These days I get up early in the morning. Almost every day.

Get up around 5:30 AM, check for updates on Discord & WhatsApp with my phone on zero brightness under the blanket, sneak out of the bedroom without making any noise and get to the study table near the window of my room. Then start working on a project.

Our house is on the 15th floor. And the view from the window gives us a bird's eye view of all the smaller buildings around us and the lives that happen on the streets surrounding them.

Of course... there are many taller buildings around ours. But I like to look down. Not up. That's how we are designed I guess. When we are travelling, as we are moving, we are eager to look ahead. But when it reaches a height and stops we like to look down.

Now 15th floor is really high. But it is not moving and nor am I. So it is natural to look down. I am sure that even a person living on the 2nd floor would also be only looking down and not up.

And so as I looked down the window day after day, I started observing a few patterns in this early morning life on the streets around me. A bike that fights its way through a patch of green field to the main road at around 6:00, the bells that ring in the nearby temple at around 6:45, and a young mother and her son taking their dog out for a walk at around 6:50.

The bike was initially a more interesting monotony breaker. It made a lot of creaking noise as it braked and accelerated its way through the field. Then it was the temple bells. But of late, it is that young mother and her kid taking the dog out for a walk every day.

The dog, he must be a German Shepherd. Never on a leash. Walks a little here, a little there but careful enough to not stray far away from the mother or the kid. The kid usually walks with the dog, talking to him, giving orders to him and stuff.

But today, the young mother was carrying the child on her hips and the dog was also on a leash. She must have been in a hurry.
This made me think a bit about them. Why is her husband not taking the dog out? Is he ill? Or are they separated? Or is he travelling outside? It must be tough on her to do all this alone...

That's when I heard my wife shouting from the bedroom.

“Chris, will you take the dog out today?”

“Nah... I have to complete this project today.” I replied.

“Son is awake. Sit with him then... ” She continued.

“Take him along no? He likes it.” I refused.

As they closed the door behind me, I got a chance to get back to my thoughts. Yeah... the husband must be away. Else she wouldn't have to do it all alone.

I concluded