Everyone has one. Some more fun than others, some more restrained than others, some more creative than others, and some more rigorous than others. Eventually, it turns you into the adult that you are now. The formative years of childhood is probably restricted to years 8-12 in my opinion (not based on any studies, that’s from personal experience). It’s that time of your life when you’re smarter as a kid and are more aware of the world as it is. It’s when you begin exploring the world beyond mud castles and eating dirt. It’s when you discover who you are and what you like doing.

My childhood was filled with building stuff. Origami books, paper planes, paper airports, paper what-not. Lego, mechanix, gwbasic. Looking back now I see in childhood-me a desire to create. A desire so strong to break apart and make anew. It gave me a thrill like no other. Also, I grew up most of the formative years in school with both my parents working. They probably felt that I needed something to keep myself occupied and kept this desire of mine satiated with more and more stuff I could build. I can’t thank them enough for that.

I would come back from school to an empty house with food on the table. I would eat, watch ninja turtles and go into my work room. The third bedroom in our house was filled with my stuff. A bed where no one could find place to sleep because it was strewn with paper all over. I had only one lego architectural set. With that I built everything from houses to ships. I remember even planning out the layout of the houses that I built. I had built whole airports out of paper and glue. Also among my creations was a chain link about 4 feet long out of blanks of cigarette packing (waste material brought back from office by mom for my exploits). However hard I try to recall it’s design and how I managed to make it, it eludes me. And I’m guessing the thought will keep bugging me till I find it.

At this point in my life with a ton of new things going around me, I am forced to think about my past and how I ended up being where I am. I get immense comfort in the fact that I’m here because I know what I want to do and I love doing it. As ironic as it is, I’m doing what I loved doing as an unassuming kid who would spend most of his holidays creating things.

Dare I say, a person spends a lifetime satisfying only his childhood desires.