Looking out!

Spring is finally here, and Pittsburgh has finally renewed its acquaintance with the sun. I never thought I would be so glad to see something I took for granted twenty three years of my life. Its hard not to gaze out of the window as I work, these days.

I was reading Shreyas' blog about his experience looking out of the window, and I remembered all the windows I have gazed out of. I don't know if this is common, but it seems like a large part of my life has been spent looking out of the window and trying not to. The most vivid one is looking out of the the grilled window of our room in Tiptur. My father and grandfather, both advocates, saw their clients at home. The clients travelled to Tiptur from surrounding villages and I remember them sitting on our cement walkway (!) patiently waiting for hours. Lots of white panches and I vividly recall that they wore those striped long chaddis underneath where they seemed to store tobacco, money and all sundry! Meena, my first great chum and torture victim, was a neighbour, and most of our communication was through the aforesaid window. All this among coconut trees, rose bushes and 'croton' plants. Sunshine and cloudless skies a matter of course and there lots of smuggling tamarind through the window , so we could make some concoction with tamarind, salt, chilli powder and garlic that we astonishingly ingested without ever being sick! My school rooms in Tiptur had so many windows and so many sights that these offered, that its a wonder I ever passed primary school.

Predictably, the scenes through later windows sobered up. On a long visit to Bombay in July, we were more or less placed on house arrest due to incessant rain, and being on the 16th floor, there wasn't much to amuse ourselves with. Sophia's women's college was next to the apartment building and every morning would find us gazing at the vividly coloured umbrellas the girls carried to college, which was all we could see from above. That was the highlight of the morning! The French windows in Bangalore look out to a field that hosts volleyball tournaments where the commentators are earthshakingly hilarious. They even have floodlight volleyball till the wee hours of the morning. No one sleeps in my house those few days of the tournament, not because we are avid V-ball fans, but because no human being can sleep with those lights shining through the window and managing to pierce the curtains!

The study window was another source of interesting times. It looks out on the terraces of our neighbours' houses. Friends were made this way, and I also remember watching and hearing one of our neighbours practice dramatic scenes with his drama troupe (!) repeating lines over and over with different intonations and emphasis.

Our cousin was visiting one day, and was rudely shaken at midnight, with promises of a rare vision through the window. She followed my sister and me, wondering what was so fascinating. My sister and I, great detectives that we were, had spotted smoke coming out of a neigbour's house at midnight, had done some superb spy work through the curtains and spotted our neighbour, a teenaged female, smoking in her living room. My cousin, more worldly wise, was disgusted with us for finding this thrilling and told us to get a life, but the memory remains as one of the most awesome discoveries my sister and I made.

More gazing through windows has followed, notably in Victoria hospital, looking at pink and yellow flowering trees, patients wheeled on stretchers and wheelchairs, nurses in impossibly white saris and salwars, an occasional harassed intern. Then there has been Pittsburgh, where I caught my first real glimpse of snow through the window. Looking up from a reverie, I glanced out to find that the world was literally white! My main complaint with the hospital I work in is that most windows are tinted or shaded, so there isn't a proper view. In my world where looking out of the window is a major occupation, this is cramping my style.I have a suspicion they want me to do some real work.

Back home writing this,I glance out and I spy gloomy skies (again!). Never mind, spring is here and soon there will be bright colours and blue skies once more to look at, that I promise to never again take for granted!