A Journey Back in Time - Essay Example

A journey back in time Close your eyes. Imagine building a castle on the foundation of sand. Once the castle is built you will realize that the base is not strong enough to support the constant structural integrity and that the castle is very likely to be weak or fall down. Using this same principle and applying this to one’s childhood, I believe the foundations of a human being are built in these early years. A stable, safe and predictable environment is critical for the development of this formation. Whenever such an environment crosses my mind I directly associate it with my old home. The place where I was born, the place where I grew up, the place which I learnt was called a house, a place that was so much more. It is difficult for me to describe how much this place means to me. It is the place where I took my first steps. Where I laughed and cried and grew up. It is a tangible representation of all my memories. Moving towards the history of my home, the historic value of this house is also very sentimental. When my parents got married they moved into this house. Thirty years ago it was constructed by the housing development in Tehran. However it seems older to me. Looking back at the last time I visited my childhood home I remember it all so clearly. Last year during my winter break as I went to Tehran I decided to go visit the old neighborhood. My cousin dropped me at the mosque near my home and I silently stared at it for a minute listening to the sound of the azaan. I was overcome with emotion because of the beauty of that sound and the way people left what they were doing and headed to the mosque to answer the call for prayer. The sound of azaan had always calmed me down and filled me with peace and hope. I had missed it a lot Moving on I walked on the footpath as I had done many times before. Then I was finally there. I was in my old neighborhood. There are so many times in life that we think that we would know how we would feel in a particular situation. Its times like these that we realize for our all knowledge, for all our experiences, for all our perceived understanding of things, how little we really know. I was here after twelve years. We had moved into a new house as I turned sixteen. Everything had changed so much.. I walked down the street and I smell the faint but familiar aroma of xangak and chelo kebab. I smile at the little children riding their bikes and running around. I see their mother’s watching them with such fondness from their driveways. I see so many faces. Strangely I recognize none of them. I see the trees nearby and so many birds flying in different directions. I see the yellow bridge and it makes me happy as I remember standing on it as a child hoping to catch a fish. At this point Martin Heidegger’s concept of dwelling crosses my mind. I had initially struggled to grasp what he had meant when he had related buildings to dwelling. How he had mentioned the fourfold elements of earth, sky, divinities and mortals as essential for the idea of dwelling. At this point I could see with certain clarity what he had meant. My house was located near a natural environment. It was how I had related to the overall environment, also known as ‘place’ as Christian Norberg-Schulz would call it, and not just a structure of a building in which I spent a majority of my time in. I’m standing outside my house now. It’s a building of modest proportions. It’s a two storey family house built along a minimalist design. The character of which is defined from its semi hanging open terrace, a set of white pillars that start at the base and finish lightly touching the roof top, with huge glass windows and a small courtyard that provides shielding enclosure from the street while maximizing light and views. I stare at the white residential security gate and I smile as fond memories flood my mind. I see myself struggling to climb over that gate and when tiring from the effort of doing so sitting right at the base with my feet hanging out and waving at people passing by. I can see my mother chatting with the neighbors and my parents having tea on the terrace while my siblings and I circled around them cheerfully. My eye’s light up with joy as I remember the silly things I had fought with my mom over and rushed out that gate. This house reminds me of a time in my life when everything was so simple and joy was found in doing little things. As I unlocked the wooden door, made up of timber, and enter inside I gasp at what I see. Everything was strangely familiar and I knew this was the house I had grown up in but all seemed much smaller than I had remembered. The first floor comprised of the kitchen, a dining lounge, a sitting room and one bedroom. Although these rooms were currently empty my imagination was coming to life as I could happily recall to every minor detail how everything was once placed. The floors were all marble and the tiles so shiny and cool that during the heat of the summer as a child I would lay on them. The wooden panels covering a partial length of the walls against which me and my brother would bounce a ball and count the number of times we could catch it. The ceramic roof and walls that had once been a clear white, making the rooms appear light and airy. I remembered hiding from my mother and scribbling my name on the bottom right corner of this same room wall. I breathed deeply as I saw that it was not there anymore. There were no pictures hanging on that wall now either. The walls were all blank. Sadly I realized that I was looking through a narrow window into a past that was only alive and preserved in my mind. Oh how old I felt. I then walked up the marble stairs towards the top floor. There were only two bedrooms and a door leading to the terrace up here. I enter my old room and I laugh out loud as it seems so small. It fills me with peace and joy to remember all the crazy plans I had made sitting in this room. I can’t help but smile broadly as I remember how I had disliked sharing it with my younger brother. I enter my parent’s room and look towards the joining bathroom. The tub in which I had once cheerfully tried to float paper boats in. The chair I had sat in as I watched my father shave with such fascination. As I enter it I realize how even though it was small in size it was still spacious. At this point I realized what Loius kahn meant when he described architecture as a thoughtful utilization of space. He meant to say that architecture was all about utilizing space, which is making a small place, look big and spacious. I looked at the huge windows through which light flew in and that made the house look spacious. I was happy as I remembered I had sat next to these windows and done my homework everyday. I had also enjoyed watching people and cars passing by. Sometimes I would watch the sun as it set. Sometimes I if was up early I would watch it rise. I marveled at my innocence as I remembered staying up all night once just to see where the sun would secretly hide. When I would be grounded I would jealously watch the children outside playing. I don’t remember the last time I smiled so much. Remembering this particular memory also brings to my mind Georg Trakl’s ‘A Winter Evening’, in the way he contrasts in his poem an outside and an inside. The beginning versus describe the inside as a warm, safe and cheerful place, this I relate to my childhood. He then refers to the outside with a more practical and deeper approach towards a darker exterior environment, which would reflect my experiences as a young man. My journey was complete. I sighed as I finally locked up and left. But when I walked out it was with fond memories and happy times fresh in my mind and heart, all of which centered on this house. My heart felt as big as the house I had just left. It had been my safe place when I was scared; my happy place when I was sad and in some ways the fondness I have of this building will not be replaced by another. I watch a little sparrow fly from its nest as I walk away. It had left the place where it had found protection, food and shelter. I walk further with a smile on my face. Who knew this tiny creature and I would have so much in common. Read More