Dr Suess once said that “Adults are just obsolete children.” So how do you judge people? Duh Uh, obviously by checking out their reading habits as kids.
Were they the nerdy textbooks kinda people or were they the dreamy eyed romantics? Did racy mysteries catch their imagination or did they prefer to keep company with pirates, werewolves and wizards? Were they reading about the country- past, present and future or did they choose to let the fairies take over? Confession time!!! INDIAreads caught up with a bunch of very grown up authors – their book, She Writes has just been published by Random House India – and asked them to take a trip down memory lane so that we could meet the child in them….Here’s what we found out!!!
Favourite children’s book – the one that got you hooked?
Amrita Saikia: The Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton. The characters in them seemed absolutely real to me. As a little girl, I secretly prayed that I would be sent to a boarding school where I could have fun like those characters. Alas, this wish of mine was never fulfilled. (All you boarding school kids out there, stop gloating!!! Tell us, is life in a hostel just like Blyton told us it would be????)
Jyotsna Jha: Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson. The story revolves around a young boy who finds a secret map to a lost treasure. A gang of pirates know about the map too and our young hero must beat them in getting there first. Can he do it? Read this thrilling adventure novel to find out.
(And you thought little girls just enjoyed fairytales!!! We are as adventurous as any of you out there, maybe more 
)
Chitralekha Sarkar: Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. It was the ultimate adventure, full of pirate ships and mermaids in lagoons and other exotic situations. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson came a close second. Unfortunately Walt Disney never made a cartoon feature on Treasure Island like his wonderful “Peter Pan”. (Uh oh…Disney Studios, are you listening???)
Geeta Sundar: I love Alice in wonderland—everything about it, and still go back to it. It has the kind of imagination that catches a child’s fancy, a lovely story, wonderful characters and outstanding poetry-‘You are old father William’, Tweedledum and Tweedledee’ being my favourites. (oh Gee!!!)
The Character you identify yourself with??? (Now this one had us listening very very carefully!!! So, no smart quips here)
Geeta: Alice of course, from Alice in Wonderland!!!
Chitralekha: Peter Pan, the boy who never had to grow up, who went on fantastic adventures with a band of friends and always won!
Anisha Bhaduri: Apu from Bibhutibhushan Banyopadhyay’s Pather Panchali
Jyotsna: Huck in Huckleberry Finn. I could at once identify with the vagrant boy going through the joys and pains of growing up and coming to terms with the complications of the adult world.
Amrita: I always envisioned myself as the intelligent and brave-hearted Nancy Drew and imagined myself intelligently defeating the villains and solving all those mysteries.
MMM…MMM. That was interesting! Now you know why we insisted on children’s books!!! And here comes the final one…Your Bookscapade – the book adventure that got you into trouble Come on, ‘fess up!!!!
Sheela Jaywant: I was in trouble for reading all the time. I didn’t like studying text books, but story-books… i lived them at mealtimes, loo-times, all the time. I day-dreamed my teenage away!
Geeta: Well this is a confession that I am not going to enjoy. When we were in tenth standard, there was a small library besides the big one, that was right in front of our class, and it had a small gap in the glass through which a girl with thin hands could take out a book. Since I had the thinnest hands, I was elected to put my hands in and take out books. We read them and put them back but were found out. When asked, I confessed, but the other girls sportingly joined me and we had to kneel for an hour outside the mother principal’s office as a punishment! (Ouch ouch!!!)
Anisha: A Harold Robbins novel at age 12/13, deemed a most inappropriate read at that age. (Boy, were you asking for trouble!!!) Fortunately, I grew up in a household where reading was encouraged and the children were expected to be responsible for what they read and how they developed their reading habits. (Talk of Luck!!!)
Amrita: It was one of the Sweet Valley High books that got me into trouble when I was in the tenth standard, a few months away from my board exams. I got hold of this book from one of my friends and hid it in between my textbooks. One night, after dinner, when I was sure that everyone had slept, I took out the book and began reading, pretending to study one of my textbooks. But I was a terrible actor and my mother, a strict parent. I was caught red-handed. A few stern words and glares ensured that I stayed away from all books apart from my course books till exams were over.
HA ha…now did you enjoy that one??? We asked them a bunch of other questions too. Check out their answers in our Children’s Special Newsletter this month. To get a copy, write to literathon@indiareads.com
And a big thank you to these special authors for being so sporty and sharing their naughty and not-so-naughty moments with us.
For those of you who are curious to meet the wonderful women these girls have turned into, here’s a brief about them…
