"Put two characters around an object, and you get an instant storyline. Use your mother’s bangle to draw the earth, and you see a metaphor. Objects are props around which kids and adults gather to make meaning or a story. It can be silly or profound."
For this writer who wasted her childhood being an adult and not playing at all, these lines are a balm for the soul. Thankyou for reminding me - with so much love and certitude - that I'm doing things right now 🌻
Raju, I sent this piece to my younger sister after reading and for both of us a memory resurfaced - of recording a play/songs with our cousin sister on tape! Time spent being, time spent being bored, and time spent doing the simple, wonderful stuff. Pyaara nostalgia.
I smiled from beginning to end and relished everything about being a child and shopping for a child! I loved the bright art with the colourful little people in it. I wish the world map is put up on the wall at the little one's height, and he can do some colouring or sticking-pasting on it and enjoy it with his Raju Mavshi! 🤓 🎁💕💕
Running between schools for my creative, soon to be 16yo kid, Raju T. I needed to read something to calm myself down and chose this piece I'd saved. As I was fuming about the education system thinking...They want our kids to think out of the box only for the authorities to use a marking system that's bound within a rigid box - a system that rewards only when you "please" them. Use certain words. Write in a certain way. And then I read you: "School itself is a big box with a timetable full of boxes." I don't know what else to say.
I love this! My brother and I had a world map too, and we made up all sorts of games and played all afternoon long, and I cherish those memories so dearly. Thank you for writing this! 💜
It is! It is! What a wonderful essay, Raju! It reminded me of the times I have stood in a toy shop as a child and more recently as a mother. You've definitely given me a new perspective of creativity and made me feel less guilty about the objects around me. I don't know how and when I forgot about all the time I wasted messing around with stuff lying around my house, celebrating my mother's absence from the scene. But remembering it brings a smile to my face, as did your words. Play. That's a permission we don't give ourselves enough. I'm tempted to call my brother and talk about the things that he remembers, about the time we wasted. And yes, I'd love to waste some time again. This deserves to be a movement! ❤️
“Maybe I didn't waste my childhood. Rather, it was my right to waste my childhood. And I wish that right for all children.”
And I also wish that right for every adult... we must waste more time doing nothing, being, just being 🩷
"Put two characters around an object, and you get an instant storyline. Use your mother’s bangle to draw the earth, and you see a metaphor. Objects are props around which kids and adults gather to make meaning or a story. It can be silly or profound."
For this writer who wasted her childhood being an adult and not playing at all, these lines are a balm for the soul. Thankyou for reminding me - with so much love and certitude - that I'm doing things right now 🌻
Raju, I sent this piece to my younger sister after reading and for both of us a memory resurfaced - of recording a play/songs with our cousin sister on tape! Time spent being, time spent being bored, and time spent doing the simple, wonderful stuff. Pyaara nostalgia.
I too have poignant memories of Ajee making sheviyo, as we call it in konkani. A wasted childhood was a wonderful one!
I smiled from beginning to end and relished everything about being a child and shopping for a child! I loved the bright art with the colourful little people in it. I wish the world map is put up on the wall at the little one's height, and he can do some colouring or sticking-pasting on it and enjoy it with his Raju Mavshi! 🤓 🎁💕💕
Running between schools for my creative, soon to be 16yo kid, Raju T. I needed to read something to calm myself down and chose this piece I'd saved. As I was fuming about the education system thinking...They want our kids to think out of the box only for the authorities to use a marking system that's bound within a rigid box - a system that rewards only when you "please" them. Use certain words. Write in a certain way. And then I read you: "School itself is a big box with a timetable full of boxes." I don't know what else to say.
Oh this piece has brought me so much joy! Thank you for writing this one.
I love this! My brother and I had a world map too, and we made up all sorts of games and played all afternoon long, and I cherish those memories so dearly. Thank you for writing this! 💜
It is! It is! What a wonderful essay, Raju! It reminded me of the times I have stood in a toy shop as a child and more recently as a mother. You've definitely given me a new perspective of creativity and made me feel less guilty about the objects around me. I don't know how and when I forgot about all the time I wasted messing around with stuff lying around my house, celebrating my mother's absence from the scene. But remembering it brings a smile to my face, as did your words. Play. That's a permission we don't give ourselves enough. I'm tempted to call my brother and talk about the things that he remembers, about the time we wasted. And yes, I'd love to waste some time again. This deserves to be a movement! ❤️