Walls and buildings

There's a frequently heard saying... "दीवारों के भी कान होते हैं." In other words, walls have ears :) When I first heard it, I was of course explained the meaning behind the saying... but say purely as an exercise in imagination... or more precisely, as a "what if..." game, let me go beyond giving walls mere ears, let me imbue them with something more...

What if walls, or rather buildings were to be actually seen as chroniclers of the events around them? What if not only could they hear, but also witness. Not every little event of course... but say, the general impression.

It is after all said some buildings possess a soul... at least, they give off auras. Some buildings instinctively make you feel at ease; others make you feel stifled, or depressed. Now the scientific explanation would probably include phrases like "the subtle influence of interrelating spatial and physical elements in the architecture" or "an unconscious projection of the knowledge or expectations regarding a place" :) An architect or an interior designer would very adroitly explain it all in terms of the significance of a particular brick column, or a stone arch, or a certain mural, or a crimson wall at a subconscious level to most humans.

This explanation is most likely to be true; however, it is kinda uninteresting :)

It's much more interesting to pretend that certain buildings are, not alive exactly, but aware. Or if that is too much, I'd probably settle for them being passive receptors of impressions or events, however taking them to be aware gives your imagination more room to soar. J

I could not with much confidence say that I’ve ever personally experienced such an aura with any degree of regularity… However, it is true that the ruins of old palaces, forts etc that abound in and around Delhi have always snagged my interest. I never could manage to explore them up close due to many different and at the moment unimportant reasons. Yet even the occasional glimpse of huge blocks of stone lying almost half buried among the grass and scant shrubbery of the ridge is tantalizing.

It almost always makes me want to mentally recreate the building as it must have been in its heyday. The walls might have crumbled, but the very fact that they still stand after maybe a half odd dozen of centuries, is somehow fascinating.

Even if I move on to rather well known buildings as compared to the obscure ruins I’ve been talking about, doesn’t it give you slight shivers… Take Red Fort for example, it must have been the residence of the Mughal royalty for a number of years. The outer walls must have been worn by the feet of countless patrolling sentries, traders must have held markets inside for the pleasure of the nobles in residence… These same sandstone walls, windows, and balconies which look out towards the traffic roaring past them today, must have looked at a different scene in yesteryears… If only they could speak…

What, I wonder, must have been the thoughts of the Berlin Wall as it looked over the remains of a war torn, defeated city; the physical symbol of division of a city’s peoples. How many deaths did it witness of people trying to cross it; how much blood, how many tears? Would, I wonder, had it been capable of thought, it have welcomed its destruction at the hands of Berliners?

What does a jail building think about? Does it find meaning to its existence in holding the criminals of the society? Or does it brood over the injustice of innocent lives wrongfully confined within its walls?

Moving on to lighter matters, I wonder what these tall glittering buildings of Gurgaon think about… What are they chronicling? The malls most probably are chronicling the human desire for luxury and fine living… The apartments? The offices? Are they soulless? They certainly feel that way en masse… But hopefully they will manage to capture some good things, a good atmosphere…

I have taken the game a bit further than I intended, but no matter. Perhaps it is as well that walls can not speak even if they can hear. Perhaps it is as well to not dwell about what the voice of the brick and mortar would be had it the power to whisper…