<p>We are often told to keep the child in us alive. I have tried. It does make life lighter. We are also told reading habit can enrich our minds. I have spent the best part of my formative years curled up with books of all genres. It has lent its wings to my imagination. I can vouch for that. However, these boons of life have a<br />flipside too!</p>.<p>There are certain things which seemed so perfect once upon a time. I’d have happily given a limb or two to realise those dreams. Yet when those very fantasies gain physicality today, they render themselves cumbersome.</p>.<p>For instance, the snow! The whiteness of it and its freezing touch which I read so often about in books fascinated me to no end. I longed to live in an igloo, under steely grey skies, wearing parkas and making my own fishing hole.</p>.<p>My fascination for white Christmases, snowstorms and hail seemed to unfold ceaselessly till I actually experienced it. The cold, wet feeling that dampened my clothes, bones and spirits led me to examine my weird old wish I felt when I was living in the truly salubrious weather of Namma Bengaluru decades ago.</p>.<p>As a child, I would invariably contract a crick in my neck craning at the occasional aeroplane flying in the skies. I would yearn to fly high among the clouds and help myself to a fistful of the toffees that were supposed to be offered by the airhostesses. Today, when I wait indefinitely at airports and get cramped in the aircraft that does not offer anything to soothe the sweet tooth, I crave for the magic carpet!</p>.<p>The endless picnics, delightful tuck boxes and midnight feasts described by Enid Blyton in her various series of books left me drooling. A comic book where Donald duck and his three nephews lazed around on sunbeds sipping lemonade from a lake which was filled to the brim was my ultimate food fantasy. I dreamt relentlessly about having orgies of junk food around the designer lake! I knew little about calorie intake, its effects on health and fitness.</p>.<p>One of the large castles, palaces, ranches, country houses, cottages and bungalows which peopled the protagonists of many stories would metamorphose into my dream home for a while till I took fancy to a new one. Those were the days when I had no inkling about the real estate market, cost of interior decoration or the multidimensional aspects of housekeeping.</p>.<p>At the end of every fairytale which began with once upon a time and ended with lived-happily-ever-after, I’d wonder why all them ended the same way. Adult life changed all that and more. When life unfolded its vagaries which were always not pleasant, I long to be a child again and seek solace in the hope of a happy ending!</p>
<p>We are often told to keep the child in us alive. I have tried. It does make life lighter. We are also told reading habit can enrich our minds. I have spent the best part of my formative years curled up with books of all genres. It has lent its wings to my imagination. I can vouch for that. However, these boons of life have a<br />flipside too!</p>.<p>There are certain things which seemed so perfect once upon a time. I’d have happily given a limb or two to realise those dreams. Yet when those very fantasies gain physicality today, they render themselves cumbersome.</p>.<p>For instance, the snow! The whiteness of it and its freezing touch which I read so often about in books fascinated me to no end. I longed to live in an igloo, under steely grey skies, wearing parkas and making my own fishing hole.</p>.<p>My fascination for white Christmases, snowstorms and hail seemed to unfold ceaselessly till I actually experienced it. The cold, wet feeling that dampened my clothes, bones and spirits led me to examine my weird old wish I felt when I was living in the truly salubrious weather of Namma Bengaluru decades ago.</p>.<p>As a child, I would invariably contract a crick in my neck craning at the occasional aeroplane flying in the skies. I would yearn to fly high among the clouds and help myself to a fistful of the toffees that were supposed to be offered by the airhostesses. Today, when I wait indefinitely at airports and get cramped in the aircraft that does not offer anything to soothe the sweet tooth, I crave for the magic carpet!</p>.<p>The endless picnics, delightful tuck boxes and midnight feasts described by Enid Blyton in her various series of books left me drooling. A comic book where Donald duck and his three nephews lazed around on sunbeds sipping lemonade from a lake which was filled to the brim was my ultimate food fantasy. I dreamt relentlessly about having orgies of junk food around the designer lake! I knew little about calorie intake, its effects on health and fitness.</p>.<p>One of the large castles, palaces, ranches, country houses, cottages and bungalows which peopled the protagonists of many stories would metamorphose into my dream home for a while till I took fancy to a new one. Those were the days when I had no inkling about the real estate market, cost of interior decoration or the multidimensional aspects of housekeeping.</p>.<p>At the end of every fairytale which began with once upon a time and ended with lived-happily-ever-after, I’d wonder why all them ended the same way. Adult life changed all that and more. When life unfolded its vagaries which were always not pleasant, I long to be a child again and seek solace in the hope of a happy ending!</p>