When you are confined to the four walls of your home, with only the windows, doors, and balconies providing some respite from the mundane, the need to take in a landscape, however modest and concrete-filled, becomes a want. This want has led some, up a few flights of stairs, to the crown of their building - the terrace. The nationwide lockdown has meant that folks can venture out from their homes only for groceries and therefore our chance of taking in new sights, smells and sounds is restricted to the scenes from the marketplace. But the terrace, slightly cool and damp in the early hours of the day and warm from having retained the heat from the scorching afternoons in the dusk, has become a great escape for many.
Over the past few weeks, you may have observed increased activity in your neighbourhood terraces - heads bob by at a quick pace as people pick up momentum on their brisk morning/evening walk around the perimeter of the terrace, a father-daughter duo climbs up to the water tank on their terrace in another building and chats until sunset, a couple of silhouettes from the high-rise building in the neighbourhood take in the bird's eye view of the area...
“Our apartment has fixed timing for people to use the terrace. This way, a healthy social distance is also maintained,” an acquaintance in Chennai said. And his building isn't the only one.
Aparna V Singh, Founder and CEO of Women’s Web, lives in Banaswadi in Bengaluru and says that she now spends time birdwatching with her father, even during the weekdays. “While I am an avid bird watcher, my dad is the one who has actually been doing this very regularly - he goes up every evening around five for an hour and I have accompanied him on some days. But this lockdown has changed our routine,” she says.
Aparna continues, “Rarely on a working day would we have gone up to the terrace! But now, we do. On some mornings, I also go up around 7 am.”
Kavitha, who is now home with her 11 and 5-year-olds in Bengaluru, talks about her terrace garden of tomatoes, green chillies, mint, turkey berries, papaya, roses, dahlia and hibiscus -- fondly and with a sigh of relief. “We started a small garden last summer and that is now helping out, giving us some sanity in these stressed times,” she says.
For Herald J George, also from Bengaluru, the terrace with its garden has become “the spot” for the entire family to hang out. From his 71-year-old mother to his two-year-old son, they all take turns to spend time on the terrace. “Having been indoors for the last three weeks, we began our lockdown a few days prior to the PM’s advice, we appreciate the blessing that this terrace garden has become in our lives. A house without this space, during this period of being indoors, would have been a lot more painful,” he says.
25-year-old Krishna, a content strategist at Freshworks, Chennai, says that when he’s on his terrace with his father, time flies. A sock, a cricket ball, and a rope is enough to keep them occupied, says the grade cricketer who plays for a local club on weekends in leagues like the Blue Sky. “My dad and I take turns with hanging-ball-cricket. We barely notice the time passing when we're at it. Here’s a picture of the seventh sock that we tore in the process,” he laughs. Some have also been flying kites.
My dad and I take turns with hanging ball cricket. We barely notice time passing when we're at it. Picture has the 7th sock that we tore in the process. My mom keeps saying, "2 per um aadi *kizhichachu* porum... Walk matum panunga". pic.twitter.com/QubHAP02BU
— Krishna Charan (@pun_laden) April 12, 2020
Padmaja Konisetti from Hyderabad who had been to her terrace only thrice while living in the apartment for three years, now takes time to work out with her sister there.
Rashi Vidyasagar who moved to Bengaluru just three years ago from Mumbai is sending some love back home by live streaming the sunset from her terrace. “Because it is so rare to come across something like this in Mumbai,” she reasons.
Saradha, a journalist from Chennai, sounds excited when asked about her terrace escapades. “My father, mother, husband and my one-year-old child go up to the terrace almost every evening these days. Sometimes we even change our clothes, comb hair and get ready like we would for an outing,” she says. “Last week I found my mother's college slam book and we took it out for our 'motta madi' session. We made my mother recall her memories, including her love story with my father,” she says.
While some share that they’ve made new friends with neighbours they haven’t spoken to before, others also talk about playing with their pets on the terrace. And there are those who want to make the terrace a part of the everyday ritual, even after the lockdown ends. Reshma, for instance, confides, “Terrace is like this newfound discovery for me and my husband. Pre-COVID we’d probably have been to the terrace 10 times a year but now we look forward to it. It gives us our individual space and in fact I told him we should retain this ritual even later.”