One remembers reading a lot of Enid Blyton as a child, because there was little else in English. This was not the case with the regional languages. There were a number of children’s magazines in Bengali and Hindi, Chandamama, Parag, Suktara and Satyajit Ray’s Sandesh, to name a few. But one does not remember seeing any magazines in English, meant for Indian children and published in India. Also, the Children’s Book Trust which has done so much pioneering work in the field of children’s literature emerged only in the late; fifties. Today’s growing child does not have to take part in midnight feasts at a boarding school, in surroundings to which he cannot relate spontaneously. There are plenty of well-written books with colourful illustrations in the market, offering to share with him a story, an experience, which he does not find unfamiliar.
Jan-Feb 1982, volume 6, No 4