Looking Out Of The Window: A Little Perspective

Do you remember which window she would look out of? The one in her classroom which overlooked the ground? The one that somehow always gave her hope? If not, here is a little recap:

Looking out of the window

So years changed, classes changed. And she moved up the ladder of education leaving her window behind. There was no window this year as her classroom stood right next to another building, so all she could see was the wall. She got caught up with her work and her life, and she forgot to do some things which were very important to her. She forgot to look at the rain, to smile, to dance, to talk to a lot of people and the worst was that she forgot to write. She had this little blog in a tiny corner of this wonderful site called wordpress and she forgot about that.

As things kept getting worse, she found that many doors were being shut to her face. There was one last door that had been open, which was slowly closing as well. She was so alone in a room full of closed doors that she would weep endlessly and sleep came to her only in installments.

Then this one day, when she was all alone at home studying (as usual), she had to run to her window to shut it, to keep this thing called ‘rain’ out of her room. When she was doing so, she just happened to glance outside accidentally. And then she saw – trees and parks, apartments and roads, dogs and birds, even the beach on the horizon – all looking so beautiful as the rain pattered down on them.

That is when she realized that there was always a window! A tiny window with some thing to show you or to give you some hope, if only you were willing to take it! It was true that when a door closes a window opens up in its place. All she needed was a little perspective.

Looking out of the window: a little rain

She looked outside the window and noticed the moist ground, the slightly wet trees and that smell you get from the ground after a shower of rain. She smiled and wondered how things could change so fast. When she had left for lunch the ground was absolutely dry – as if it were a parched throat in need of water. And in thirty minutes it looked so beautiful. There had barely been a shower, for the amount of rain that had poured was not much. Yet, that little rain was enough to transform the ground. She realized that it was the same with life. Life needed a little shower to bloom. On the previous day, she had thrown party for a good friend and the day had gone splendidly. But when she reached home she was faced with a different atmosphere. She had to make a choice, and her career depended on it. But it was so difficult for her to choose that she couldn’t sleep well that night. As a result, she had been grumpy all morning. After snapping at a lot of people, she finally calmed down after lunch. That was when she realized that, though she still hadn’t come to a conclusion, all she needed was a little unexpected shower in her life. and her frown would be turned upside down again. Life was unexpected, and the lows would come along with the highs. All she had to do was wait.. She smiled and continued to look out of the window.

Looking out of the window: A different life.

She came in, late as usual, threw her bag on the desk and sat down. She looked out of the window so that no one would see the tears she was trying to hold back. After a while one tear slowly trickled down her cheek. At the same time a cool breeze blew across her face. She looked outside the window again. She thought about what had happened. She had been talking to a friend about life in the small town she lived and life in the outside world. The friend kept telling her how many opportunities she was missing being cooped up in this small town. They kept talking about all the things they could do in a bigger city. The freedom they would get, the open-minded people they would be around, the facilities they would be provided with and basically the standard of living they could experience. The jobs and pay scale, the malls, the parks, the infrastructure, etc. But she kept arguing that this was the best place in the world for her. She had lived here all her life and she intended to live here for the rest of her life. She still had a lot to discover in this small town of her’s. She loved it with all her heart and did not want to live anywhere else. But the friend then asked her to imagine what her life would have been like if she had grown up in a bigger city. She asked her to think about the things she had missed. She thought back to her childhood and saw all the things she had, but then she saw all the things she could have had. Wouldn’t she want her adult life at least to have all the opportunities she possibly could have? The friend then went away. She was still in a trance. She heard the first bell go. She got up and started walking to class. She realized that her life could have been much more than it already was. For the first time in her life, she hated her town for the things it lacked. That was when she had come into the class – frustrated.

The wind became stronger. The trees on the ground started shaking and all of a sudden it started raining. The rain was so furious that the lecturer couldn’t be heard. The light spray of rain coming in through the window fell on her face. Her hair started flying. She closed her eyes and smiled. In that moment, she suddenly knew why she loved that place so much. She couldn’t really explain it and there was nothing very unique about that place, but her heart was set there. From the minute she had started observing her surrounding – she had fallen head over heels in love with the city. She opened her eyes and continued to look out of the window.

RAIN

don’t you just love that moment when you see the clouds in the air and you can feel that breeze running through your hair and you know that any minute now it will start raining?when the first drop falls on your face and your hear the first roar of thunder and you just can’t help smiling. when you’re walking in the rain and you feel like jumping in a puddle or when the wind is so strong you have to struggle to hold on to your umbrella. when your sitting in class but you are dying to go out and dance in the rain and the raindrops on the ledge outside the window comfort you. when you just start smiling because the rain makes you feel good. and then, when the clouds clear and you can smell the fragrance of the moist earth. And the sky – which was recently cloudy and grey becomes white and pure like a virgin. oh!!.. don’t you just love the rain??

the dog, the rain and my passion.

Image via Wikipedia

It was raining pretty heavily. But I didn’t care. With every drop of rain that touched me I felt more secure. I felt like I was disappearing into the rain, and the wind was taking me away with it. But a part of me was still in the present; looking at every tiny object around me- romanticizing it all! I had been like this for quite sometime now and I had no idea why. I barely spoke to my friends any more and I didn’t concentrate on anything I was supposed to be doing. All I ever did was analyze everything, look at life from a different perspective, a different angle. I thought about everything I wanted to do, all the places I wanted to visit, all the food I wanted to eat and all the colours I wanted in my life. I sat at home, watching movie after movie, in languages I didn’t even understand. And I loved it! I loved the peace and the silence I kept all around me. But I also had this thunderous roar sounding within me. And with every drop of rain that touched me, just as I was floating away with the wind, I was also looking for answers. And then I saw this dog sprawled on the pavement and he seemed like the only one on that pavement who espoused my policy of gripping the rain. He seemed as away from the world as he was with it-just like me. Then it hit me. I was shutting them out because they weren’t what I was. As in, I belonged to another world. A world filled with writers, filmmakers, critics and artists. And a world with a whole lot of colour. They loved me but they didn’t understand me. I needed someone to understand my need to watch movies in languages I didn’t understand. I needed someone to understand my need to stay silent in the midst of a huge crowd. I needed someone to know that I yearned to laugh and cry at the same time. And I also needed someone not just to know these things, but also to understand them, to feel them and to go through the same stuff with me. And all of a sudden I felt happy because the dog understood me. The dog was with me. As petrified I am of dogs I was still grateful for that one dog, because in that moment-he had made me happy. So I left it all there- the dog, the rain…