When is a door not a door

Knock Knock, who’s there?

just kidding, I know it’s you

Never realized how this sound of anticipation is now reduced to just the opening line of an old joke

like that android update which brought all notifications pop on the lock-screen

so easy to ignore, no surprises anymore

I miss squinting through the peephole, trying to figure out who it might be

Now I wonder what the door stands for— I know it’s too much to ask of a wooden plank

But still….When is a door not a door?

Knock Knock

It must be Raghu, the delivery guy

I already got the message from Amazon that delivery will be attempted between 4–6 pm today

I quickly scanned his face while he did the same with my parcel

since the order was already paid by card, I signed the receipt and closed the door

I didn’t owe him the attention…. It’s not like that he is the postman uncle from yesteryear

Bip Bip

It’s a whatsapp message from the girl I have started dating

She said she is in the lift right now,

so I leaped from the bed and landed on the doorway, pretending to wait for her

trying to sneak her into the flat at this late hour

moments later — the gates of the lift seem to open like a stage-curtain, revealing her to me just like the door used to do

Ding Dong

Its Saturday morning, I am half asleep. I hear the door lock clinking

it must be the maid with her courtesy bell ring,

she already has the key to our place

No point getting up now, I should go back to sleep

Knock Knock

Its Sunday morning on a month-end 20 years ago,

I am having breakfast with my family

The cableman, the newspaper hawker, the vegetable vendor — everyone is turning up at our door waiting with paper bills and a basket of small talk

20 years later at my rented flat, I am at the checkout page of an online grocery or streaming website which I switch every other month depending on discount offers

My Sundays are lot quieter and lonely now!

Tring Tring

It’s my friend who is still 5 minutes away from my house

this is his third call in the last 30 minutes

so I open the door in advance, and go back to binging on my Netflix

I guess the only people left who I expect to knock are my neighbours

but they are also the ones I least expect since I have never talked to them for past 2 years

only a courteous smile or a suspicious glance exchanged while getting in and out of the lift

.

So weird how a ‘mundane knock on the door’ feels nostalgic all of a sudden

as we progress towards more predictability, I have started to crave these ordinary moments of suspense

I secretly wish my friends would arrive unannounced with no plan somedays

that it is my girlfriend who wakes me up on that lazy Saturday morning instead of the maid

and the strangers in my building ring the bell for some random small talk on a Sunday

I just hope Technology doesn’t bring people closer only to push them away

I still remember reading somewhere — “Doors may be passageways, but they can also be barriers as well”

If you ask me, they felt like that cardboard gift box,

Imagine receiving a gift wrapped in a thin glaze paper on Christmas

You are certainly glad that you got a gift,

but you will be slightly disappointed because your eyes already know what it is

the fun of shaking and putting your ears against the cardboard box trying to guess what is inside is now gone

the anticipatory fingers that hastily tore apart the tapes and box-flaps now lay still

And so with every pre-destined knock on my door, a small excitement of my life fades away

The Door still stands; the Knock still prevails; but I don’t run towards it like a child anymore