B for Books (AToZChallenge)

I am back with the second post of the A-Z Challenge. For all the bookworms out there, B always stands for Books. You cannot agree more.

Books have been my lifeline. It is a book which comforted me during my blues. It is a book which made me feel love. It is a book which taught me happiness. It is a book which introduced me to worlds that never existed. It is a book which made me to forget myself & immerse in an imaginary world. It is a book which helped me take that first step towards my dream. Books are, of course, gateway to heaven. I have always been the best when I read a book.

Here I am going to emphasize on my relationship with books, the different books which I read from my childhood and how they shaped me as I am today.

As it happens with everyone, my first meeting with a book was through my mom. She introduced me to fairy tales when I was just 5 years old. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, Jack and The Beanstalk and The Little Mermaid made me experience a magical world where a happy ending was always possible. These stories inculcated the belief that I can achieve anything in my life. Later, I began reading books like Goodnight Stories, Moonlight stories, Jataka Tales, Aesop’s Fables and Panchatantra Tales. Books like these are replete of virtues which every child needs to learn. They imbibed good values in me and molded me into a better person.

Well, my tryst with books went two notches higher when I began reading magazines like Tinkle Digest and Champak. The stories in them were too enjoyable. I get goosebumps whenever I think about those sweet memories. Me and my magazines. In a solitary place.[image error] How happy I was! When I journeyed into the 9th year of my life, my grandfather bought me a copy of Gokulam. For all the uninitiated, Gokulam is a leading English magazine for children in India. I strongly recommend every parent to buy this magazine for their children. Though I don’t know about its quality today, it was such an informative magazine during those days. Facts, trivia, puzzles, short stories, poems, contests, drawings, doctor help, grandma worm and much more. Gokulam was a different world altogether.

Then, I forayed into the big world of Enid Blyton. I became so obsessed with The Secret Seven, The Famous Five, The Mystery Series and Malory Towers that I almost opened a blog for Enid Blyton in 2009 (heehee! That was an amateurish blog. :-D). I devoured each and every book of hers. I even imagined lots of adventures and put myself in them.