… of the old times. It is National Day holidays here in China. The city was supposed to be quiet but it is not so. I went to some of the museums & parks during the holidays & found people everywhere. Seems we also get visitors to the city who then go out with their relatives and crowd all the city’s attractions.
So, I’m reading YOTSUBATO. Yes, the name of the manga has to be in CAPS. Because there is only few other ways I can describe it’s amazing-ness (if that’s a word). Yotsuba is a girl (from who knows where) and she is 5 years old at the moment. Her life is beautiful! She is beautiful! Her acts & ways bring tears and joys to my eyes! Not always does the world feel paradise to you. As I’m reading it, I feel so.
It also brings back my old memories. When I was about the same age as Yotsuba (or even a little younger than her), I used to look forward to traveling with Daddy to small shops in Kolkata (Calcutta then). Daddy used to sing poems of all kinds of astronomical things to me in the night so that I could fall asleep. He used to promise me that he would wake me up early so that I could go with him to the usual Bread purchase routine. We had vendors coming with small trolleys to sell breads at home-step but Ma always felt they were too sweet for our taste and hence Daddy used to buy salted ones from several shops around the corner.
Often when we came out of the house, Daddy used to tell me ‘Sorry, but I don’t know the way to the Bread shop. Could you guide me?’. I used to act too brave (also a little bossy if you may call so) when I was a child. And my reply always was ‘Daddy, you don’t know anything, I will take you there’. I still remember a good loaf of packaged bread was Rs. 2 in the early 90’s. At every corner, he used to ask me ‘Right or left, where should I turn?’. I didn’t like holding hands (I don’t like it even now) but I sometimes had to while crossing the roads. I used to walk in the front and Daddy used to walk behind me.
Well… Yotsuba and her Daddy have a bicycle, so they walk less than we did. And today I walked in the streets of Guangzhou with my beautiful friend Leslie. It’s nice to walk, also nice to lift hands and feet while walking to feel the breeze. I forget all the above when I’m working Monday-Friday in an air-conditioned office. I also want to thank the person who introduced me to this Manga but I won’t 
If you want to read the manga, go here.
