Resumo de Space - Gaurav Madan

Its been 6 months since I landed up in Mumbai and I have already shifted houses three times. It is really hard to find a good shelter in Mumbai when you are just a struggler and upon that a bachelor. I was being too demanding; too naïve because I was looking out for a second family. I have always felt that space is one of the most significant aspects of our lives. Being born and brought up in Haryana, I am used to the big open spaces; huge independent houses with long verandahs. With time I have realized that exploration of space, at least within the boundaries we live in is very important while growing up. When I was a child I had the legacy of exploring each corner and every line of the long verandah, discovering the shelves and abandoned things in the store room, running down the length of the big halls and bedrooms and the most cherishing was playing cricket on the long joint terraces. In the winters, the sunlight was abundant in the verandah and in the summers the breeze was soothing. I feel that such spaces helped me grow, nourished my creative senses and shaped the intricacies of my personality. When I moved out of my home to explore myself I found that bigger and crowded the cities, more restricted were the spaces of people.

While in Mumbai, when I shifted the third time, I almost found a second family. I am currently living as a paying guest in the flat of a muslim family in a total muslim society. The flat has two bedrooms. A TV actor Imraan lives in one of them and I have occupied the other one. Flat owner Salim bhai lives with his mother, wife and three small kids in the hall. At the first look the family doesn?t seem poverty stricken but Salim bhai?s mother told me that they have to repay loans. On the first day I was stunned to see the whole family sleeping in one hall. Some days passed, very rarely I saw any kids playing down in the society, they mostly remained inside. Three small kids of Salim bhai were living a very restricted life. A muslim family, heights of conservatism and upon that two ?intruders? in the house. It was so disheartening to see that the three kids don?t even have legacy of playing in their own flat. I always saw them sitting in the hall doing nothing. I never heard them shouting, I never saw them running around in the flat, I never found them playing hide & seek. I wondered when they talk about their house whether they actually mention the two bedrooms and the other bathroom.

Within a week?s time, I started feeling like an intruder who has cut three little kids from their own space. I felt like leaving but my hunger of having a family away from family stopped me. Moreover, if I had left some body else would have been kept in my place. I used to imagine these kids exploring the spaces in their house the way I used to do. I wondered whether these little ones are familiar with all the walls, windows, floors and corners which exist in their house. Whenever, little Ayaan came wandering into my room or Imraan?s room, his mother ran after him to take him back into the hall.

I often wondered ?There would be a time when these kids would start hating living like prisoners in their own house?. I was sure that all three of them must be having plans of dirtying the other walls of their house; they must be fantasizing about the wild adventure of sliding on the glossy floors of two bedrooms; may be some day one of them will break the custom of waiting outside the only bathroom available to them for daily ablutions and will give up to the lure of the adjacent empty bathroom of the ?intruders?. I wanted to see them flying at least inside their own house if not the blue sky.

One day I came back from work early, I was pleasantly surprised to see the three kids running down the length of the flat. I had seen these kids literally whispering and now I was seeing them shouting and giggling. In the spell of the moment when I asked the eldest one about the whereabouts of their parents, she told me that theyhave gone to Haji Ali. Then they started jumping and rolling on my bed. Little Ayaan was trying to reach the window and see how the outside view was from this corner of his house. I lifted him up and made him sit near the window. I happily watched their playful activities and realized that all my speculations about their intentions were true.

Since then, not just the three kids but even I eagerly wait for that evening of the weekend when Salim bhai goes out to Haji Ali with his mother and wife. So heartening it is to see, little angels exploring the space, which is their own.

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