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Sweet child in time
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Young writer Christina Daniels’ debut novel sparked off ruminations on children and childhood
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In the beginning Christina Daniels: ‘Most writers return to their earliest and most powerful experiences’
The world that children inhabit has fascinated and mystified generations of writers. Attempts at probing its mysteries have ranged from William Golding’s darkly horrific “Lord of the Flies” to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s d
elightful little novella, “The Little Prince”.
What is it about childhood that adults find so alien, and sometimes, alienating?
Why does a child’s imagination often meet with punishment? And why do we perpetuate the myth of children as perennially sunny creatures?
These were some of the questions thrown up at a talk on ‘the child in me’ organised to celebrate the launch of Christina Daniels’ debut novel “Ginger Soda Lemon Pop” (Dronequill, Rs. 225).
This slim novel is a collection of anecdotes that trace a five-year-old girl’s first year in school.
The first-person narrative uses a childlike voice to recount the events, moving to a tone of adult reflection only to summarise each chapter. Daniels has used the device to gently explore the territory of childhood experiences—the intensity of its fears and humiliations, the sharp sting of betrayal and loss, and the first tentative encounters with sexual attraction.
“Most writers return to their earliest and most powerful experiences,” Daniels said before reading an extract from her book. “The end product is not necessarily autobiographical but it is certainly a summation of who they are and what they stand for.”
Memory lane
In keeping with the mood of the book, ex-adman and writer Peter Colaco kicked off the talk by introducing his two sons to the audience.
Besides relating anecdotes about their childhood, he traced an interesting link between theism and children’s need to have somebody omnipotent in their lives, a role that is usually relegated to the parent. “Once I was an adult, I needed somone older to believe in so I turned to God,” he said.
Commenting on the myths we create around childhood, writer C. K. Meena questioned assumptions that children are ‘happy’ or ‘innocent’. “Does anyone ever really have a happy childhood? Isn’t childhood too full of little fears, terrors and humiliations for it to really be happy?” she asked.
“Children are little individuals so they are capable of everything that adults are capable of, even manipulation. The difference is that children are transparent. We can see through them. This would not be such a bad thing for adults to emulate.”
She also spoke about children as sexual beings, a fact that adults seldom recognise. Colaco agreed, extending the scope to the “violence of emotion” displayed by children during a tantrum.
Child psychologist Malavika Kapur emphasised the need for adults to enter the world of children and to answer difficult questions instead of evading them. Drawing on incidents in the book, she illustrated the adult tendency to divert or clamp down on issues that have no easy answers. She also pointed out the folly of believing the tabula rasa thesis which holds that children are born as clean slates.
“The latest in developmental psychology proves that children are born with skills and abilities to understand and negotiate the world,” she said.
“But we as adults put circles around them and make them study-machines. The world of a child’s fears and wants remains a mysterious place for adults.”
It certainly does. And we can use all the help we get in unravelling it. As Canadian author Margaret Atwood said, “Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life-sized.”
Books like “Ginger Soda Lemon Pop” may help us understand this a little better.
ANINDITA SENGUPTA
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