Somewhere up the stairs!
Halfway up the stairs is a stair where I sit.
Last week I chanced to spend an hour on the staircase leading to my first floor flat. I needed to temporarily escape the 'friendly fumes' sprayed in my flat as part of the maintenance for keeping away pests. On such a previous occasion, I remember having spent the hour with my neighbor friend, but sadly she was away this time. And that is how I came to settle down on one of the steps that fine morning.
The day was sunny yet mild, and the gentle breeze kept my spirits up. On the outer sides of balconies, the clothes fluttered in a colourful dance, the trees beyond swayed in happy abandonment. I was all by myself, midst the breeze and the warm sun and thoughts and feelings rushed in unbidden.
'No amount of smiling at a flight of stairs has ever made it turn into a ramp. Stella Young
The staircase leading to my home on the first floor is very easy to climb, most of the gradient is a ramp with only a couple of steps at the turn. So one needs to negotiate fewer number of steps to reach any of the three floors. This sense of relief quickly disappears when I go to my Yoga class every morning. The number of steps I have to climb to reach the fourth floor, to the enclosed terrace, where exercises are conducted! On approaching them, my mind immediately switches on its 'health mode' and I find myself taking the stairs to my daily workout, which is basically a guilt trip disguised as exercise.
Often, in my daughter's home, I have to use a set of a dozen steps to reach my bedroom, and another, to reach the suite of rooms upstairs. What makes my climb and descent comfortable is a beautiful set of banisters, in soft smooth polished wood. I have become so used to using it as a support that these days I find it difficult to use the staircase without it.
In their revised avatar, staircases have been daunting or even intimidating, when I had to negotiate them the very first time. Especially, in the Malls when the escalators made their appearance. And it was another kind of education, learning to use the same at Airports, tugging a heavy suitcase along with an ungainly handbag!
I can never forget the long staircase in my home in Jamshedpur. It was a large residential building with two floors. We lived on the top floor and we had our own separate entrance, via a road that overlooked huge gardens. This Main Street was usually very quiet with hardly any traffic, often deserted during afternoons and nights. The staircase had to be accessed through a wooden door which then lead through two flights of steps to another wooden door, the entrance to our home. The flight of steps then proceeded upward to the terrace which was again protected by another wooden door. Along the way there were many dark landings and nooks underneath, we were perpetually in fear of someone or something lurking in there. So this entrance was used selectively, but always kept safely bolted and locked.
To where the stars align and dreams never sway!
However the most interesting staircase was a cast iron spiral staircase at the back of the house. We used this all the time, as the road leading to it was always busy...the car garages and outhouses were situated here, it was safer and always well lit. The spiral staircase took a few days to get used to, and soon, we were looking down through the stair risers or running up and down fearlessly. Friends and family visiting us for the first time found it challenging but it was great fun because it was shorter and quicker to negotiate
But half way, up or down, from whichever side you looked at it, there was a step, from which you could hop on to a wide parapet. Once I learnt to take the plunge, it provided me a wonderful getaway, to read my books undisturbed, hidden yet out in the open. A lot of time would be spent in surveying and admiring the gardens. Sometimes I would get a sneak peak, on to a group of children playing or women hanging clothes and this time was so precious, that it would override all other thoughts, including my mother's warning. She used to be very uncomfortable, knowing I was perched somewhere up there!
And yet the romance of the staircase will soon be lost with high rise buildings and with thirteen or more storeys as the norm, who would dare traverse them! But also, who would have the time to sit and reminisce of days gone by, because without the stairs of the past, you cannot arrive at the future!
Comments
Post a Comment