Feb 10, 2006 10:15 AM
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(Updated Feb 10, 2006 10:37 PM)
When I was a little girl I would always be found jabbering in Hindi, my mother tongue. Teachers at school were strict and they would insist that all children speak in English…because we were in an English medium school. There was this so-called ‘library period’ introduced to inculcate the habit of reading in us and my mother, too, was a part of this whole English-bolo drive as she sincerely believed I had rotten English. What’s worse, my Hindi was no good either. I had no clue where to put the maatras and what a poorna-viraam was for. Nevertheless, I spoke as fast and as much as I could with my partner…just about managing to avoid the class teacher.
Around the same time, my mother started giving me books for gifts - fairy tales that quite interested me because of the glossy pages and colorful pictures, I’m guessing. Barbie dolls were a craze too; but looking back, I realize there was always this balance that was maintained between my work(read reading or doing school homework) and play. The long summer vacations were no respite either, you could go out and play all day provided you sat with a book for at least half an hour in the evening. It didn’t matter how much you read - whether you dreamt or just stared at some picture – as long as you were sitting with a book. After so many years, I realize now how important it was for me to have developed the habit. I learned all the maatras and spellings – well, it happened only because I spent time with books and started observing words - grasping some, ignoring most. It comes with time and ofcourse, patience. During the fairy-tale, glossy book phase of my life I have to mention books like Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Three Bears, Hansel and Gretel, Goldielocks…among a few others.
Coming to the fun-cum-toil of my early reading days, the first author I think of is Enid Blyton. What an enchanting writer she was! Every book of hers that I picked up had me engrossed for hours on end. I just couldn’t help it…unless it was time to play. Enid Blyton is a must read for every child because of the charm of Ms. Blyton’s innocent writing and the ease of the story-teller in her. Mysteries, suspense, drama…you name it! Who hasn’t heard of The Famous Five, with a dog as one of its members? Young kids on summer vacations, traveling alone, meeting up, going for picnics and solving mysteries….how ideal! I too was inspired and tried to make my summer vacations as exciting as theirs. If there was no drama, my friend and I created some. We would follow this lady around in the neighborhood when she would be out for her evening walk. We would pretend we were detectives working on a case, hiding behind cars and whispering to each other where we thought she might turn next and how not to be seen. She once asked us, “Are you guys still loafing around?” Loafing? What made her think we were loafers? We were just innocent kids…on a mission! Enid Blyton is a pleasure to read. I must mention the Noddy series as well. Enid Blyton is the most impressive children’s author I have read. I know there are others like Roald Dahl who has written books like Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory etc. But the first author I would recommend to a child around the age 10+ is Enid Blyton
Even before Blyton, I was introduced to The Panchatantra. This was mesmerizing as the animal fables always managed to stir my imagination and help create an entirely different world. In one of the stories, the king was eating cucumber in the lavatory to which my cousin, (who was older than I was) laughed for a good five minutes. I missed the joke till she told me that the “kheera” I was chomping on that very minute was the same thing as cucumber. Duh me! “The moral of is the story is ……” Was important as these simple to read fables always had a message and some wisdom to impart. Clever, I should say! Read, enjoy and learn a lesson.
Thinking of clever, the Birbal stories were also interesting. They helped because you always read about Akbar in some textbook or the other…Birbal made it easier to relate to a history lesson which mentioned “one of the greatest kings”(Akbar). It is important for a child to be able to relate to something he/she is reading, even if it’s in a magical sense. So I read The Arabian Nights too, and was thrilled to find a series on television called Alif Laila on the same lines.
In conclusion, let me say this: the journey of a reader is definitely long with so many genres, authors, styles always left unexplored. The beginning however, is the most important. My journey started with Cinderella, Snowhite, Goldielocks, etc…moved on to Enid Blyton and Panchatantra…and lots has followed since. Can you trace yours?
