On being a bibliophile
I wish someone would pay me to read books. I would read them all, without stopping for nothing other than the basic necessities of life. I would read kids' stories and war reminiscences and traveller's notes. I would then write reviews on them, scathing reviews about the pessimistic authors, to ward off other innocent readers from attacks of depression, and lauding the good storytellers would would narrate tales of courage or just plain humor. Yes, that would be paradise for me.
It all started as a kid - as the only kid, to be precise. I had no brothers or sisters, and my parents had to go to work. So my mom got me a subscription to a library and thats when my life-long affair with reading started. I started off with comics like Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha, followed by books for kids and interspersed with bouts of Tintin and Asterix. There were also gems from Indian literature, ranging from P.L. (Pula) Deshpande to Premchand.
Each day after coming home from school I would gobble up my lunch and curl up with something to read. I couldn't care less about my weak eyes and the ever-thickening eyeglasses. My favourite days of the month were those when I used to get the montly issues of Tinkle and later, Reader's Digest (in India, Reader's Digest is a very well managed and respected magazine, unlike the gossip tabloid its become in USA). I read with a feverish, insatiable hunger, leaving my mom yelling at me to actually also study a bit...
Reading allowed my imagination to run wild. I could imagine the setting of each scene, of the tone and voice of each character as I read their lines. Movies were great, but books were more fun. They contained more descriptions, which I could read over and over till the scene emerged in my mind. In a movie, the scene went by you in the blink of an eye.
Books have sometimes changed my perspectives in life. As a kid, I read "Shyam chi Aai" - it was written in my mother-tongue, Marathi, and the title means "About Shyam's Mother". The book changed my perspective towards my family. I started noticing the numerous things my parents were doing for me, without even so much as telling me about the trials and tribulations they had to undergo to ensure I would have a good life. Later, during my college years, my emotions were acting up and I was turning into an angry young man, frustrated by seeing bad things happen to good people, I found solace in the Bhagwad Gita and in its advice on how to deal with life. I learnt how to accept things, how to deal with failure and success, as and when they were thrown my way. I learnt to appreciate and understand life as it unfolded. On many occasions, I started acting like an observer to the events occurring in my life and marvelled in amazement, realising that only one being could handle such a complex jigsaw of lives and make it all fit together. I learnt how to do my best and then submit my actions to God, when everything else would seem beyond control.
Yet, there was a time when I almost gave up the hobby that has moulded me to a large extent. After landing in the US of A to pursue my MS, I gave up reading, and got engulfed in other mundane tasks of life. I worried about my grades, fretted about jobs that were not coming my way, and wondered when I would get to meet my family again.
I would probably have stayed that way. Luckily I met someone who rekindled my passion for reading. We started trading book titles. As time went by, the hunger for reading was back with its old fervour. I was again browsing the aisles of the Public Library digging into shelves looking for books and wincing in anguish after finding out that someone else had already checked out the title I wanted. There was sweet satisfaction in grabbing the only copy of a book before someone else took it. That was also the time I discovered Shakespeare. (Truth be told, I had never dared to read Shakespeare - I gave it a shot just because the person whose book reviews I trusted was recommending it - but hey, I actually liked it!)
To this day, given a choice between going out and stretching out at home with a book on my lap and a warm drink in hand, there's a 50% chance I would be loath to give up the book. I still drown myself in mundane tasks each day. I still fret about my future, my family in India. And yet, each time I make a trip to India, I return with a bag full of books, always worried about how much I have not yet read, always worried how and when will I find the time to even read so much. But having almost given up reading once, I know better now.
It all started as a kid - as the only kid, to be precise. I had no brothers or sisters, and my parents had to go to work. So my mom got me a subscription to a library and thats when my life-long affair with reading started. I started off with comics like Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha, followed by books for kids and interspersed with bouts of Tintin and Asterix. There were also gems from Indian literature, ranging from P.L. (Pula) Deshpande to Premchand.
Each day after coming home from school I would gobble up my lunch and curl up with something to read. I couldn't care less about my weak eyes and the ever-thickening eyeglasses. My favourite days of the month were those when I used to get the montly issues of Tinkle and later, Reader's Digest (in India, Reader's Digest is a very well managed and respected magazine, unlike the gossip tabloid its become in USA). I read with a feverish, insatiable hunger, leaving my mom yelling at me to actually also study a bit...
Reading allowed my imagination to run wild. I could imagine the setting of each scene, of the tone and voice of each character as I read their lines. Movies were great, but books were more fun. They contained more descriptions, which I could read over and over till the scene emerged in my mind. In a movie, the scene went by you in the blink of an eye.
Books have sometimes changed my perspectives in life. As a kid, I read "Shyam chi Aai" - it was written in my mother-tongue, Marathi, and the title means "About Shyam's Mother". The book changed my perspective towards my family. I started noticing the numerous things my parents were doing for me, without even so much as telling me about the trials and tribulations they had to undergo to ensure I would have a good life. Later, during my college years, my emotions were acting up and I was turning into an angry young man, frustrated by seeing bad things happen to good people, I found solace in the Bhagwad Gita and in its advice on how to deal with life. I learnt how to accept things, how to deal with failure and success, as and when they were thrown my way. I learnt to appreciate and understand life as it unfolded. On many occasions, I started acting like an observer to the events occurring in my life and marvelled in amazement, realising that only one being could handle such a complex jigsaw of lives and make it all fit together. I learnt how to do my best and then submit my actions to God, when everything else would seem beyond control.
Yet, there was a time when I almost gave up the hobby that has moulded me to a large extent. After landing in the US of A to pursue my MS, I gave up reading, and got engulfed in other mundane tasks of life. I worried about my grades, fretted about jobs that were not coming my way, and wondered when I would get to meet my family again.
I would probably have stayed that way. Luckily I met someone who rekindled my passion for reading. We started trading book titles. As time went by, the hunger for reading was back with its old fervour. I was again browsing the aisles of the Public Library digging into shelves looking for books and wincing in anguish after finding out that someone else had already checked out the title I wanted. There was sweet satisfaction in grabbing the only copy of a book before someone else took it. That was also the time I discovered Shakespeare. (Truth be told, I had never dared to read Shakespeare - I gave it a shot just because the person whose book reviews I trusted was recommending it - but hey, I actually liked it!)
To this day, given a choice between going out and stretching out at home with a book on my lap and a warm drink in hand, there's a 50% chance I would be loath to give up the book. I still drown myself in mundane tasks each day. I still fret about my future, my family in India. And yet, each time I make a trip to India, I return with a bag full of books, always worried about how much I have not yet read, always worried how and when will I find the time to even read so much. But having almost given up reading once, I know better now.
posted by Dream Runner | 4:52 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home