My First Reads

It was in my fifth standard, if i remember correctly, that i started reading my first novel. Well, it was not a novel but a magazine called 'Gokulam'. It was a monthly magazine i think, with lots of short stories and cartoons. Stories like panchatantra ,akbar-birbal, Vikramaditya etc. Of course by no means i understood the moral of the story and stuffs like that, but it was a real good read then. I did not have any expectations and just got hooked onto the book to complete all the cartoons first and start off with stories next.

Next came Tinkle and Champak. Champak was along the lines of gokulam, while Tinkle was 100% cartooned.Tinkle was the brainchild of Anant Pai,also called Uncle Pai.Nothing short of unadulterated,unlimited fun.I still recall Suppandi, Adventures of pyare lal, Tantri the Mantri, Shikari Shambu and Kalia the Crow. Characters that are embedded forever..

After which when i was in my eighth or ninth i started reading Enid blyton's The Famous Five. I was so crazy about this book that i remember becoming a member of the lending library just for reading the whole series of it. Julian's character was simply superb.At the same time there was even a TV Show on it in DD2 (yeah there was a channel like this :) ).


Right from here, my scope extended to other novels as well. Tom Sawyer, HuckleBerry Finn, hardy boys, nancy drew, Sherlocak holmes, Perry Mason to name a few. I loved Jules verne's Journey to the centre of the earth,20000 leagues under the sea and Time Machine by H.G wells. I might have missed a lot of novels, but this effectively summarises the set that i read when i was a novice :).

My reading senses have changed now. I read about Jack welch's management, Asimov's science and Ayn rand's philosophy. But hearts of the hearts i still know what is my all time favourite and what i would love to read. Give me a copy of Tinkle and you would know too :).