My Journey with My Best Friends

Books are a man’s best friends. And a woman’s too! Those who say that diamonds are a woman’s best friends could not be more mistaken. My relationship with books goes back a long time. Ever since I can remember , I have had a close bonding with the written word which began in Kindergarten itself in the Doon valley. “Kitty and Rover”, the pictorial book about the friendship between a cat and dog in a home is the first book I remember reading in my life. It had just a few words in it and many lovely pictures. I would sit with it for hours and ask my father to tell me all about Kitty and Rover again and again. And he always did, adding many an imaginary thing to the story. This was followed by books like “At Home” ,”At Play” and later “Briar Rose” and  “William Tell”. The covers of those books still appear in my mind whenever I think of those wonder years when I fell in love with books–a love which has only grown stronger over the years .

A visit to my elder Mausi’s house at Jor Bagh in New Delhi during a summer vacation led me to a treasure house in the shape of a book shelf in my cousin’s study where I found books like “Little Women”, “Good Wives” and “Wuthering Heights” that took me into an enchanted world from which I have yet to come out. It was a magical experience and I read these books again and again.The friendship between literature and this reader evolved and stayed forever. My cousin was kind enough to let me take some of these classics with me and also introduced me to Enid Blyton and the various beautiful works created by her for children. This was the beginning of my relationship with the Famous Four and the Five Findouters , the schoolgirls at Malory Towers and St.Clare’s, the Secret Seven and all the other child characters including the “naughtiest girl”! Such a lovely phase as a little reader.

Blyton’s was a charmed world which lured all children and we became hooked. I remember we used to tell each other that we will never stop reading Blyton’s books. But ultimately, we did stop. Now, if I ever pick up one and go through a couple of pages, it brings back memories of my carefree childhood. Sweet memories!Billy Bunter(by Frank Richards) and William (by Richmal Crompton) were the other two characters who were an important part of our childhood reading. I don’t mind picking up a “William” book even now.

After this began the bond with adapted versions of classics like “The Mill on the Floss”, “Jane Eyre”, “The Scarlet Letter”, “Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde”, “Pride and Prejudice” and “The Mayor of Casterbridge”. This bond turned out to be the strongest and continued all my life. Later, as a student of English Literature in my graduation and post graduation, I studied these classics as my texts and they became an integral part of my consciousness. Shakespeare whom we started studying in Class seven in our school Convent of Jesus and Mary, Dehra Dun, seemed simple to us as we progressed gradually and were fortunate  to study Macbeth in Class eleven and twelve. It taught us so much about life! By the time we left school, we were proficient enough to understand any Shakespeare drama quite well(something that today’s school students cannot say!) I chose to study English Literature at College as this was what I had always loved doing . So, in a way, my love for reading merged with my study of this subject for the next three years and I excelled in my course. Later, another two years of studying my favourite subject brought me a Post Graduate degree in it. After a gap of many years, I could also fulfill my dream of getting a doctorate in English Literature. Despite this, my thirst for reading , especially the classics, has not been quenched. The closeness I feel for these works has kept growing deeper and enriched my personal and professional life.

I do not doubt the saying that books are a man or woman’s best friends.They only give you worlds of experience and knowledge by demanding only a little attention and time from you.They teach you about life and this world. They broaden your mind and develop your vision, they make you more sensitive and more human, something that seems to be missing among people these days. Today’s world needs more readers, more people with a love for literature , more people with vision and depth. So, let us all make an effort to pick up a book more often and lose ourselves into enchanted worlds of words that weave magic in our lives.