Date: 16/06/2026
All Rights Reserved by the Author
“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” — B.B. King
While clearing a cupboard, an elderly man found a metal pencil box from his school days.
The paint had faded.
The hinges creaked.
Inside lay a few forgotten treasures—a ruler, a stub of a pencil and a small note written by a classmate.
Suddenly, decades disappeared.
He remembered examinations, friendships, teachers and the excitement of beginning a new school year.
The pencil box had once seemed important.
Then life moved on.
Careers, responsibilities and family took centre stage.
Yet the little box remained, patiently holding pieces of a younger self.
We often think memories live only in our minds.
But sometimes they wait quietly inside ordinary objects.
A pencil box.
A ticket stub.
A report card.
They remind us not only of who we were, but of the dreams we carried before the world taught us to be practical.
And sometimes those old dreams still have something to say.
Rajat Chandra Sarmah
Guwahati, Assam, India
email: rajatchandrasarmah@gmail.com
youtube: conversewithasmile
musingofrajat.wordpress.com 