My Childhood Memories

When I was in kindergarten, I remember that my classroom was in the form of a hut, separated from the main building. It was decorated with colorful characters, numbers, murals; painted in vibrant colors that were exciting. Those tiny chairs in red, blue, yellow and green gave us choices to make each day. I never sat at the same place for more than four hours. The cupboards were full of paper of various textures, crayons, tiny decorative items, pasting liquids and a handful of books for us.

There were pegs to hang our bags and bottles. To this, I remember that I possessed that bag I used for the next six years. It was a cute little one in the shape of a face, black in color with yellow eyes and red lips. Contradicting to the pampering I got once I entered school and uptil now at some rare occasions, I was never once dropped to kindergarten by my father. I used to travel by the school bus, which in my conscious memories used to drop me outside a Church on the main road.

The walk back home, in the glaring sun of the summers, and the same warmth of the winters, was enjoyable, as on the way I would confront new experiences each day. My grandfather would be waiting for me eagerly near the Church to escort me back home. Sometimes, he would redivert his route to take me to the market as he wanted my inquisitiveness to keep growing. Not everyday, but whenever I went to the market with him, I was always discovering things I had not even dreamt of confronting until being old enough.

- Mrinalini