A Muggle8217;s perspective

Escape from those gigantic childhood troubles, from the number thirteentables to Hindi vyakran, midnight stomach-aches after extra samosas onthe sly to smashing Ma8217;s antique porcelain vase, definitely did not mean aflight into even more anguish, for me. As a sensitive 10-year-old reader I expect only alarm and copious tears would have brimmed, waiting to be shed, over page after page of wicked aunt and uncle Dursley who buy the book8217;s ill-dressed hero a cheap ice-lolly because the salesman insisted while their idiot Dudley gets a chocolate ice-cream all to himself. Imagine that.

Where the evil Mr Dursley won8217;t let his nephew, an orphan since 10 years, sit in the new car. Where the under-aged wizard dare not try to magic himself out of the room his guardians have locked him into for three days, just to avoid expulsion from witchcraft school.

As a child seeking refuge, delight and fantasy, I clung on to cosy Enid Blytons where the worst tragedy to befall your heroes hardly exceeded a fall down the attic stairs. Of course, a fall during summer holidays was a catastrophe. If the Famous Five were occasionally unlucky to get trussed up by villains in a caravan or a ruined castle, the villains at least followed the standard villain trademarks 8212; complete with scars, red hair, ragamuffin clothes and the wicked glint. Maybe an eye patch.

Villains rarely entered the warmth of the fictional Blyton home. Homes wheregenerous Aunt Fannies and Joans dished out scones, tarts, puddings, pumpkin pies 8212; strange foods you can only imagine and dream your troubles away with 8212; and blancmange. A world where the British word larder was easily the most practical addition to a growing child8217;s vocabulary, even in India. Where gruff Uncle Quentin flipped out only if Timmy the star dog snapped at a fly.

Bookstores tell me Enid Blyton8217;s world is endangered. That kids now want to grow up with a bizarre boy who studies Holidays with Hags, Gadding with Ghouls, Year with the Yeti. Instead of the sunny beaches and eternal holiday world of Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy. Or the twins and the adolescent turmoil at St Clare8217;s. Or Roald Dahl8217;s Charlie and the bountiful chocolate factory. There8217;s more. My childhood friends and companions for years and years, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, are dangerously turning strangers for kids in the city.

Harry Potter is a winner, you may say, just ignore the occasional loss at chess. He battles with escaped mass murderers at Hogwarts School. He brushes with the ominous prison guards of Azkaban now deployed at witchcraft school. He sports a tattoo of a bolt of lightning on his forehead.

Can the three intelligent investigators in their hidden workshop 8212; or theFamous Five at Kirrin Cottage, who sleep placidly through the bewitchingstroke of the midnight hour, who take the bus to Ravens Wood instead offlying the car, whose days revolve round endless lazing on the beach withlarge foodie breaks every two hours 8212; match that zing?

Perhaps not. Then again, that eternally happy, homely, holiday world isexactly what I8217;ll miss.