An affair to remember!

A careless caress, an inquisitive look and an instant attraction, that’s how my first love affair began. Cupid caught me at an early age and my love for books bloomed at a time when I was a stranger to the written word.

As a toddler I found great joy in flipping through the pages of The Illustrated Weekly, just trying to make sense of the pictures or looking at comic strips from a Hindi magazine called Dharmayug.

Once I grew older and got a grip on languages there was a whole new world waiting to embrace me in its arms. My earliest mates were comics like “Champak”, “Nandan” and “Tinkle”, which were a treasure trove of stories.

In school I was introduced to the inimitable Enid Blyton and her adorable characters like Noddy and Big Ears, the antics of Amelia Jane, The Famous Five , and the midnight feasts at Malory Towers and St. Claire’s.

As kids we lap it all up without thinking why the French Mamzelles are always the butt of jokes in the school series, or what makes Georgiana, better known as George, of the ‘Famous Five’, uncomfortable with her sexuality. Well, I do not want to harp on racial and gender criticism of the author, for besides other things she had the amazing knack of titillating the taste buds with mouth watering descriptions of apple tarts, scones, pecan pies and home-made cakes.

Adolescence brought a whole new gamut of emotions and the”guilty” pleasure of reading a MB hidden inside a text book. The Mills and Boons series are akin to our very own television soap sagas, for most of the stories are clichéd, but in this case fun lies in formulaic fiction. The typical girl meets boy romance story touches the heart strings of every gawky teen aged girl, who experiences a kind of wish fulfilment in it. My school library had a vast array of these, ranging from Barbara Cartland’s historical romances with Dukes and lithe waif-like child-woman heroines to sundry stories of modern day doctor nurse liaisons.

For me English Literature was an obvious choice in college, the best part of it being that I got to do what I love the most, that is, read voraciously. This was my first encounter with Indian authors writing in English. Amitava Ghosh’s Shadow Lines and its non linear narrative gripped my imagination instantly. Although I read his The Hungry Tide much later, the book has become one of my favourites. The sketch of a quaint little village in the lush green mangrove forests of the Sundarbuns, the haunting description of the vast waters of the Brahmaputra and the complex chemistry between the protagonists are images that will remain with me forever.

They say that with age the intensity and passion of love diminish but I think time and age have only fuelled my fire for reading and I have inevitably found solace in the arms of fiction.

The long list begins with Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni whose stories cast a spell over me. Although most people know her for The Mistress of Spices, I found The Queen of Dreams much more compelling and captivating. Be it the power of the subconscious mind, messages in dreams, the bond between two sisters, or a retelling of the Mahabharata from Draupadi’s perspective, Divakaruni has the amazing power of conjuring long lasting images which have a haunting quality.

Latin American writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende, with their stark style of writing and extensive use of magic realism have the ability to shake up your soul. Who else but Marquez can goad a reader to read on after revealing all the details of the plot in the first page of The Chronicles of a Death Foretold.

Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red caught my attention at a bookstore and I just picked it up without knowing that I would get hooked on to his books after that. His narrative in the book is like opening a portmanteau with many compartments. He interweaves so many stories beautifully that each chapter leaves you craving for more. Ever since I have read Snow, Istanbul and The Museum of Innocence I have become fascinated with Turkey. How I wish I could catch a glimpse of the setting sun over the Bosphorus and trace the silhouette of the Blue Mosque.

Like a giddy headed school girl in love, I could endlessly go on about being besotted with books but the magnitude is so great that any canvas seems too small to paint the perfect picture. However, I am glad that this passion of mine will never wane for with every book the mystery, excitement and novelty of a new love always remains.