Childhood memories: The Beginnings

Saba Khan

Do you ever remember what is your first memory of life? The first memory is the moment of your life, the first time you saw something, experienced it and recorded it. My first memory is of taking a stroll in the front lawn of our house, chasing butterflies, watching them sit on a flower, smelling a freshly bloomed rose, and feeling the joy. This memory is engraved in my mind, as if an ancient encryption on a stone. We can enter the paradise within from the innocence of such moments. Happiness, sadness, anger, sorrow, all pass, but the joy of living should not.

First day at school. Many do not remember, most of us do. The glimpse that comes to my mind is sitting on a school bench at recess time, with my satchel, looking up in the sky and watching a white line appear, up and above. It was just like magic. This was probably a satellite recording weather, circling the skies, leaving a trial of smoke behind, to let us watch.

Some peculiar class mates, like a little blonde boy, that I remember always sniffing an inhaler, first from one nostril then another. Perhaps he had some sort of nasal congestion. Who knows! But this was his daily ritual. His mother used to pick her up, right from the class, fifteen minutes exactly before the last bell rang. I remember her remarkable resemblance to Lady Diana, the similar haircut, same dressing. Perhaps she was a foreigner, working at an embassy.

First friends of childhood. Do you remember? I had one. All of her teeth were black, because she had tooth caries. It was quite strange to sit next to a girl with black teeth. But I got used to it. She said that her teeth have changed color, due to eating a lots of sweets. How was that even possible? I used to wonder at that time. She used to make a pony at the top of her head and she had somewhat curly hair. Another classmate of mine was in the habit of gifting her stationary to me one day and then taking it back the other day. She used to say, ‘My mom got angry over my missing color pencils and she has strictly asked me to bring them back!’. Poor soul. So why to give it in the first place? Because kids give their belongings to those they like the most and then take it back as well. When ever we used to share our lunch and then had a fight later on, one of us said, ‘Give me back my lunch that you have eaten!’. Funny isn’t it? Who wants back a vomited lunch?

So, there are many childhood firsts. First toy, first bicycle, first school bag, and the list goes on! Sometimes I wonder, where those moments went by? It all feels just like a dream, as if nothing was actually there and we are as we are. But truly, this is the way to live. You are, what you are, nothing more, nothing less. Just learn and move on, don’t get stuck in the trap of memories. Visit and leave. Just hold on to the joy of being, enter the paradise within….

Image courtesy by Pixaby.