Terraces

To start with this is not a movie review. I loved the movie a lot. Probably the only recent Marathi movie featuring kids not related to coming of age. Maybe when I feel I have enough understanding of movies I will start reviewing them.For now, I am going to explore on something the director beautifully captured in the movie.

The director shows the main protagonist jumping across open spaces on houses to reach the place where he, his sister and friends are selling bangles.People are shown eating together, sharing life and much more in an open space.I am going to explore more on this open space which I know as Terrace.

Terraces have a very special place in my heart since childhood.

My first memory of terrace is with my mother making summer delicacies and helping her to lay them on the terrace to dry off. Once done I used to run to the terrace under the excuse of driving away crows and end up eating the delicacies esp. the sabudana ones.

It was our adda for the dance practices for the society Republic day celebrations. We have a tradition of a food bazaar every Republic day. So all my society friends and their mothers used to come together for the pre-preparations on the terrace. The joint terraces bought together an entire community.

It was “the place” during Holi for playing colors, having inter society balloon fights and for lying down later all drenched in water and colors with friends; sharing a joy we seldom enjoy now.
As I grew up terrace became a second home – A place to study, eat, sleep, sing, share secrets with friends, fly kites, play hide and seek, celebrate festivities like bhondala, kojagiri pournima, family get together and cry too.

Off late I see disconnected terraces, locked for security reasons and a disconnected community. It pains me to see that we are forgetting to visit this lovely place which has so much more to offer than a top view.

Over the years I have realized that Terraces not only offer us view of the changing landscape but also give us different perspectives on how to view and live in the world around us.

We sometimes need to pull ourselves out of a situation and look at it from a terrace view to understand things from a different perspective.

Whether you live in a bungalow, a standalone building or an apartment society go ahead and celebrate the terraces, lives and communities to create beautiful memories.
Happy Terracing!!! 🙂