One of the discoveries I’ve made during the pandemic is that the hippie life is not for me. With no compulsion to do anything except just what was essential was good for a while.

And as we realised what had hit us, we developed a routine of sorts albeit a largely fluid one that depended on the ups and downs of the virus. On days that it spiked, we stayed at home fearful and on days it lay low, we cautiously stepped out to catch up with work that needed to be done.

But I was a creature of habit and a slave to my routine. I didn’t actually know how much I valued a regimented life till this weekend which officially is the last weekend before school begins .

Today the Little People start a new year of school and there’s is a palpable excitement in the air .

Our house right now is a mess with kitchen emptied out. Taking advantage of the lull in the pandemic , we finally being given a new coat of paint) and the jars of pulses have become part of the living room decor.

But nothing can dampen the enthusiasm of Ms Papaya who is thrilled to go back to school after a two month break, albeit virtually.

The last academic year was a bit of a washout because no one foresaw the temporariness that became a way of life. After the initial shock of conducting school on line , the teachers gradually learnt to deal with Zoom calls, iffy connectivity and bored children whose attention wandered away from the screen.

But this year, not knowing when physical school will start, the teachers have made a more structured program, taking into account all the pitfalls of running a virtual school.

On Friday a parent orientation introduced the parents to the teachers. Primary school means big business with no more pussyfooting and babying of the Little Ones.

At 6 years ( most of the first graders are 6) the children no longer need spoon feeding and have graduated from toilet accidents and tantrums. They have left toddlerhood behind them and are ready to step out as wide eyed students.

But their back to school is quite different from ours.

Covering books

The thrill of getting back was filled with momentous events like getting new uniforms as many of us grew during the holidays .

More often than not , we got new shoes too ! Black for every day and tennis shoes as we called canvas shoes back then . Needless to say, it was our task to keep them clean and shiny and Saturday mornings were spent slathering out canvas shoes white with a gooey white polish.

There was the mad scramble of collecting text books and notebooks and covering them with brown paper.

The day before school reopened our dining table became an assembly line with my mum cutting the brown paper , me covering the books and my brother sticking down the edges with scotch tape.

Then came the task of cutting out labels , printing our names in our neatest handwriting and sticking the label on the cover without smudging the writing and making a mess of the cover.

This sounds easier than what it was because we had to use fountain pens and blotting paper to make sure the writing didn’t smudge. Unlike the quick fix glue of today, our clear runny glue squeezed out from a recalcitrant rubber stoppered bottle made the labels moist.

Finally, a spanking new pencil box with a new ruler, pencils, sharpener and an eraser ( we called them rubbers though ) our back to school kit was ready.

Every other year, we got a new school bag. It was either a bulky trunk-like box or a cloth/canvas shoulder strap satchel. Some lucky kids carried their stuff in an Air India bag. But all in all, these bags were bulky, ugly and heavy .

And today

Alas , today the Little Ones have no books to cover but devices to charge so that they can have uninterrupted screen time .

They will miss out on the thrill of finding out who they’re going to sit next to in the school bus, lunch table and class .

But the excitement of getting back to their routine of classes and learning remains unchanged.

I’m sure it won’t be long before their virtual world becomes a reality .

Happy school year to everyone starting school !

Ciao,