Two days ago, I was taking a late night walk around my university campus before going to bed. Having worked reasonably late into a sweltering night, some fresh air and Glass Beams for music was more than welcome.
A walk around campus is relatively short when compared to other law universities in India, which are usually several acres big. Contrastingly, my university presents a rather narrow road that winding around the academic block and the living quarters. Walks here are short but repetitive. However, construction being carried out in university fills this walking trail with a degree of versatility. Piles of brick and steel continuously move around campus to a new place everyday.
As I began my walk, I almost immediately crossed a thicket of bamboo (just shy of one, rather) which has been there all my law school life. The shoots growing from this thicket extended and arched over the road across to the other side. Right next to all the bamboo, there were two piles of bricks in varying degrees of disarray. While one was stacked, the other was just a heap of bricks and leaves. This sight had become common, with several of such little shrines being erected next to focal points of construction. The juxtaposition of bamboo wildly inching across the road, and the bricks being arranged all orderly was once quite an eye grabber. However, time had chipped away at its poetic charm, and I was now more interested in choosing the perfect song for my walk.
Right as walked past the patch of bamboo and everything around, something caught my eye. A small wooden stool stood right in front of the bricks. It was a simple contraption consisting of four pieces of wood nailed to a plank. A quick look was enough to reveal that this it was hand-crafted using the scrap wood around campus. It was minimalist enough to communicate a feeling of spontaneous utility - that it was made to bring comfort to a very specific chore, at a very specific occasion.
Who made this stool? Was it someone arranging the bricks? Maybe someone who decided to leave it here for safekeeping? While this five-piece project failed to reveal any information, it presented several potential ‘origin stories’.
I appreciated the irony of someone building a wooden stool from scratch just so that they could rest. This also made me think about how stories gets laced with different object. How would the history behind a luxurious piece of furniture (where mahogany forests of Central America most definitely making an appearance) compare with that of a makeshift wooden stool? It makes one wonder how some spend a fortune buying these stories while other imbue them for free.
Loved the way you picked up on something so ordinary and made an interesting piece out of it. And yes, I always wonder what stories lie behind things and people we see (almost not see) every day. Makes the world a fascinating place.
I always wondered what goes on people's mind when they walk. Myself, i zone my self out so well i randomly see a face I recognise i procced to give a akward wave ( creepy at times, which you should be well acquainted by now). Hehe wonderful insight love the reads !