From tales of Asian art and fairy tales, Enid Blyton and Harry Potter, be it The Panchatantra, Fiction or Romance, there are millions of categories and titles that have won many hearts. In a day of modern facilities of kindle, eBook, audibles or zing pens, children have yet retained interest in a paperback book. I always smell the fresh pages of a brand-new book even now. There is some magic with that fresh organic woodsy pulp type smell that a new book emits. ‘Novel’. So, writers all over the world have written stories that have endured across millions of thoughts and dreams. Having been brought up with listening to many granny tales and fables, each of them have had some learning or a special place in our heart. The fact that life isn’t always what you ask for, that things can or will go wrong, and people don’t always have to be their best has been a familiar topic for young readers to be able to learn the reality of life.
Most of you might resonate with me that no message is better conveyed than the one put across in the form of granny tales. They have led us to serious learnings or in enchanting caves with a pot of gold. In search of a treasure or a challenging adventure, our grandmother’s cosy lap has been a soft pillow while we heard them recite these stories. A household environment served as a place of a magical universe for granny tales. For example, the little red riding hood has been a popular parable. Now that it’s available in various online versions, the sweet voice and tone of my granny yet lingers on as I recollect her reciting it to me. She would read to me stories from her old vintage book that she preserved under in her 100-year-old cupboard made with strong teak wood. Beneath an artfully arranged clothes shelf was a drawer where this book would be kept with her favourite feather pen.
Fairy-tales serve as reality to young children. They imagine, perceive and live different situations while reading and play them out. They learn how to live and cope with the real world. This helps them to understand complex situations and foresee scenarios that they yet have not encountered in their own lives.
What we are missing right now is this comforting touch. A relationship that nurtured various lives. Someone to care for and someone to love for.
Oh Granny Oh granny
Take me to that fairy land
Where I sat on a rainbow cloud
And you softly held my hand
Where the moon was painted blue
And the stars shimmered a path of glee
Where a unicorn rode across the stream
And I believed it was me
29.11.20