In the land of the Famous five and Elizabeth Bennet

i am back to blogging after a while. And the best part of it is that i am back from a travel experience that’s going to be a part of me for a lifetime. The land of Jane Austen and her novels, the countryside that Enid Blyton described enchantingly in each of her tales, from the land where we took to this wonderful language – English.

My first visit to a place outside of India, turned out to be the place of my childhood stories and fantasies - visuals of open green landscapes, stone castles and children hanging around sipping lemonade and gorging on home-made apple pies and tarts. Well, i got to re-live all of this and i got to re-live my childhood! Nostalgia! The smell of the wet green grass by the Loch Lomond, the sight of the picturesque countryside as the train took us closer to Windsor, the sounds of the birds chirping by the Thames, all of these were right out of those books that i grew up reading. i got to live a sunny, bright, clear-skied British summer!

As I walked past the aged castle in Helensburg, with a clock tower at its face, with german shepherds, and terriers hopping past the green lawn, I visualized the famous five set on a mystery. As we walked by the lake, it drizzled lightly, the Captain from one of the steamers chirped, “This is Scotland for you. 4 seasons in an hour’s time!” The stones and boulders at the edge of the park made me wonder if Robert Frost witnessed these very lands as he wrote his poems.

Entrance of the Balloch Castle Country Park, Balloch, Scotland

Loch Lomond

Here i was, thousands of miles away from home, but as i walked past the river, it all looked and felt so familiar. i felt so much at home in a foreign land! It felt as though i’d been here before. The sight of the river with the boats anchored every few yards looked enchanting. So were the large trees standing by the river, as if telling the stories of the folks and the royalty of a bygone era.

As i get back to my mundane life, it is not technology, neither the skyscrapers that call back my thoughts. All i long to experience again is the warmth of nature, by the silent banks of the river, to lose track of time as i hear the birds tweet and see the stream flow. All i long to feel is the smell of the wet mud after a drizzle, and watch the swans float past me one after another.

A quiet evening by the Thames

This connection is here to stay. This one for a lifetime.

Find more pictures from this trip to Britain and Scotland, here.

With love, to Enid Blyton

Picture Courtesy: goodreads

When life revolved around the adventurous George, Timothy and her cousins, life was beautiful and seemed ever-exciting. The mere thought of coming across another book on their adventures, on those wooden shelves in the school library brought bliss to my mind. And getting to know of a new mystery series altogether, i considered, was like the ultimate success i could achieve in my life.

Picture Courtesy: YouGov

I wished for my share of "ginger-ade" and apple pies, going around cycling,on sunny mornings, along the picturesque country-side, greeting people on my way. Camping in unfamiliar places and cooking breakfast in the tent, drinking water from crystal clear mountain streams. I fancied getting away to a moor on a cool moon-lit night looking for thieves and treasures. Exploring mysterious old castles and dark, cold, sinister dungeons. Ohh! My heart cringes thinking of these adventures when it felt i was one of the Famous Five!

I remember the girl who first introduced me to this author as 'Gnid Blyton', thanks to the signature on the front-cover where the 'E' looked more like a 'G'. This was one evening in the school bus, as we discussed the books we'd recently borrowed from the school library. And then to our surprise one day, we found out that 'Gnid Blyton' was actually ' Enid Blyton', and more; it was a 'She', and not a 'He' we'd been assuming the author to be, all this time! The book belonged to one of Blyton's lesser known adventure series, The Five Find-Outers. I read this new book and immediately loved this set-up of kids my age solving mysteries in small-town England. And thus began a journey of never-ending adventures set up in twentieth-century British towns, islands and country-side.

At the end of every story, a new mission was in hand - to look for more books in the series. Reading these books were now turning out to be my passion, favourite pass-time and slowly hysteria, when i couldn't find a book. Those days were thus spent when Blyton's books went hand in hand with Math and Science text books.

I still bear in my heart that secret desire to go to that remote part of Britain in search of George and Julian and the Kirrin Island, to meet the Secret Seven and that Naughty little girl and many others who made my school days so colourful and fun to live! I wish to have beside me each of those books, read and re-read them word-by-word, and re-live those wonderful adventures, and once again be a part of the plot! Oh how i sometimes long.., long to go back to those beautiful days, when life had much different priorities. When life was about school and friends and a fantasy world filled with loads and loads of excitement and fun, life was liveable in the true sense then! 

Thank you dear Ms. Enid Blyton, for giving me and many others like me such a wonderful childhood! Cheers!