The first decade of my life ....
Naav - Durghatna , Gora , Godaan , Gaban , Hans , Charulata ....
some the literature my mom used to read while carrying me in her womb ...
so naturally I had to imbibe some of it as modern and ancient science suggests ...
Started recognizing alphabets from the age of 4 ....
Not surprisingly my learning started with Marathi alphabets ..ga , ma bha na , ra sa ta la ..
instead of Ka kha ga gha or ABCD ...
All my friends were Marathi kids so naturally my affinity towards the language was greater than any other ...
But at home it was strictly Hindi , English or Bhojpuri ( our native language ) ..
My
earliest memories are of holding my father's hand and going to Dhuri
Book Stall to puirchase Parag , Nanadan , Champak , Kumar , Kishore and
Laurel Hardy comics ..
Amar Chitra Katha and Phantom were my favourites too ..
In fact my childhood love was Phantom whom I wanted to marry with all my heart ..
Needless to say that I hated Diana Palmer with all my 7 / 8 year old might ..
But the book or the series that really had me hooked were the Famous Five and Faster Fene series ..
My entire gang used to fancy ourselves as superkids ,
looking around Shivaji Park for suspicious elements to be handed over
to the local Police ..
But alas .. we never succeeded ..
Those
were the most charming days of carefree roaming on the beaches and
picking up seashells and playing to our heart's content ..
1973-1983
...
This was the decade that changed my entire life ...forever ..
This was where the leaf of the book of my life tuned forever ..
I was by now a full fledged bonafide bookworm by now , complete with spces and all ..
I lost my father at the age of 13 just going on to 14 ...
and got married at 17 and half ..
my reading by then had graduated to Munshi Premchand ji , Gurudev , Sharatchandra , Georgette Heyer , M & b ..
But
still , my choice for this decade of my life would be ' All things
bright & beautiful ' by DAr. James Harriot , it's due to his book
that I became aware of the animals and other living beings around me ..
His books sensitised me to a great extent
..
In
1981 my father in law gifted me a rare edition of Upendranath Ashq's :
Girti Deewarein , which I still have with me and is a treasured book ..
1984- 1994 ..
By this decade I'd lost my first baby and was a bit depressed , but life was still rosy and was full of promise ..
I was studying and was learning the ropes of being a good housewife at the same time ..
By the end of 1993 , I had completed my studies and was into my career as a teacher ...
My father in law had brought Kasap by Manohar Shaym Joshi from the NBF Delhi ,
I was mesmerised by this book , and to date I have read it over 30 times and literally have it by heart ..
I dedicate this decade of my life to a unique book : The City Boy by Herman Wouk ..
Gifted to me by my husband ...
This is a bittersweet book of coming of age and I hold it very close to my heart ...
1994-2004 ...
My career was going full throttle , household duties and many other responsibilities ..
I was getting recognition in my chosen profession and my reading also was going great guns ...
But I was missing something in my life and I had no idea what it was ...
I lost my mother and my mother in law in the year 2000 , only 6 months apart ..
Then I discovered the Bhagwad Geeta ...
I read and re read it ...
Most
of my questions were answered ..
I turned back to the philosophy of Spinoza and Liebniz , and felt a lot more at ease ...
I dedicate this decade of my life to the Geeta which offered me peace of mind and a better perspective of things ..
2004 2013 ...
This is the year again that I'll touch another milestone of my life that's turning 50 on June 10 th ...
So far the journey has been fine , by the grace of god ..
My reading has been consistant ...
I feel blessed in the knowledge that I'm multi lingual and have enjoyed literature in 4 lanunages without translation ..
And I dedicate this decade to my own book ' Evening Shadows '
that
is most possibly coming out next jan , this despite the fact that my
son lost 8 of my written chapters , all my toil and sweat , but I am
resilient and deterined to finish my book and I'd love
to present one copy each to all my fellow members ...
I
have seen the good , the bad and also the very ugly side of life , but
still am hopeful of a better tomorrow in the company of my books ..
It's
common perception that women hide their age , but I have been honest
about all the decades of my life and am proud of the grey that
is visible over my hair but more proud of the grey that I house within
my brain ...
24/06/2013
24/06/2013
0 comments:
Post a Comment