Brown Paper Packages tied up with string....
These are a few of my favourite things.
Warm, exciting, woodsy and so brown... I love the smell of brown paper and the visual appeal of packs made of it. They are reminiscent of summer holidays spent in covering and labeling books and notebooks for the beginning of the new session or warm, fresh out of the oven cakes and buns and offcourse new books - lots and lots of them.
Poly bags are nice and attractive but they just take away the deep pleasure and satisfaction one feels when one buys something from a store. I love Nalli that way - they wrap the clothes in a brown bag, expertly tuck the open edges inside and then slide them into their Nalli cloth bags. And offcourse the brown, firm, Fab India tote bags and great to take home the purchases. Clothes invitingly stacked together inside and carried home in style.
And I love the sheer variety of shades possible in brown papers - the sombre, very dark, almost blackish brown, or the light sandy brown or the bright, almost orangeish brown- to name a few. The myriad of hues possible in brown itself was evident when the teacher would carry the homework notebooks in a pile.
Yesterday I had been to Tulika Office in Alwarpet. A typical home office, with hardly 5 people I observed. Brown cane chairs with colorful tables in the reception and a stack of books displayed for browsing. I spent a whole hour there browsing slowly over their catalogue, going through each book evaluating them for suitability for Ojas & Tejas, shortlisting books that I loved and then making a final list of what I want to buy. And they offer 10% discount on the final price.
In a single word, Tulika books are delightful. They touch your soul unlike the usual fairy tales. They tickle your imagination, leave room for the kids to interpret and form their own versions. They attempt to keep our tradition alive, tell a story but at the same time do not take their sight off the concepts, teach kids words of regional origin, and also expose them to International locations. To tell you the truth, I wanted to pick up the entire lot- but then forced myself to be content with a dozen of them.
I have picked up English, Hindi, Tamil and bilingual ones. Some of them are specified for 6 years and above but I picked them because I loved them!
And they were neatly piled and pushed inside a brown paper bag and handed over to me. As I walked back to the car, I hugged the brown paper package to my chest and digged my nose into the pack, taking in the mingled smell of new books and brown paper bag.
So watch out for the reviews!
The Scorpios
Showing posts with label reminisence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reminisence. Show all posts
Friday, February 26, 2010
Friday, September 05, 2008
Hop Scotch & Five Stones
A few girls in our complex were getting bored... too bored to play, ...I tried to motivate them to play some games out of my childhood...
As kids we never got bored with friends around. We were always at something depending on the season.
More often than not it was Hop scotch. Btw, is this game dead now? Nobody plays it anymore. And we had multiple versions of it, the circle, the 10 section one or a square with 9, 16 etc sections and there was also a single row one. And then we played them in the sand or the cement floor. And we played them in groups of 2 to many and if there was no one else with us, we played alone!
I wonder if I could skip like that anymore. As one finished 1 sequence, they were entitled ownership of a section and the rest were supposed to skip over that without resting their feet on that- Wonder if I can manage that now- something I could do expertly and with a lot of agility!
During the lunch breaks we used to have our fill of the game and if we were "lucky" some of the younger teachers would join us...They must have been in their 20s! Teachers at such young age and we were in complete awe of them!
And what about that engaging game of 5 stones or 4 stones & a marble? We were addicted to it- summer vacation was spent collecting the round-most stones for playing five stones (the flat ones were collected for playing hop scotch or kit kit as we used to call it). The stones were precious- stored safely when the game was not in season. Funny I don't see anyone playing that!
We had this game of taking a wool and making formations out of it - a game played in pairs only. Winter was the season for that - nicking a piece of good knitting wool from our moms and playing it at every available minute!
Why don't kids play these games now?
As kids we never got bored with friends around. We were always at something depending on the season.
More often than not it was Hop scotch. Btw, is this game dead now? Nobody plays it anymore. And we had multiple versions of it, the circle, the 10 section one or a square with 9, 16 etc sections and there was also a single row one. And then we played them in the sand or the cement floor. And we played them in groups of 2 to many and if there was no one else with us, we played alone!
I wonder if I could skip like that anymore. As one finished 1 sequence, they were entitled ownership of a section and the rest were supposed to skip over that without resting their feet on that- Wonder if I can manage that now- something I could do expertly and with a lot of agility!
During the lunch breaks we used to have our fill of the game and if we were "lucky" some of the younger teachers would join us...They must have been in their 20s! Teachers at such young age and we were in complete awe of them!
And what about that engaging game of 5 stones or 4 stones & a marble? We were addicted to it- summer vacation was spent collecting the round-most stones for playing five stones (the flat ones were collected for playing hop scotch or kit kit as we used to call it). The stones were precious- stored safely when the game was not in season. Funny I don't see anyone playing that!
We had this game of taking a wool and making formations out of it - a game played in pairs only. Winter was the season for that - nicking a piece of good knitting wool from our moms and playing it at every available minute!
Why don't kids play these games now?
Monday, September 18, 2006
Of bygone days
Buying new books for the new school year,sitting together with Dad & Mom on a Sunday to cover the new books with crisp brown paper, sticking neat labels and using our best handwriting to write our names with a flourish
Writing with chalks on slate or occasionally on the Black Board when the teacher allowed us to do so
The proud work of art with crayons, colour pencils & sketch pens
Reading, collecting & exchanging story books and comics
The satisfaction of a doing homework and submitting to the teacher- on time
Scoring good marks in spelling tests and surprise tests – and the “very good” on our notebooks in red, not to forget the occasional “andaa” or the zero
Using the log book, and doing quick mental maths (can we do a simple addition without calculators now?)
Lunch break & water/ toilet break – and inspite of that – the oft repeated Miss, may I go to toilet?
Free period when the teacher is absent- and how we enjoyed that
Sitting in groups under the tree to share tiffin boxes
Playing Kho, Kabaddi, Book Cricket, Hide n Seek, Catch-Catch, 5- stones/ marbles or making castles in the sand
Frenzied preparation for the school annual day- songs, dance, drama and fancy dress sports
Elocution competitions and practicing hard for debate and recitation
The games period and the fun we had starting from ring- a ring of roses in primary class and going up to badminton and throw ball in the higher classes
Craft classes and SUPW
Rushing for window seats in the school bus
Punishments (kneel down/ stand up on the bench/ get out of the class) and impositions (I shall not talk in class/ I have not done my homework)
Playing with friends in the playground near home
Making notes and studying for exams
Writing exams and then waiting for the report card until the 1st fifteen days of the holidays
The assured long holidays and going to “Native Place”
Writing and receiving letters – eager wait for the postman
When TV had just 1 or 2 channels and we used to play carom/ ludo/ monopoly at home and not fight for the remote
Days bygone will never be back. Let’s tell this to our kids and ask them to slow down and enjoy life. Let’s switch off the TV and play with the kids instead. For like how I am writing this, one day they will reminisce about how their parents used to read to them or tell stories or play with them. Let’s live life to the fullest and enjoy every moment as it comes by.
Writing with chalks on slate or occasionally on the Black Board when the teacher allowed us to do so
The proud work of art with crayons, colour pencils & sketch pens
Reading, collecting & exchanging story books and comics
The satisfaction of a doing homework and submitting to the teacher- on time
Scoring good marks in spelling tests and surprise tests – and the “very good” on our notebooks in red, not to forget the occasional “andaa” or the zero
Using the log book, and doing quick mental maths (can we do a simple addition without calculators now?)
Lunch break & water/ toilet break – and inspite of that – the oft repeated Miss, may I go to toilet?
Free period when the teacher is absent- and how we enjoyed that
Sitting in groups under the tree to share tiffin boxes
Playing Kho, Kabaddi, Book Cricket, Hide n Seek, Catch-Catch, 5- stones/ marbles or making castles in the sand
Frenzied preparation for the school annual day- songs, dance, drama and fancy dress sports
Elocution competitions and practicing hard for debate and recitation
The games period and the fun we had starting from ring- a ring of roses in primary class and going up to badminton and throw ball in the higher classes
Craft classes and SUPW
Rushing for window seats in the school bus
Punishments (kneel down/ stand up on the bench/ get out of the class) and impositions (I shall not talk in class/ I have not done my homework)
Playing with friends in the playground near home
Making notes and studying for exams
Writing exams and then waiting for the report card until the 1st fifteen days of the holidays
The assured long holidays and going to “Native Place”
Writing and receiving letters – eager wait for the postman
When TV had just 1 or 2 channels and we used to play carom/ ludo/ monopoly at home and not fight for the remote
Days bygone will never be back. Let’s tell this to our kids and ask them to slow down and enjoy life. Let’s switch off the TV and play with the kids instead. For like how I am writing this, one day they will reminisce about how their parents used to read to them or tell stories or play with them. Let’s live life to the fullest and enjoy every moment as it comes by.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)