Of magic and childhood!

I am happy and I feel guilty about it. There's so much grief and sadness and tragedy taking place around us everyday and that makes me question if my happiness really deserves a mention here. Let me express it here though. I have exams coming up in the next ten days and I've been quite stressed over all the academic work. But I have found a great source to relieve all this stress. It's called Sketchbook Express. It is an Autodesk digital painting software. I have always been wary of using software. I love handmade stuff, designs, cards everything. I just took to using it and created something from my childhood. It's a very special dream sequence. 

As a kid, I dreamt of oceans and undersea kingdoms a lot besides dreaming of aeroplanes and skies. So, here I was recreating my childhood fantasy world. I was a huge believer and admirer of Mermaids and Magic. Just the other day my younger sister asked me if I ever felt disappointed by the fact that magic was not real, it didn't exist? She got me thinking. I watched a lot of magic shows as a child. I remember watching Sir P.C.Sarkar's magic show with my Dad. It was so thrilling to witness all that glitz and shimmer of something appearing out of nowhere to my kid self. I don't recollect how I felt about discovering that magic wasn't real because perhaps I was quite a non-believer from the start. I wouldn't invest my energies into something that didn't exist. Of course, now it is easy to write this about magical beliefs but then as a kid, I mustn't have thought so consciously about it. I do think these concepts of magical worlds and faraway kingdoms help expand a child's visual abilities of thinking and imagining immense possibilities.

I think reading since early childhood helped me get rid of all the superficial stuff kids are told to entertain their curiosities and sometimes to scare them from venturing out too far in being too inquisitive, Reading does this. It helps kids formulate their own opinions and decision making skills from a fairly young age.

I have never read fairy tales or dwelt into their exaggerated stories since I was a kid. My Dad told me stories about aircrafts and freedom struggle whenever he was home from work on weekends. Aeroplanes and flying adventures occupied my mind all the time. I was quite a pro at trying to identify any random aircraft flying in the sky. Now I laugh over that naivety. Those were the innocent times. Art helps keep the child in me alive and vibrant. I have rediscovered the joy I find in painting. I am looking forward to more forms of painting, digital is just a start.