Leaving the door open

Leaving unclosed my door
Of black pine, I go to bed
For the night awash
In plum scent and light
From the moon
- Tonna (1289-13)

This made me nostalgic. I love open doors and windows. When I was a kid, I grew up in a village. All the windows and doors will be open all the time. Home used to look like an extension of outdoors. At night, my grandmom used to just bolt the grilled front door, which could be opened by anybody from outside. Most of the houses had open verandah where anybody can come and sleep or rest any time.

After I came to Chennai, till about 7-8 years back, we used to bolt the front door only during night. As I have mentioned before, anybody, including cows, dogs, reptiles and people, used to walk in freely during day time. Me being the last to sleep, I will forget to lock the front door many nights and will find it unlocked in the morning. My father never used to complain about it. May be, being an outdoors person, I love keeping the doors and windows open so that I can bring the outdoor feeling inside. I get the feeling of living in a prison if I keep the front door locked.

Even when I went to Bangalore when my husband got a transfer, the house we lived there had huge windows which we always used to keep open. My husband used to joke to me saying that he gets the feeling of living in a park. After some months, he got curtains for some privacy. However, the curtains remained drawn majority of the time. The windows compensated for the closed front door – my husband used to tell me many times a day that I should, never, never keep the front door open.

When I came back to Chennai, I had a shock. My mother had got into the habit of keeping her front door locked always. And because of my husband, even when l am at home, I have to keep the front door bolted. Though he talks about safety – and mosquitoes – I can never get over the feeling of living in a prison. However, I don’t deny the threat in keeping the doors open now.

I don’t see an open front door anywhere in the city these days. The houses are also as closed as the minds and hearts of people who live inside it. Or is it the other way? I do not know.

So, I was happy to see something to the contrary recently, when I went to Kerala. I went there on official visit and as my cousin was staying just behind the hotel where I stayed, I thought I’ll say hello. It was in the heart of Eranakulam city. I went and saw the front door locked. It was a sort of enclosure with 5-6 independent houses belonging to brothers/cousins who are staying together. I wanted to find out whether she’ll be back soon and register my attendance and went to the nearby house. the door was wide open and there was nobody. I called and still no response, I just walked in and went and looked into the kitchen and one other room. Then I walked towards the bed room and found people there (that room was also wide open). I just went and spoke to them (no, they do not mind people walking in. they asked me to sit down and offered refreshments which I declined) and left. I love that memory.

I guess, the more we go towards villages, the more open doors we see. A couple of years back, we went on a south Karnataka tour. My son was small and I never used to give him baby formula – He was fed homemade baby food which needed cooking. We carried with us a vessel and ladle. When the feeding time came, we used to stop the car wherever and I used to get into the nearby house or hut and request them to use their kitchen. Everybody said yes and many offered milk to cook the food if there were no shops nearby.

I guess it is the trouble of material things that prompts us to keep our homes locked. The more we have, the more we want to protect them from others invading it. The problem I find with possessions are, the fear of losing possessions is more than the joy of having them. No wonder the zen monk went inside the departmental store and said, “I wonder how many things are there which I do not need”.