Kaleidoscope

The first time I was introduced to a Kaleidoscope I remember playing with it for hours. I must have been 7–8 years old and with my small hands I was rolling the tube to see different patterns emerge with a mesmerized enthusiasm that I fail to summon now.

It wasn’t a very sophisticated version either, it was one from the street vendors with a shiny paper surrounding a cardboard tube in which the broken bangle pieces were used to create the patterns, but for me it was a priceless gift. I adored it with shiny eyes and giggled and awed and cooed as different designs formed. I wanted to keep it with me forever and ever. It wasn’t a menacing need to own something shiny like Gollum and his precious, but rather a child’s attachment to something she considered hers.

After a day with my newfound gadget when I returned home from school the next day the kaleidoscope was nowhere to be found. I searched for it, for days, looking around, under the sofa, under the bed, in the corner just to get a glimpse of that shine but couldn’t find it.

I never owned a Kaleidoscope after that, maybe because I never found one that looked just like that. But even today when I recall that maroon cylindrical gadget that gave me exhilarating joy with the simplest of means and close my eyes I see thousands of beautiful patterns with colorful broken pieces of glass bangle. ♥

[This story also appears on my blog ]