A NEW CHAPTER…

…has begun in the lives of my daughters. It is April and a new school-year has started.

For the Lil Cat, entering her third standard, it means a whole lot of new books (all warm and toasty-brown-paper-covered). It means a whole lot of new things to learn – from Marathi (she begins her ‘third’ language this year, after First Language English and Second Language Hindi – of course, Bengali is her mother tongue, so it is actually a FOURTH language), to Magellan (in Social Studies – he was the man who discovered that the earth was round), to complicated and l-e-n-g-t-h-y multiplications and divisions. But she is not too daunted, only excited and happy, diving into her pile of books with shiny-spectacled eyes.

For the Copy-Kitten, entering her first year in a proper school, it means new blue and white uniforms, a blue water-bottle and proper black school-shoes. Not really new anymore, because she has ‘practising’ drinking from the waterbottle for the past few days and clomping all over the house in her new shoes (never mind that she is clad only in a pair of bloomers above the pair of shoes and socks). She is all excited about the big yellow bus that will take her to school. Now, the only part missing is her new books, which will come next week.

The buzz of excitement is almost palpable and I am shamelessly exploiting the situation. Whenever the Copy-kitten is being naughty and disobedient (which she almost always is, except when she is sleeping), I am threatening her with dire consequences like her teacher not allowing bad girls in the class, etc. I know I should not hold her happiness to ransom like this, but as a long-suffering-from-tantrums mother I cannot help but make hay as the April sun shines.

I hope they stay as excited and eager to learn throughout their school lives.