Whither gone Neverland?

Finding Neverland….a beautiful movie. A movie I would rate as one of my favourite English movies. What an awesome portrayal by all the people involved, especially James Barrie (Johnny Depp), Sylvia (Kate Winslet) and Peter (er…I don’t know his name!). a story so wonderfully told, that the narrative just drew me into it.

The movie talks about what inspired James Barrie, a playwright, to write Peter Pan. Barrie, a man who I assume is in his 30s, has such outstanding imagination – one that every kid can relate to. Peter Pan having been one of favourite stories when I was a kid, the movie was only all the more interesting because it showed how the boy who never grew up came into being.
And as I watched the movie, I wandered again back to my earlier post, “Ah! That carefree life..” and further back into my childhood. Well, I’m not an old nanny now, but well, things aren’t the same!

That post talked about how simple things kept us happy when we were little. But deep within each one of us, were fathoms of wild, freaky imagination, and stories of fairies, demons, magic, goodness, evil and God. Each of us would have had our own way of expressing those innumerable figments of imagination. I, for one, made little plays with my dolls or people, whichever were available. I do not remember if I wrote stories at that age, but I do recollect making up all those creatures with the aid of illustrated fairy tales. These books of fairy tales had pictures of elves, pixies, fairies, beasts, and princesses, and these helped me by giving a proper shape to my imagination.

Writing for kids has always been my dream. One of my favourite books “Swami and Friends” by R.K.Narayan was somehow my biggest inspiration. It talks of a kid’s view of the world around him, and his descriptions of his newborn baby brother take the cake. R.K.N. is again my biggest inspiration in life to write; his simple, yet gripping narration has always enthralled me, and his language – some of the most beautiful expressions told in an easy manner – exquisite, yet simple. Oh, I could dedicate a whole post to him!

R.K.Narayan’s style of writing also made me stick to stories about Indians. Most of the characters I have in my little stories are Indian.

All these led me to start a story in my seventh class. It’s untitled; years later, even now, I’ve never been able to think of an apt title for that, sadly, unfinished story. The story, coming in chapters was one of the lives of a little girl called Chumki, and her friends Kicchu, Renu and Priya. Set in some village, which I don’t even remember if I named, the story elaborates at considerable lengths the happenings in Chumki’s life, weaved in and written by a fervently dreaming 11 year old mind. Chumki and her friends even turned invisible after drinking some orange liquid, and then left to Chennai. This was where I left the story as an 11 year old. I resumed it was almost 13, and somehow, that mind which had started the story was gone; it had evolved in less than two years into a supposedly more “mature” mind, which thought of more advanced things, and didn’t really know where Chumki and her friends should have headed after they came to Chennai. And after a few attempts to make the story regain its lost fervour, I quit trying. Even now, I regret having left the story unfinished. I had started the story with great aims of getting it published; had even imagined how Chumki should look. Looks like it will all be a lost dream! At least, though, I have the papers where I had written the story; it gives me such delight even now to read it, and I can’t help feeling proud and if possible, stretch my hand and pat myself on my back!

All I hope for now is that someday I will get back all that innocent imagination and write a story for kids I’ll enjoy reading forever. What’s to happen?

P.S.: Below are my tag posts, two in one!