or motorbike to wear a helmet? Not these days we don’t. Yet, when it became mandatory to wear a helmet, it met with equal resistance as the safety belt. People refused to wear it citing their own theories on how useless it was and the rant once again that the government was just helping businesses. They might have had a point there, but there was a ‘safety’ point to it as well.

I had a few relate to me how so and so died despite having a helmet strapped firmly on the head. They justified their objection to wearing a helmet this way. But check the stats, I’d say. How many were saved because of the helmet. Check how many died with the helmet on because the helmet wasn’t strapped on properly or not strapped at all. I had seen a number of people doing this… keeping their helmets on their heads but not strapping them so they could take them off on a stretch where they knew there were no cops nor checks. They did this to avoid being fined.

The women (in my country) were very worried about their hairdos. Especially those who made ‘jhooda’ (buns). Many women who had long hair rolled their hair into buns that were not on the nape of their neck but pinned higher. There were mutterings and grumbling and someone in the government decided women could drive without a helmet! I can understand the problem women with long hair have. And I also understand how some communities have religious restrictions on cutting their hair. But that is not an insurmountable problem for women. There are other ways to do one’s hair to accommodate the helmet.

This certainly brought up the question about safety. How did the government justify this? It made no sense to me. Were they inferring that women had harder nuts to crack?! If she were to ride a two wheeler, she was in equal danger of injuring herself fatally too. And it puzzled me why women were so happy with this decision.

Down the years, one saw many women using the helmet while driving. But it was their choice to do so. It wasn’t imposed on them. I have no clue how it is these days in my home country. I wonder if women are still exempt from wearing a helmet. I guess the traffic rules and regulations differ from state to state, so the situation would be different from state to state.

I wonder what the response would be if helmets for kids riding bicycles were to be imposed in my native place? I wasn’t used to seeing this in our day and during my stay back home. And I found it great that kids here must use a helmet while cycling. It made sense to me.

Everyone has a right to their opinion. But at times, it is important to think things over in the right perspective.

Nobody tells you to buckle up anymore. It isn’t necessary. Everyone just does it.

Now we are faced with the vaccination protests. The arguments continue pro and con. But no one is thinking about how and why the disease is spreading all over the world. There may be cases of vaccinated people getting infected, but like in the helmet and seatbelt issues, see how many aren’t getting infected. How many are not spreading it. And more importantly, how many unvaccinated people are spreading it. One person can infect quite a few directly who then infect more.

Why do we protest so much about things that are good for us now? We argue and fight about our rights. But as I see it, I have the right to my opinion, but I have no right to harm anyone through my actions and decisions. Unvaccinated, and roaming around town, I can catch the virus and bring it back home. I might have an elderly person or kids back home. Neighbors and friends, relations I meet. I would be infecting unsuspecting individuals. Apart from keeping myself safer than I was before, by getting vaccinated, I’d be also protecting my kids… my family.

As Spock said, “To deny the facts would be illogical.”

PS: These are just my thoughts as I see things. I’m just trying to understand the situation. If you don’t agree, that’s ok. Please don’t post any rude comments.