Mala Naidoo's Blog, page 15

Fertilising the Imagination

 My About page with a brief biography on my origins as born in South Africa meant that I had a childhood in an era devoid of a television set in the family lounge room. The only ‘moving pictures’ apart from the local cinema were those created in my imagination.

The absence of television in apartheid South Africa was strategic, to keep the masses ignorant regarding democracy and justice in a bid to thwart the emerging voices of resistance. Avid reading and listening to the radio for recreation offered many hours of joy in a world where outdoor games were limited in apartment blocks.

Radio held its own fascination with the popular weekly, Friday evening, crime fiction episodes of, Squad Cars. I listened intently, forming images in my mind about places and situations in each episode. My rite of reading passage into the world of crime depicted through voices and sounds grew each week. Crime/Detective/Adventure fiction in children’s books from the Famous Five series to Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys and ultimately Agatha Christie’s and Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories were hunted down each week at the local library. Visions of snaking queues of children lining up, thirsty for their favourite book is imprinted in my memory. Such were the days…

After school radio programs for children were eagerly anticipated, excitement gained momentum with the chatter of voices speculating what  Noddy (by Enid Blyton) would be getting up to and whether Mr. Plod, the policeman’s kind and watchful eye over Toyland would save another day. Empathy for the skittles who did not seem to care whenever they were run over, filled my waking and sleeping hours. The imagination was ablaze with stories that wove into the stories of my mind’s eye. The imagination was fertilised with self-created images of places, characters, and events. An emotional investment of compassion for those who struggled or were mistreated and revulsion for those who harmed others was set in motion.

Listening and reading awakened the inner being as fodder for the imagination in the years ahead in the creation of my own stories – in the adult years, I turn back to my own voice recordings of my reactions to places I have visited, places that I have been moved by, to mulch and refresh an evocative sense of place through the voices and visions of my characters.

Audio books are a blessing, like reading is, to supercharge the imagination for a personal take on people, places, and events that ‘moving pictures,’ with all its commendable grandeur, might not quite fuel.

‘Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere’- Albert Einstein

What do you think?

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Beyond the Bewitching Hour

Have you tried reading beyond the bewitching hour when a hush rests upon your home, all are sound asleep – the only light being your reading lamp setting the page aglow?

Books take on a life of their own when you have undisturbed reading pleasure. Places invite you in, characters entice your entrance into their worlds – you yield  – you enter this magical realm free from the mundane responsibilities of daily existence.

The time spent wrapped inside the pages of a world you enter and leave at will, exudes forbidden pleasure away from the gaze of the world around you. Each new page, each new chapter, begs you to go on with the promise that hidden discoveries will surface.  Days pass, weeks pass, the tension mounts, emotions are unleashed and you read on – you wipe away a tear, you break out in a smile, you breathe deeply as you smell, see, taste and relish this world you cannot extract yourself from.

The book falls, your head slides off the pillow, you waft off into a deep sleep.

The sun comes up, the alarm clock goes off – the day beckons – your book sits silently up against your bedside drawer waiting for your return on the other side of the bewitching hour.

Until then… See you beyond the bewitching hour when the pages of your book are aglow…

You can expect a preview of a chapter from 'Across Time and Space.'

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