Those wintery afternoons

Wintery afternoon, closed room, open window, warm rays of sun filtering from the iron bars and falling on the white rajai cover. A 6 year old girl with her legs warm inside the rajai, and dressed in a red frilly frock is having the best time of her day. Even as she was dressing up in the school uniform in the morning, she had started waiting for the clock to strike 3, the time when she gets back home. Her mom has brought something that she won’t trade even for a box full of chocolates- a pile of comics and children’s books!!
As her maths teacher was droning incessantly, the vibrant pictures of Chacha Chaudhary, Sabu, Pinky, Billu, Chiku, Miku swam in front of her eyes. The moment she came back home she threw her bag and changed into her frock, ate her meal reluctantly but quickly and waited for everyone at home to retire for their afternoon nap. She didn’t want the fun of reading to be ruined by mindless chatter/noise.
Then in the quite of her room and in the warmth of her rajai, she immersed herself in the delightful world of books. One by one she finished reading 4 books from the pile. Then suddenly she stopped. “What if I exhaust all the books in the pile till evening? Mom, won’t bring any more. Atleast not till another week.”
She decided to preserve the rest of the books for the next day. And re-read the books she had just completed.
What fun!
I can recall just this part of my childhood. My obsession with books started when I was learning to read. Books were certainly my best friends, because they saved me (the child who lost her father at the tender age of 3 and her mom suddenly started leaving her in daycare with her mami, to go to work) from turning into a violent and spoilt brat. I found company in them and rejoiced every moment I spent with those adorable stories and characters.
Now I find myself wanting my children to develop the same fascination towards books. I am what I am because of my habit of reading that started early. I plan to re-live my childhood by watching my kids spending time in that beautiful world of books.
It’s been ages since I updated my blog. I thank Himani for helping me come up with this post. Her latest post re-kindled my memories and I got this much-awaited blog-idea.