Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The Closet


I sat down today in front of a cupboard that looked very different from what it looked about a month ago. It wasn’t a new cupboard, just the things inside-they were different. It was however a cupboard that I opened every day and yet it seemed to be so new, familiar but changed.

This cupboard stood in the same place, had the same exterior but the inside had changed over the last month. Winter had finally slid in silently through the crevices around, the weather had changed. The change in season had led to a complete over hauling of what I call my private space, an external change that had transformed the interior reality of something that didn’t look altered on the outside at all.

This cupboard which housed the summer wardrobe so comfortably, with the pastel hues of scarves and white linen shirts was now bereft of all the pretty colors of the spring. It stood there ready with the all pervasive dark shades of blues, grays and blacks ready to battle the gusts of the wind and yet I knew that the summer would displace them all soon again.

It really is like one living in the midst of change, just that it is more amicable to embracing change with doors open unlike most people. It doesn’t fuss over letting go or letting the new in and yet it doesn’t look too proud in Spring nor too glum in Autumn. It just stands there ready for the next season, circumstance or transition.

It made me think of the people I meet and how they have changed over the years, just like the cupboard. Some people who I adored for their sense of humour or zest for life had somewhere along the years given in to the bitterness and the harsh winter that life had shown them, whereas some really serious people had evolved into the happy charmers whose laughter beats many a background score.

However, there is a difference you see - to adapt, the cupboard changed with the weather but never really changed, the people changed with the weather however they really did change.
Season’s Greetings – let the bonfires always ignite the very best in us!
Sanchita Johri