India needs Enid Blyton

Enid Blyton, children's favourite writer, wrote nearly 700+ books. Even after her death, some of her popular series were continued by other authors. Enid Blyton has woven fantasy tales for children, taking them up the faraway tree, treating them to adventure in the famous five and secret seven series, and celebrating girls' life in boarding schools through her naughtiest girl, Malory Towers, and St. Clares series. She had books for children on every possible topic. She carried mystery, fun, frolic, fantasy, and 3 generations have grown up on her books, including myself. I had a huge collection of Enid Blyton books with me during my childhood. In fact, I guess, most in my generation started their novels with Enid Blyton and graduated to Hardy Boys/Rover Boys/Nancy Drew during middle school. By high school, most of us were reading Alastair Maclean, Agatha Christie, and in college, graduated to Danielle Steel, John Grisham, Sidney Sheldon, Harold Robbins, Barbara Cartland, Jackie Collins, Irving Wallace, Stephen King, Erle Stanley Gardner, Ian Fleming, etc., and loved Sheldon and Jeffrey Archer books the most. Now, the likes of Dan Brown interest me. 

My daughter loves Enid Blyton's books a lot. She owns many of Blyton's books, some of which are entire series. She is now moving out of the famous five into other series. By the time she graduates from high school, I am sure she will read as much as I did during my childhood. When we read about Enid Blyton, it is surprising to know that many publishers were initially reluctant to publish her books, which, in her own words, emboldened her to work harder to succeed.

Throughout the series, Enid Blyton always had a strong family supporting the children.The female characters were always strong, though the males carried the day in her adventure series. The characters, right from the denizens of the faraway tree to Timmy the dog, all remained etched in the minds of readers across the globe. It was the west's best export to the world, tying children across the world into a united dream like world. Walt Disney recreated this world again for children with his Mickey Mouse series, while Marvel Comics entertained our teens. We were also great fans of the Great Gauls in the Asterix comics. Back then as well, they were priced high and we had to read Tintin and Asterix in libraries only. 

Come to think of it, we never had such books focusing on the innocence of children in even regional literature, books that gave children independence to think and make decisions in their own world. That is what endears most kids to these kids. The world shown in these books is a world where kids make their own decisions, have fun for themselves, which even today is unheard of in Indian society. How many parents can allow a group of five kids to camp for themselves somewhere outside? And how many adults would love children to solve their mysteries in India? It does not happen in reality in the western world either, but yet the series caught up because it opened up a possibility, or rather an escape, for children into a world where they can create magic on their own, like Harry Potter or Narnia. These dream like worlds help children retain their innocence.

In all of Indian TV space, there is no single series which focuses on children's issues without adult interference. Hum Panch worked for some time to fill the gap, but that too stopped. Back in my childhood, we had some Doordarshan serials trying to ape the west, but there has been no continuity, the way Shakespeare books sell globally even today. No Indian author has sold a global best seller till date. This demonstrates that, despite 320 years of English colonization, our grasp on the English language is at best literary and cannot capture the mileau created by western authors.