Hans Christian Andersen

I happened to see on google today that their logo has some changes. The usual way that Google celebrates an event. When I saw what they are celebrating, I really felt it was worthwhile. It happens to be the 205th birthday of Hans Christian Andersen. Does the last name sounds familiar? Oh I'm sure it would. All of us would have listened and read fairy tales when we were kids. Who wouldn't have read Andersen's fairy tales and Aesop's fables?. Those were among my favourites for sure. Well, in case you guys are not able to recollect which stories were of Andersen's,.. do u remember 'Thumbelina'...'The little mermaid'...'The ugly duckling'...'The steadfast tin soldier'...'The princess and the pea'? Oh yeah... Those were among his famous ones..

When his stories have made atleast a part of our childhood beautiful, there is no harm tryin to know a bit of this writer right? That's what I did today. And I found it really interesting. This Danish writer, who was born in some slum area, to a shoemaker and a washerwoman in 1805, had very little education. His mom opened him up to the folklore , but died due to alcoholism. His father opened him up to literature and plays, but died later. He was an extremely emotional child and his hysterical cramps were even labelled as epileptic fits. When his father died, he was forced to work as a weaver, tailor and at a tobacco factory. Once he was humiliated with his trousers being pulled down because they suspected he was a girl. At the age of 14, he went to Copenhagen to make his career as a singer and actor. He got associated with The Royal Theatre due to his soprano voice, but was rejected once his voice began to change. He finally realised he could write and when he wrote many plays, but all of them got rejected. Finally, due to his acquaintance with a director of the Royal theatre, he got into classes, learnt grammar and the like, and his tales concieved. He fell in love with a woman, who he describes as, "She has a lovely, pious face, quite child-like, but her eyes look clever and thoughtful, they were brown and very vivid". But he had to have his heart broken as she was secretly engaged to a chemist's son and later, went on to marry the same guy. A leather pouch containing a letter from her was found round his neck when he died. He travelled the world, wrote Fairy Tales and Stories, met writers and playwrights and novelists. His last unfulfilled love was a Swedish opera singer, to whom he dedicated one of his stories. After all his tours and writing and the like, he died at his home in 1875. But his tales, they never did. And they never will.

Well, that's pretty interesting. All that we knew when we listened to his fairy tales as kids, were the imaginations to which he managed to take us. For those few minutes, we lived in the fairyland that he created for us. And once we were done, we exclaimed, 'wow,nice' :). Who knew that the life of such an amazing author, who makes every kid smile, had so much of hardship in it? He survived so much and yet managed to put in such beautiful stories for children?His novels and other writes have his sorrows expressed. But his fairy tales? well, not a wee bit of the shadow of his sorrows. Maybe this is the talent of making people smile even when you are totally down the ditch. Well, how much ever anybody writes about him, it can never suffice. And I'm too very amateur to write anything about such a playwright and novelist. But I'm sure that the next time I read out any of his stories my nieces or nephews or even my kids, I shall get a feeling of respect for him. All I wanna say is, Hats off to you Sir. Thank you for making the colorful and magical fairyland a part of our childhood. Salute you whole heartedly. May your soul rest in peace.

p.s.- Got  long and hectic 3 days ahead :-(

Until after 3 days,

Chandana c.Shekar