I bring you my new series: ‘Musings from the Balcony.’ The balcony is the place where we write the stories of our inner selves. Inner dialogues. Inner children. And the subconscious that never comes to you in the cacophony of life when you’re busy in the broad daylight. Balcony musings are those stories that you forget to tell yourself. Here’s a little reminder to those forsaken tales of you and me.

This one single frame talks about many things that often remained untold. Today, I want to tell their stories.

This frame talks about passion. It tells you the story of a girl who finds time for her passion and love after working in the IT sector for five days a week (please read eternity, as the corporate ghosts keep dancing on your head even on the weekends because your head is their favorite dance floor). It tells you the story of a girl who, despite suffering so much from physical ailments, tries to cope with the pain and dedicates her weekend to her love of life – Arts. It tells you the story of a girl who has been learning how to balance all that we writers call ‘everything in between’, an easy way to escape all that we want to remain silent in the guise of these three words. But for the artist, it has also become an art. She is trying to balance her work-life priorities with the help of her creations so she learns a little of ‘everything’, ‘in between her life before thirty and life after thirty.’

This one single frame also tells you the story of many firsts. First baby steps to a new dream. First venturing into creating customized gifts. First bringing an entire landscape to a mini canvas.

It talks about desperation. Sacrificing some hours from the finite timeline to meet the family, and investing them in the love for creation. A transition from certainty to uncertainty. Carrying a lot of arts stationery and materials that even doubled the weight of the backpack. Borrowing a sun-kissed corner at the guest house balcony and spending hours with brushes, colors, and plants. Finding some quiet time for herself, no matter how sweaty, thirsty, or hungry she is. Practicing mindfulness with her artistic endeavors by living in the moment. Forgetting everything, diving deep into her inner self, and staying there until the deafening sound of the drilling from the nearby construction site breaks her meditation. They are building a new apartment, with so much noise. But the artist doesn’t care about the world outside, as she is busy with her creation in silence.

This frame also talks about imperfections. Painting the floor with a few drops of orange. Adorning the fingers with a few strokes of white. Capturing the frames with a few buzzing insects. Failing to draw a perfect contour to the heart. Adding more blaze to the sunset reflection. Using an old paintbrush instead of buying a new one with a sharper edge. Getting scolded by the mother for turning the place into a messy corner. Arranging everything in the hope of getting a perfect frame yet losing to make it perfect all the time.

Last but not least, this frame talks about escapades. This little time she devotes to her art is fondly addressed as ‘My Great Escape’ by the artist. An escape from the IT life, an escape from the daily hustle in the metro city, an escape from the constant chase of ‘something big’. An escape from the monotony of the mundaneness, from the monochrome canvas of life, from the monologue of loneliness. This little time that she dedicates to her arts, gifts her the much-needed moments of inner joy and contentment, offers her a chance to add as many colors as she wants to add to her life, and writes a micro-tale where she narrates her story with a silent dialogue with her inner child. Every piece of art she pours her heart into becomes a letter to the child who started this journey years ago, with a dream in her eyes to color the world. Today, she is walking toward her dream.

One masterpiece at a time.

(P. S. This piece is dedicated to my sister, Saheli.)