Jadoo

Jadoo is the Hindi word for enchantment. My interpretation of this prompt is to talk about 5 books that hooked me to the magic of reading.

Reading has been my go-to for as far back as I can remember. My mother tells me an interesting story about it. We used to be part of a joint family and my paternal grandfather was a stickler for rules. Everyone in the house followed his rules out of fear and discipline.

I had gotten hooked on looking at pictures (my effort at reading), and my mom would hold up a magazine or book while she fed me. This was the only way I would eat. When the book ended, I would refuse to let her put anything in my mouth. Realizing how stubborn I was about this, I was the only person in the entire household of 14 people allowed to break a rule while eating. So the whole time that I was fed the book stayed on the table, and I was able to go through it.

This habit hasn’t changed to date. I still can’t eat a meal without reading something. Only in social situations is it that I don’t have a book in hand. So if you are worried about being ignored by me over a coffee or meal; don’t be.

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The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton

Enid Blyton has been a childhood favorite from the word go and I devoured almost every book by her that I could lay my hands on. I even made friends with people who had these books, just to be able to borrow them. Yes, that was me as a child. I was greedy to the core for finding books to read as these were a luxury item and not often indulged in. Enid Blyton’s stories of the fairies living in the woods, the high tea in the nursery, the toys coming to life at night and having adventures have all been a wondrous world for little me. I just couldn’t get enough of these stories and yearned for more and more and more for such is the Jadoo in her writing.

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Heidi tells the tale of a young orphan girl who is sent away to live in the Swiss Alps with her grandfather. The cheerful optimistic girl is bewitched by the fresh air and green vistas and soon takes to her new life. Befriending people with her sunny nature, the girl wins everyone over. She is sent away to the city to be a companion for a wheelchair bound young girl, Clara. Heidi begins to miss the mountains so much that she takes to sleepwalking, scaring the residents of the house. A decision is made to send her back but she insists on taking Clara with her and introducing her to the goats, the mountains and of course her grandfather.

This happy-go-lucky tale is full of optimism and nature stories that had me entranced from the word go. Young Heidi’s enthusiasm is infectious and had me yearning to be transported to her world. Isn’t it wonderful when a book can create this impact in its reader through the jadoo of storytelling?

Vasilisa the Beautiful | Russian Fairy Tales by Irina Zheleznova

My mom is the reason behind my love for reading and it was her selection of books bought from thrift shops and bargain boxes that curated my reading shelf. She once got a set of three Russian books which were hardbound and beautifully illustrated. One book from this set was the fairy tales which I took to like duck to water. The stories had so much resemblance to the ones I was used to reading. (Vasilisa was similar to Cinderella and so on). The difference lay in the regional context and how the culture and traditions were woven in. The doscovery of the similarities in these tales is what hooked me to the book. I have this book in my possession till date and perhaps one of these days will let you peek into it via my IG account.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol

This book is an iconic one and I don’t need to summarize the tale here. I was bewitched by the imagery and concepts explored in this story. To this day, I yearn to find a rabbit hole and go down it to find the wondrous creatures and flora. I have read and re-read this book countless times and can never tire of it.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Another iconic tale which talks about four young women in England in a poor family. The Father is away fighting in the war and the Mother makes ends meet through her thriftness and kindness. She instills a sense of charity in each of her daughters too. The daughters are all chalk and cheese and its their differences that bring out the flavor in the tale with such elan. Its a simple tale but draws the reader in with its inspiring concepts and thoughts. I loved reading this one a lot and recently watched the screen adaptation of it too.

What did you think of my selection? Which are your favorite books that convinced you to take up reading? I would love to hear your tale of the jadoo of reading; so please do drop your thoughts in the comments below.

Coming up next is K for Kaffleeklatsch

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For the uninitiated, AtoZ challenge is a blogging challenge wherein one has to write on every alphabet from A to Z and post on all days of April, except Sundays. Usually its better to devise a theme as it makes it easy to write the posts. Plus readers have a reason to stay hooked too.