The View Outside My Window

This is one of my writings, it was created for my Video Task when I was applying for MA Television, London College of Communication, University of the Arts London on December 2022.

Living on the border of satellite cities of Jakarta, I am renting a two-storey house. My bedroom is on the second floor, completed with a two-pane window facing south. I can see the landscape of a tropical suburb where buildings sprout amongst the greenery, the trees which are mostly fruit-producing such as mango, Muntingia and palm.

I am able to see the rooftop of other houses close to mine. Several TV antennas are also visible, towering, competing, reaching out to get digital transmission signals. Since this is a rather old housing estate, either the residents already developed their houses into two-storeys as well, or they still have the original house but with their roof slightly broken, presumably because the wooden structure had been eaten by termites.

Then, if I tilt up my view, I can see the blue sky scattered with cumulus clouds with tropical sun shining bright. The clouds that barely cover the trees which are swaying to and fro blown by the monsoon wind. The wind brings the most dynamic season in Indonesia where one minute the sky is brightly coloured, the next minute everything turns dark covered with cumulonimbus clouds that lead to thundering storms. Monsoon season itself happens throughout the months with their names ending with ‘ber’ and the peak in November and December, causing vibrant changes within the view I can see from my window.

As I wake up in the morning in Mid December, just before my morning prayer, I see the sky at its darkest. The windows from other houses are mostly still pitch black, but one by one lit as the residents awaken . The sun rises from the left side of the window, giving a tint of yellowish ray of light and the sky turns clear light blue with no traces of clouds.

Later that day, the sky turns overcast as the cumulonimbus clouds gather. Huge heavy raindrops start pouring from the sky, hitting the roof slabs of my neighbourhood, flowing down the once-dry slanted roof. I can hear the rumbling sound of thunder and wind, this storm will not last. Not long after that, the sky clears up and the sun starts to set behind less dense clouds making the sky on the west look orange-ish and pinkish and the sky on the east look purplish indigo as the night sets in. The colours blend beautifully creating a charming landscape.

From time to time this window has its uniquely different views, as if it was a painting that came to life. And today is my most favourite painting.