E is for Enchantment: #AtoZChallenge

E is for Enchantment: #AtoZChallenge

E is for Enchantment

School re-opens tomorrow after a fifteen day long spring break. There is a certain sense of enchantment and glee in the nine-year-old’s eyes. She has labelled her books neatly, without any help from Momma. After all she is a grown up girl now, almost  nearing ten. Her excitement and enchantment is more than palpable, and it spills into every corner of our home. She has begun to count hours now, before it’s time to go to school.

  • New Bottle- Check
  • New Tiffin- Check
  • New Uniform – Check
  • School Bag from last year- Check
  • New Books and Stationary- Check
  • Shoes from last year – Check
a-to-z-challenge-2018-april-anecdotes-natasha-musing-E-enchantment-bookcover
http://aliexpress.com

I recount those sweltering summers when I would spread out my books and notebooks on the floor or dining table. Thereafter, Ma and I would spend hours meticulously cutting brown cover paper, covering the books and notebooks, and then follow this through with labelling them. I even used to make my labels myself. We didn’t have the school ones or the ready-made ones either, I suppose. This used to be a long, arduous task that took hours, but was so very fulfilling, to say the least. The smell of pages of the fresh new books and the brown cover paper, was heady. So what if this would all dwindle eventually, under the pressure of rote learning. Ma taught me how to cut the brown paper cover neatly into triangle/polygon shapes and fold them flawlessly into the book’s and notebook’s front and back cover, while taping it skilfully. She was a pro at it and I would try very hard to emulate her immaculate art, failing multiple times, till I mastered the art. There would always be a certain sense of enchantment, at her skills, which I tried to imbibe.

These days books come covered from school, or with extra plastic covers; so there’s not much work involved. But it’s uplifting to see that the nine-year-old continues to hold that sense of enchantment when it comes to going back to a new session at school, as well as her daily routine of going to school.

She has trouble falling asleep today. She can’t wait for her special first day. She leaps out of bed without an alarm, in the wee hours of the morning. She is laughing and giggling in excitement, as her Papa tickles her playfully. She is ready almost fifteen minutes before time and insists I drop her right away. As I walk her to school, she rubs her hands gleefully and her eyes twinkle as she tells me, ” I was hardly able to sleep. I woke up at 3 A.M. and realised it wasn’t time yet!”

We laugh and discuss the new teachers who will now be part of her Grade V. She is so eager to meet them, she tells me.

a-to-z-challenge-2018-april-anecdotes-natasha-musing-E-enchantment-skating
Courtesy: http://lotusvalleygurgaon.com,  Lotus Valley International School, Gurgaon

It’s extraordinary how children carry a sense of enchantment for the smallest of things. I think somewhere over the years we grown-ups lose that sense of enchantment. A significant lesson for grown ups to imbibe from children is to appreciate what we have, to look at life’s moments with enthralment, hope and enthusiasm. To live  joyfully by finding happiness and contentment in the most simple moments and things that surround us.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

a-to-z-challenge-2018-april-anecdotes-natasha-musing-E-enchantment-E

My theme for this year’s Blogging from A-Z Challenge is April Anecdotes. These are twenty-six compelling tales of some real people, and some not so real people. These tales will be surreal, peppered with a dose of non-fiction, but some might just be a figment of my over active imagination. You can read my theme here.

You can read my previous posts from #AtoZChallenge2018 here:

A is for Anachronism or Misplaced in Time?

B is for Burden or Unburden?

C is for Control

D is for Destiny’s Child

42 thoughts on “E is for Enchantment: #AtoZChallenge

  1. This brings back a lot of memories, Natasha. We used to go label hunting. First day of the school, we’d compare labels to find out who has the coolest. I used to usually buy those He-Man and WWF labels. Thanks for this nostalgic post.

    1. Ah! Those He-Man,Superman, Dora, or Princess labels!! So many options to choose from. And so much fun. :)) I’m glad the post resonated Varad. Thanks for reading and sharing your story.

  2. That’s a nice post about the excitement of a new class. Coincidentally, my daughter’s school too reopened last Monday after a 15-day break. She is in 2nd std, so I covered her textbooks, only 4-5 of them. It was so different in our times when we had to cover so many notebooks and textbooks. I remember my father covering them so meticulously. My daughter needed no second bidding to wake up that day, she was excited to meet her new class teacher and new friends (their classmates change every year).

  3. Sigh!! Tell me about school Natasha! The kids are back to school after their 15 day break. and its loads of work for me. From packing up tiffins to ensuring books are covered…. phew!!! Ofcourse for the kids,… its all enchantment. However as a mom its hectic for me

  4. Lovely post, Natasha. Thanks for taking me along for a walk down memory lane with the brown paper cover arts. Beautifully written.

  5. Your daughter’s excitement is infectious, as adults we often lose this quality over time but it’s a wonderful thing to cherish and makes life worthwhile

  6. This made me want to go back to my school days. Love the brown paper packing and labelling of school books ritual. Yes, things are much easier today. However, its still good to see that same sense of enchantment alive in the kids. More so for us, reliving those good old days through them. 🙂 All the best wishes to your little one for the new academic year. 🙂

  7. Oh, how I miss the smell of new books. The excitement was real and like you mentioned why do we turn down our energy and forget to relish the small pleasures that life offers as we grow old?

    1. Yeah it’s suprsing why we do so. Probably we get too carried and buried by the burdens and responsibilities of life and forget to cherish these simple pleasures of life. So important to keep our inner child alive.

  8. Aaaaah, the brown paper covers on notebooks (we called them copies then) bring back so many memories. My Dad used to do it for me, for I was as hopeless with anything artistic then as I am now 🙂

    1. Yes, the white canvas shoes and the black school shoes, that we polished every day and specially polished on weekends. Were did they all go? Thank you Doc for sharing your snippet.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge