It pains me to see the book wrapping activity that used to be a family affair. Mostly at the beginning of the school year, now being outsourced. I remember how my parents, my sister and I would sit together around the dining table wrapping our text books with brown paper. Pasting name stickers on the cover. And then my father would write our names on those stickers with his beautiful handwriting. My sister and I would pass around the scissor, or measure out an inch of cello tape to stick inside the edges, so the brown paper wouldn't budge.
And the smell of new books! It was sheer sensory pleasure.

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It is common knowledge that women and sewing go hand in hand, especially from the previous generations. Both my grandmothers excelled in the art of sewing. My maternal grandmother, whom we fondly called Arectama, or another mother, sewed the most amazing curtains and fancy pillow cases. While my paternal grandmother, or Thakurma, as we called her mostly sewed pyjamas, frocks, and gowns for her large and growing joint family she was quite adept at making curtains and pillow cases too. Most afternoons of my school vacation that I spent at either grandmother's house, was consumed by the whirring sound of the sewing machine. I can still hear the whirring sound as the wheel went round and round until the bobbin was full. Oh yes, and I think Arectama had an Usha while Thakurma had a Singer. Or was it the other way?

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पूरे दिन का काम निपटाकर सूरज अस्ताचल की ओर था। लॉग आउट किया ही था कि उसने तारों से पूछा , चंद्रमा ने आखिरी मिनिट पर छुट्टी ले ली है, कल दुनिया की सबसे बड़ी अमावस्या होगी। आप में से कोई है,जो इस घनघोर अंधेरी रात का सामना कर सके??

सभी तारों ने टिमटिमाते हुए सिर झुका दिया।
*तभी एक नन्हा मिट्टी का दीपक बोला,
"मैं प्रयत्न करूँगा।"*
सूर्य ने आशीष देकर उसकी पीठ थपथपाई!

शुभ दीपावली!!

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