I entered the ‘phizz-whizzing’ world of Roald Dahl as a young adult. What really made me his fan was his absolutely witty sense of humour and ‘gobblefunking’ with words. No child can get through his childhood without reading the wonderful stories written by Dahl.
He had a way of touching the hearts of millions – adult and children alike, with his wit that was not only funny but had undercurrents of sensitivity running through the veins of his stories.
He would say, “I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted. Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage.”
Who could be a better mascot to promote his thoughts and convert children into readers, than Matilda… one of his awesome characters? She dealt with her loneliness by drifting away to different lands of wonder through her story books.
“The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.”
Even now, picking up one of Dahl’s books and reading it elevates my spirit. Recently, I revisited The Twits, a funny story about a quirky couple. The idea of The Twits was triggered by Dahl’s desire to “do something against beards”, because he had an acute hatred of them. The first sentence of the story is, “What a lot of hairy-faced men there are around nowadays!” This nearly reminded me of the players in the Indian cricket team!
Of course Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a must read, teaching little children to avoid being like Veruca Salt, the nasty, spoilt child. The Oompa Loompas speak to Mike Teavee, one of the children who wins a golden ticket: “So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install, a lovely bookshelf on the wall. Then fill the shelves with lots of books.” Don’t we all want to say this to our children now and then?
The Big Friendly Giant (BFG) is the smallest of all the Giants in Giant Country - but he is also the kindest. While the others rush off to gobble up ‘human beans’ every night, the BFG survives on a diet of snozzcumbers (yucky) and frobscottle (yummy, and with interesting side effects...), and teaches himself to write by reading Nicholas Nickleby by ‘Dahl’s Chickens’! Just like Sophie, the orphan child in the story, children need encouragement to become the person that they want to be.
In The Witches, Dahl quotes: “It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you.”
Thus, Roald Dahl has put forth his words - wise and thoughtful, woven in magic and ‘gobblefunk’. Probably, there is an underlying message for all of us in every book of his… the magic of words lies beneath the veneer and like he says: “And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”
I pay my obeisance to one of the best authors the world has ever known, on his 100th birthday.
— The reader is a teacher, based in Dubai.
