Freshly Printed Nostalgia
By Nupur Basu
For much of my life, I have seen my elders sit down at the breakfast table in the beginning of a new day, unfolding brand new, printed pages of the morning newspaper which was delivered several minutes before at the front door. The fresh scent of the printed pages blended with the essence of coffee and whirled around in the kitchen area, waking everyone up to a bright, sunny day ahead.
So was my memory of childhood. The day started with coffee and tea, sunny side up eggs, hot chocolate for the kids, and laughing at my grandfather’s large, round glasses, hooked on the edge of his nose while he read the small scripts of the big events happening around the city, country, world.
Newspapers still get printed. We still drink coffee in the morning. Kids still love hot chocolate. The only difference is the internet. No longer do I see people unfolding the multiple parts of the newspaper just to get to the sports section. Now, they unfold their laptops. Now, there is no need to look for the sports section in the hidden pages of a printed press. It is only a click away.
I miss waking up to the sound of pages being turned, the small, sudden gush of air full of printed smell being blown in my face when someone folded the newspaper close. People have resorted to the internet to get their feed of daily news. The clicking of the buttons and the quick transportation from page to page helps us to better make use of our time, not to mention the trees being saved in the migration from paper to internet. Our environment is fragile, say scientists, and we can see its declining health in an increasing rate. If migrating from paper to internet saves our trees and gives us more oxygen, lets do it. If the click of a button is faster than the turning of multiple pages, I agree.
The generations that now use the internet will someday become grandparents with worse eyesight than those before them. Computers do that to us. But, apparently, we would have made more efficient use of our time than our grandparents. The minutes and seconds saved by using the internet instead of newspapers would have earned us a few extra dollars and a few extra hours of sleep. Maybe even days, who knows. I just hope that in the future there are still those out there that will continue to miss the freshly scented pages of the newspaper, and that while the sun starts rising and shining in their face through the slightly open blinds of the kitchen window, they will be hooked into the pages of their printed paper, their glasses slightly on the edge of their nose.
