Typing before the rectangular brightness of the sleek monitor, I sit back on the desk chair like a lone island in a sea of dog-eared pencil drawings and fraying paper crafts. The children have been tasked with clearing out their arts and crafts corner and the pulling out of the desk drawers has triggered this inevitable maelstrom of crayoned and origami-ed paper around me as I type and they sort. Presently I catch a glimmer of organization emerging from the chaos and feel a sense of sober satisfaction regarding the neat pile of ‘to-keep’s’ and a sense of apprehension regarding the burgeoning boredom on the children’s faces. This does not bode well.

It is several hours later and the paper tide has ebbed. With a little assistance and some energetic stuffing into the ‘to-throw’ bag from Papa-o, the floor-tiles see the light of fluorescent tube again. The freshly organized desk drawers are pushed back in and sighs of relief are heaved all round. I survey the room and smile at the dearth of stray paper. The gratifying knowledge of stationery sitting pretty in their allocated, out-of-sight corners makes one feel a kind of benevolence to even modelling clay. The fan whirrs softly overhead and the clock ticks obliviously on.

It is several minutes later and a pattering of feet is heard in the hallway. The kids come bustling in with waving arms and shouts for a brand-new, exciting craft they have to start right away. The drawers are slid out excitedly for want of action in the long minutes since a quarter of an hour ago and childhood reigns triumphantly over my helpless groan.