This was the 'revelation' that President Emeritus Ugo Mifsud Bonnici disclosed to watercolourist Paul Caruana during the opening of the exhibition Dear Younger Me at Palazzo de Piro in Mdina the other day.

This presidential look into the celestial crystal ball was met by a round of applause and a chorus of warm smiles of the guests. Dr Mifsud Bonnici had just lifted the quote from St Matthew's gospel when Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

Accompanied by his wife, Ġemma, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that Caruana not only has a vivid memory of his childhood days but can draw them in minute detail brimming with nostalgia. It's not the child that is painting but the child is being painted, he said. The watercolours will be on show till October 31 Monday to Sunday from 10 am.

"The episodes Paul has drawn recall the daily social goings-on along St Joseph Street and at Diju Balli in Valletta about 50 years ago. Episodes that most of the post-war generation remember in their home towns and villages.

"Colourful memories that not only show great social change but also the charm that that time still lights up in our hearts. These are not naive paintings but on the contrary are laced with subtle and ironic comments on how life was lived by the biggest chunk of the population."

Dr Mifsud Bonnici also quoted part of the poem by Ġan Anton Vassallo titled Żgħorija where the poet laments the passing away of his childhood. "O żmien ħelu, kif għaddejtli, żmien ta' meta kont bla ħtija. It-tifkira biss ħallejtli biex il-għira nħoss għalik", Vassallo had written. Most of the guests read the lines with one voice as if they were singing from the same hymn book.

Following the opening speech, Paul Caruana together with his wife Catherine presented a watercolour by Caruana to Dr Mifsud Bonnici.