Living in a house with a private balcony has always been my dream. Note the word private, I prefer not to share a balcony just like I prefer not to share my books.
The houses we had been living in till I graduated from high school were without a balcony, we weren’t able to find a house with one, so the university hostels were my only escape then. To my bad luck, my family shifted to a new house with a balcony a few months after I entered university. Though I was happy to stretch my arms on a balcony, even if for a few days when I went home during the holidays.
Apparently, hostel rooms for the first-year students didn’t have a balcony, so I made peace with the thought that I will have one in my second year of university. The hostel room in my second year did have a balcony, but it received no sunlight throughout the year. A balcony without sunlight for me is no balcony at all. So I patiently waited for the third year of college, every year was hope for me because every year we had the chance to shift to a new room.
My room in the third year of university had a balcony that received sunlight for a few hours, but it was shared. Phew! A shared balcony with sunlight; half of my dream was fulfilled. However, I was okay, I had one more year left of college, final year rooms were not shared and all of them had a balcony. Yay!
Meanwhile, all these years I used to sit in the hostel verandah and look up at the sun with eyes closed to feel the warmth, something we secretly crave for all our lives.
The balcony in my room in the final year of university was all mine with sunlight, but it didn’t have a view, it faced the hostel courtyard where I could just see security guards for most of the day! Three-quarters of my dream were fulfilled. Not so bad!
A private balcony facing the street where I could sip coffee whilst reading a book, feel the gentleness of the breeze and protection of the sunlight, see life passing by on the streets in haste while I sit to savour it and enjoy the me time for a part of the day, every day, was what I wanted, I think.
Hope is what keeps us going; with a smile.
I moved to Europe and went over my budget to have a balcony that wasn’t shared, received sunlight and faced the street. Wohooo! But wait, something was missing, it didn’t fit in my dream; completely. The balcony was on the first floor, I felt carried away in the bustle of life. My ideal balcony should be facing the street but should be high enough where I could see birds flying by and have a look at the minuscule world around me.
There is power in height. There is freeness in open spaces. There is love in nature.
There is happiness in a balcony.
The cover photo was taken in Dubrovnik, Croatia.