Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “box.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
The word ‘box’ brought to mind my WordPress blogger friend, Todd Tyrtle’s page. He has written, ‘Go outside today. Leave your houses, leave your cars, leave your boxes.’
Go Outside Today – Leave your houses, leave your cars, leave your boxes…
This year has been like no other year. Someone said we were planning to go to Mars but we have not even stepped out of our houses ! Coronavirus has turned our world upside down. People have suffered and are suffering in different ways. So many have lost their jobs and are finding it difficult to make ends meet. And during these difficult times countless people, especially the younger generation, came out of their comfort zones, came outside their boxes, to help the less fortunate. It was heart warming to see that and there is hope in spite of everything.
Some come out of their boxes willingly and some are forced to do so. I remember my father-in-law talking about his younger days. He was born in 1925. Life in villages went on as it had for generations. Villages were self-sufficient and the outside world seemed far away. People did not leave their villages. Then, in 1939 World War 2 happened, but life went on as usual. Then one day, not far from our village an army camp was set up. People living in that area were forced to surrender their houses and lands to the army. Their life changed overnight. The army left the place after the war ended. A special court was appointed to give the land back to the owners. But my father-in-law was not very sure whether people came back after so many years. Many would have made a new life for themselves.
When World War 2 started my father was eight years, he and his friends lived in their own world, enjoying their childhood. They loved to collect stamps and pictures on match boxes. He said smoking cigarettes and bidis was quite common in those days. And smokers had the bad habit of throwing empty match boxes by the road side. And my father was happy to collect these boxes 😊. He removed the pictures on them and pasted them on used note books. The children collected gum from nearby Neem, Banyan and tamarind trees. They made scars on the trunks and collected the gum which oozed out and put it in a bottle, added water to it and after a week they got wonderful and natural gum. I remember we too used collect gum long back. It was fun.
Life has changed so much and we have to change with the times. We have to learn to come out of our boxes.
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Mukhamani 
What a lovely post. It is good to read about your father’s life. It seems every generation will have its struggles.
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Such a fascinating generation. What sights they must have seen. Great post.
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I collected match books when I was a child. All of my parents’ friends smoked and gave me their old match books. I hadn’t remembered that in years. Thanks.
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I remember using resin from cashew trees as gum 😊
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I remember using resin from cashew trees as gum!
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The match box collection is intriguing
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It was a craze among children , my brothers too collected. My husband too had collected.
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🙂
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