The folks who love the Faraway Tree

Social media has been abuzz lately with the 'Top 10 book list challenge' or what critics call the 'intellectual ice bucket challenge'. The biggest advantage of this challenge was the throwback to many books that were a big part of my childhood.  

One among them was an old favourite, Enid Blyton's The Folk of the Faraway Tree. I was surprised to see it feature on many lists because it never enjoyed much share of the spotlight. The Faraway Tree series tells the story of three children Jo, Bessie and Fanny who discover a tree that reaches into the sky and that houses a number of very interesting fairytale characters. The tree is also an entry into different lands like the Land of Nursery Rhymes, of Giants, of Secrets and of Treats. 

I remember the first time I read the Folks of the Faraway Tree. I was in standard 7 and we were enjoying a free period. It was raining outside so we our freedom was confined to class. A friend handed me the book and bored, I started reading it. The language was simple, the characters were interesting and the story appealed to a mind that was given to its own flights of imagination. I finished the book that day, sneaking a read during lectures by hiding it in different textbooks. It was my introduction into the world of Enid Blyton. A world filled with adventurous children, mostly absent parents or adults, possessing a distinctly Edwardian view of life and almost always, dealing with escapism. 

Sonali Kokra, the editor of Yowoto, an online parenting portal, has a similar tale of the first time she read the series. "My favourite aunt had gifted me an omnibus. I read it until so late in the night that my mom had to snatch the book and hide it to get me to sleep. I tried to fake a stomachache the next day so I could stay home and finish the book. I got three remarks in a day from three different teachers for hiding the book under the desk and reading it,” she says. Kokra calls the books her 'obsession'. “The books made me believe that magic existed and even ordinary children like me could find it. It made me look at life with wonder because for a while I believed that I could stumble upon something magical.” That omnibus was her most prized possession. She only parted with it when her best friend shifted to Canada and she wanted to give her something to cherish.

The series, I've realised, has many adult fans. It was such a precious part of growing up that it still occupies a space in people's minds and sometimes, in their libraries. Many who read the book as children still have fond recollections of the first time they discovered this new fantasy world. "I read it in my summer holidays and loved it so much, I didn't want to keep it down. It opened a world of imagination, wonder and magic for me," says Fizaah Faiyaz, a poet and writer who counts Moonface and Silky the fairy as her favourite characters. "The story was so simple and sweet that it had fodder for children like me to envision way ahead."

Tina Rajan, a communications professional, was gifted the Faraway Tree series on her seventh birthday and immediately fell in love with Moonface, Saucepan Man and Silky. "Every time I read the series, I could see myself in every adventure. Every word was magic and I loved the fact that I could experience it," she says. Rajan calls the series a “great example of how to tell an amazing story where every word would fire up my imagination”. 

These flights of imagination, conjured up by reading the series was an intrinsic part of every Enid Blyton adventure. She helped create a fantasy world with her words, a world that each child experienced in different ways. We could actually picture climbing up that tree, sliding down the slippery slide, meeting the nursery rhyme characters Jack and Jill and watching their progress with that pail of water, getting hit by ink from Angry Pixie's inkpot, getting soaked by Dame Washalot's washtub and eating a meal with Moonface. 
  
“I have always envied the author on how well she could captivate innocent mind with such characters," says banker Rajeshwari Murugesan. "I read this series when I was 10 or 11 years old. The vivid imagination by the author of a faraway land and the characters left a permanent ‎mark and has helped shape my own imaginations. I am sure I am building a slippery slide in the dream house of mine as well."

What if it was all real, was the question that hounds Elsa D'Silva every time she reads the Faraway Tree. What if you could, as a child or as an adult, escape into the land of birthdays, goodies or even a land of spells. "The imaginary worlds that came to rest on the top of the tree were not just a mystery but also a wonder. I have forever wanted to live in a tree house! Nowadays I wish I could escape into such a fantasy world," says D'Silva, co-founder of Safecity, a platform to track sexual harassment and abuse in public spaces.

The first time Priyanka Sachar read the series she was 12. "The protagonists were as old as I was, they were normal, shy children, yet they were heroes in a secret land. It was very exciting and yet identifiable," says the computer engineer turned wedding photographer. "It still holds a thought in my life because it is a precious part of my childhood. As a child, I looked at trees and chairs with more than normal curiosity. I tried to see if butterflies were really tiny fairies etc." 

Reema Prasanna, baking coach and food writer, fell in love with the Faraway Tree series because she hated being a child and not having control over her own life. "The Faraway Tree series was symbolical of what I wanted - escape. Hopefully to a world different from my own- fanciful, fantastic and just borderline crazy," she says. "Isn't that was most of us want?"

If the love for the Faraway Tree series, a love that has withstood time, is to be believed, may be that's what we all want. An escape, even if it is in a book.