Paper Dreams

My first tryst with origami was when I made paper boats as a kid. I didn't even know there was a word for the art of making boats (or any other thing) out of paper back then. I don’t remember who taught me how to make a paper boat – some things you become so familiar with, you'd assumed you've always known them. But I think it came from one of those cool things a friend at school showed you during recess or between periods and everybody would get curious and learn to do it too. Then we would all go home, do it again, show our parents, and keep doing it for a week or so until we lost interest.

The backyard of my old house had a cement path running from the backdoor to the drumstick tree in a rectangle. So when it rained heavily, water would get logged in between, forming a little pool. That’s when I would make the boats and put them in the muddy water even if it’s still raining. I’d make at least 2 or 3 so I could be sure at least one of them would float – they mostly “capsized” and floated sideways either when the paper got too wet or raindrops smashed into them.

Years later, and really, really long after I got bored of making boats, I saw Prison Break in one of those finish-a-TV-show-in-2-days-or-less marathons that was a popular hobby in college. Apart from the unforgettably brilliant story, what really amazed me was the symbolic use of origami by the protagonist, Michael Scofield, a habit that he actually picked up from his elder brother (whom he tries to break out of prison):

“After Mom died, when it was just you and me, I remember having trouble sleeping, never knowing where you were, but when I'd wake up in the morning there'd be this paper bird, an origami crane sitting next to my bed and I never knew what it meant exactly, but I figured it was your way of letting me know you were checking in on me. Anyway, I looked it up, the crane, stands for familial obligation, watching out for your own. Maybe it's my turn to watch out for you.”

He would also make paper lilies to impress his lady love and prison doctor, Sara Tancredi. The whole idea was so romantic and appealed to me so much, I would frequently look up the internet and learn to do something like a crane or butterfly or a flower out of 3 or 4 square inches of paper and give them to close friends, not necessarily on special occasions. It’s a nice way to let someone know they’re special to you. It’s also amazing how a plain plane piece of paper could capture your imagination in a multitude of ways.

Friendship over the years

School years: If there was a new kid in class, I used to make it a point to go up to him or her and purposely make friends. I wasn’t very choosy back then and there wasn’t any reason to. Making new friends was so easy. It was a class thing – we all just stuck together. I still have friends dating back to a long time ago but I’m not in touch with so many others. I guess its because “life happened”.

College years:  I made friends who I know will be there for me and I will care for life-long. There were some I didn’t take to so much in the first year but became thick friends with by the time we left. And the concept of a class drastically changed. There were people who haven’t spoken a word to each other during even a single moment in those four years. Though we did manage to have a little fun as farewell drew closer, looking back, most of them are still strangers to me! It wasn’t that we were too shy… Just our pre-conceived notions of one another and the choices we made.

Now: I made friends with total strangers on a social networking site, even exchanged numbers and talked to them. Mostly because I’m relocating to a new city and don’t know anyone there. And so far, it has been a grand success! My parents are amazed. Heck, even I’m amazed. Though this was something to dream of in my parents’ time, I admit I was (and still am, though diminishing everyday) apprehensive of this new venture. But I can’t wait to connect the voices and the words to the actual faces!

The last time we got a Telegram…

It was to tell us that grandfather had passed away. Me and my sister were just little kids and hardly got to know him well. It wasn’t a surprise though when they recently  announced in the paper that it would be the last day for Telegram service in India. We’d actually laughed about it – everyone has a phone nowadays allowing us to text or call someone at any time and at ridiculously low rates too, rather than send a telegram to someone "HELLO STOP URGENT NEWS STOP" only when you have something important to communicate to a far-off friend or family.

I wonder how many years the Postal Service would last. I guess we still need it, though only to send stuff larger than page-long letters which would rather be delivered easily with a mouse click only to lie unopened in the inbox along with other junk mail from shopping sites and educational services until you delete your way through them to find it (Google’s priority inbox magically solved that too, but I still get ETS emails in my primary inbox). People say there is a certain charm in posting a letter to someone.  It’s somewhat the same reason why I insist on making birthday cards myself instead of buying them. It doesn’t take much effort to throw in some fancy words and send someone an e-mail . But when you make the effort to fill in your words with ink, seal it in an envelope, glue a stamp to it and go all the way to the post office to post it, it says something about the lengths you would go to reach out to someone. What’s more, people don’t even to reply to e-mails nowadays. Everyone’s just too busy coping with life. It matters to show the people you care about that they are your numero uno priority. And that can be done by spending the “little” time you have on them.

Maybe in the not too distant future, private companies like Safe Express will pop up everywhere and suddenly sending even “stuff larger than page-long letters” would become a lot cheaper. Then the call for the close of Postal Service would come because it’d be too burdensome to maintain when no one’s even using it. They’ll put a copy of the last letter ever sent in a museum and we would tell our kids “Once upon a time, there were letters”.

Forgotten Things

The other day, while searching for a bottle to keep my collection of shells, I remembered that it might be in the box that contained all my playthings. With help from my mom, I located it in my dad's room where it sat in a corner below the cupboard, forgotten, and collecting dust. I opened it, and there they all were - a chessboard with pieces (that was really old and probably belonged to my grandfather), a Ludo and Snakes & Ladders board, Scrabble, coins for the carrom board, a ring to play catch with (like frisbee), a pack of cards and a set of marbles (to play that brainteaser game in which you are supposed to have one marble left at the end). And of course there was the empty 'Gems' tube, which seemed apt for my requirement (now when I think about it, its probably more than 5 years old! - I have the habit of leaving such odd things lying around...).

I sighed... They brought back so many memories. Those were the treasures of my school years -  every summer vacation, when it was too hot to step outside, me and my sister would enjoy many hours playing indoor games. Snakes and ladders was a favourite (it was especially fun when playing with 'sound effects', whenever one went up a ladder or was gobbled by a snake). Those wonderful days seem so far away now... Its been years since I've actually played or even touched any of those games!

But I did not let my find that day go to waste... And now I can say I've become re-addicted to Scrabble ;)