The things I remember most about my childhood are the books I read.
My Mum tells me that I've been addicted to books since age 5 : A story about a Teddy bear who receives a surprise birthday party, which lead me, apparently, to ask my mother to plan a 'surprise' party for my birthday. Which she did.
The Tinkle comics phase hit me as it did every Indian child who loved books. Suppandi, Tantri the Mantri, Shikari Shambu, Kalia the crow and so many more characters were my best of friends. I remember begging my Mum to give me the money needed to buy Tinkle. I was addicted and I clearly remember putting a great scene till I got those comics that I wanted. And I slowly shifted to other Amar Chitra Katha books and enjoyed them loads too.
Then, it was all about Enid Blyton. The Famous Five especially, meant the World to me. I adored Timmy the lovable dog, Julian, Anne, George, Dick and especially Uncle Quentin Kirrin. The fact that they were stereotypes, didn't matter to me then, though now I cringe a hundred times when I read cliches or stereotyped books. I loved their adventures ( which of course, happened periodically ) and especially Blyton's mouth watering descriptions of ' roast potatoes, lettuce sandwiches: delicately cut and neatly packed, bottles of ginger beer, lemonade, orangeade, creamy scones, a huge, rich, chocolate cake and some soda to wash it up'. Come on, admit it, you loved it too.
And then, my Mum handed me my first Nancy Drew. The introduction to mild, Disney-ish romance in the books made me adore them ;) I wasn't that fascinated by the actual 'mystery' though, nor did I adore the Hardy Boys. It certainly was a new level, yet I had a knack of guessing the villains well before Nancy did.
Harry Potter struck me like a lightning hitting the cable, the moment I watched the first film. I knew I had to read the books. Read them I did, love them I do, research them I did, adore them I do, miss them I do. HP is the biggest fandom I'm proudly a part of. Be it spouting and quoting lines from the books, or engaging in fully fledged analysis, or even conducting Quizzes that were very popular where I live, I've come a long way. Thank you J.K. Rowling for gifting us the Magical world of Hogwarts and the amazing characters(Read: Sirius Black) who come with it.
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