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ONE OF THE 'FAMOUS FIVE'
StarMag, September 24, 2006
READING has almost always been a favourite pastime in Shanthini Venugopal’s family. As kids, inspired by the adventures of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, Venugopal, her only sibling Sukania, and their neighbourhood friends would trek around Kampung Pandan, Kuala Lumpur. They had their own version of the “famous five” and even held secret meetings, just like the children in the book.
Venugopal read lots of Enid Blyton books as a child. She is now director of The Jumping JellyBeans, a children’s theatre company.
“My sister and I had the whole series of Famous Five and The Twins of St Clare’s. We loved these books. For all of our birthdays, we used to tell people to give us money because they never knew which titles we already had.”
Reading allows her imagination to take off, she says. “You and I can read the same thing and get different meanings from it. To me, that is the wonder of a book. Even the writer may have something else on her mind, which doesn’t necessarily transfer to the person reading it.”
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Shanthini Venugopal: Reading allows the imagination to take off. |
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Much as she loved books, Venugopal stopped reading after leaving school. There was always a reason not to pick up a book. Often, that reason was lack of time.
But recently, thanks to Shahimah Idris, the manager of Art Case Galleries in KL, she started reading again.
“One of my girlfriends kept bugging me to join Shahimah’s book club. One day, I told myself, ‘Just go for one meeting and see what it’s all about.’
“I had to read Tuesdays with Morrie (by Mitch Albom) for the meeting. And when I went, something sparked inside me. I said, ‘This is something I really like that I have forgotten and stopped doing.’
“That book club rekindled my interest in reading. I don’t go for the meetings any more because it’s very difficult to put aside one Saturday every month. But it revived my love for books.”
One of Venugopal’s favourite books is Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. She feels it’s funnier than its sequel, ‘Tis, in which the author sounded bitter.
Another favourite is Broken Bangles by Hanifa Deen, a Pakistani who grew up in Australia.
“Hanifa wanted to go back to her roots and find out what life is like for women in Pakistan now. She took a trip there and interviewed various women. The experience was not all good, but it made her realise why it was so important for her to do this. Growing up in Australia, she had lost her identity.
“Bangles are very significant to the Indians and broken bangles are like a life that’s shattered.”
Now, Venugopal is reading A Fortune-Teller Told Me by Tiziano Terzani. It is about a journalist who was told by a fortune-teller, in the 1970s, that he must not fly in 1993 as he could die if he did.
When that year came around, Terzani decided that he would go wherever he had to without flying. The book is an account of his on-land adventures.
“When you fly, all you see is airports and you tend to forget how far you’re actually travelling. I would love to do something like that – travel by land as opposed to flying and take however long it takes. It might be something I would still do. Never put anything past me,” says Venugopal with a cheeky smile.
Although she admits to reading all genres, it takes her a long time to complete a book.
“I don’t have the luxury of sitting and reading. I read only just before going to bed. I try to finish a chapter every night. If I don’t, that’s fine. But I make it a habit to do it at least every night, unless I’m really tired. Sometimes it takes me two to three weeks to finish a novel, but that doesn’t matter.”
In an attempt to share a common language with her eight-year-old son, Venugopal recently read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (by J.K. Rowling). The boy is enamoured with Harry Potter and the Hogwarts community.
Just like mum when she was his age, CJ Hariharan Menon always asks for books for his birthday. Looks like reading will continue to be a favourite pastime in Venugopal’s house.
Copyright Star Publications (M) Bhd
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