Balconies, windows and terraces have come to be identified as spaces with newfound meaning over the past year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and concomitant lockdowns. There was not only a marked increase in the use of these spaces, but more importantly a difference in the very nature of this use since March 2020. It is keeping this latter point in mind, that I make an attempt to understand the spatial mobilities afforded by the balcony in the area of ethnographic research. The street overlooking my balcony, situated amidst an urban village in the city of Delhi – one of my field sites, is composed of middle and lower-middle class residents, dairy farms and farmers, bovines and other nonhumans. In this note, through ethnographic observations, I reflect upon the balcony as constituting that liminal space between ‘field’ and ‘home’, as well as, as a spatial framing device which conditions and affects our observations and interactions. This is explored by examining two elements – the gendered nature of the space, and the notion of ‘distance and proximity’, through personal narratives of engaging-with the field, and subjects-objects of study in the city.

由于 Covid-19 大流行和随之而来的封锁，阳台、窗户和露台在过去一年中被确定为具有新意义的空间。不仅这些空间的使用显着增加，而且更重要的是，自 2020 年 3 月以来，这种使用的本质发生了变化。牢记后一点，我试图了解所提供的空间流动性在人种学研究领域的阳台上。俯瞰我阳台的街道位于德里市的一个城中村——我的田地之一，由中下阶层居民、奶牛场和农民、牛和其他非人类组成。在这篇笔记中，通过人种学观察，我认为阳台构成了“田野”和“家”之间的界限空间，以及，作为一种空间框架装置，它可以调节和影响我们的观察和互动。这是通过检查两个元素——空间的性别性质和“距离和接近”的概念，通过参与该领域的个人叙述和城市中研究的主题对象来探索的。