Books i grew up with
I went to a brand new school which was just built the year that i started there, we didnt have such a thing as library until around 7th grade. But still our school tried to encourage good reading habits in us, in all ways possible. I remember how we were asked to read an English newspaper everyday, and we had to write up news highlights everyday. Thats how i was introduced to Indian Express and The Hindu, both very good and unique in their styles, but i always had a thing for “the Hindu” because of their supplement edition that came once a week called “young world”, it had so many things i loved!! Our school also gave us a 30min reading period where we just sat down and read, while the teacher in charge stared us down if we lifted our head up from those books!
We were also asked to bring, whatever books we had at home and we shared it with our classmates. I think i brought a “twinkle digest”
Then later on, as the school started having a small collection of different books which was donated mostly from students and teachers, we got to have a more wider selection during our reading period. As we had enough books to fill a small book shelf, our school hired a librarian. He was there to help us recommend books and answer questions, and now we were allowed to borrow books for a week after signing his log. Being a nerd, i still remember how exciting it was when we were finally allowed to take those books home!!
These are 3 of my top favourite books i grew up with…
Nancy Drew:
How can i forget, our good old Nancy Drew!! I read almost all the books in the series that we had at the library. I could read from cover to cover without the blink of an eye!! All the girls in our class, loved having conversations about Nancy Drew and her friends while the boys read a similar series called “Hardy Boys”. I kinda feel like picking up another Nancy Drew book from the library right now, just for the sake of nostalgia!
Harry Potter
I feel like a privileged kid to be able to live in the harry potter generation. I came to read the first book in the series after getting lots of heavy recommendations from my friends. I fell in love with it right away! I say that we are privileged to have lived in the same era as Harry mainly because…even though this series will stay forever as a classic for generations, our future generations will not get the same magical feeling and attachment that we had with Harry. Yes many of them will come to love HP and will be mesmerized by JK Rowling’s creativity but just the few of us in this generation got to experience that feeling of anticipation that Rowling left in us after each book was published. The long wait that we had to endure to get to the next HP book, the little sadness we felt as we turned the last page of each edition, those attempts to get a hold of the new edition on the first day when it came out and trying to read the whole book before the rest of the world spoils it for you, having those long conversations about what could possibly happen and who would die in the next book, heated debates about weather Prof. Snape was good or evil. In a way I guess I can say that we as a generation know Harry more upclose and personal than anyone ever will in the years to come.
Balarama
My childhoold would probably have been incomplete without this malayalam childrens digest! Everytime i walked by a store which had a new edition of balarama, i was stubborn until my parents brought me a copy. As we grew older, me and my brother finally convinced our parents to get a balarama subscription. And when it was the time for the new edition, we will be there waiting early in the morning for the newspaper guy who brought it for us. Sometimes it had surprises, like little stickers, 3D glasses, cricket cards, paper masks, posters, tattoes, those little prizes made us feel like on top of the world! After getting a hold of the newest edition, I would ofcourse rush to the mayavi story. Getting that first shot in reading mayavi was no easy task, i had to go through a fightoff with my brother until the balarama is torn in two separate pieces or until my mom tells me to read it out aloud to him so neither of us has to wait! Last time when i was in India, i saw a fresh new copy of balarama hanging in one of the stores while waiting in the bus station, i had the same urge to go and buy it …and I did get one. I read it on my flight back, and it was precious just like the good old days!!
