‘Books padha karo, it’s a very good habit’…I’m sure every one of us has heard this phrase thrust in our faces (maybe in varied languages) hundreds of times. I’m not going to deny or try to contradict the truth in that. But yes, I am going to try to bring to light the fact that it’s easier said than done (among other random comments I’m going to make).
I do believe that a lot depends on the childhood phase of our lives. You can’t expect someone who has never read any book other than what the curriculum prescribes to suddenly grab a book and become an ardent reader. It takes grooming, developing taste, identifying the genre that you enjoy the most, etc. It should not be a one day, one week, one month or a year's stint; you have to keep at it. You have to, like I mentioned earlier develop the habit, groom yourself.
From what I have noticed, I believe there are 3 kinds of readers. First, those who enjoy reading in their free time. Then there are those who I like to call ‘compulsive readers’. These are the ones who HAVE TO read everyday. They take special efforts to find time to read something or the other. They are the ones that are truly very passionate. There are also those readers who read only the ‘best sellers’ or maybe just one series or author. Well I didn’t find them worthy enough to dedicate a category to them. There is also another kind of readers, but frankly I haven’t come across many who belong ‘purely’ to this category. These are the ones that randomly walk into a bookstore, look around the store, spend over a couple of hours looking for a book, not knowing what they’re looking for, and might even walk out of the store without picking up anything. They can’t read any book, unless that book ‘calls out’ to them. Its not that they have to find the book interesting…no no no…the book has to call out to them, the reader has to identify a bond with the book. They can’t read a book even if a hundred people tell them that a certain book is worth a read unless they identify the bond.
I know most of you are going to think ‘what nonsense’ or ‘its just an excuse to not read’…but those who have felt this bond, those who have experienced this feeling will know what I’m talking about.
In any case, I strongly believe reading should be developed as a habit. And I don’t mean comics or magazines. I mean reading ‘sound literary substance’. Maybe it is because I am very passionate about languages, be it English or Hindi. While we’re at the topic of books, and reading ‘sound literary’ books…I would like to recommend ‘the Ramayana’ series by Ashok Banker and if any of you fancy a good Hindi read, there is a collection of short stories callled ‘gadhyanjali’ (yes, all you ICSE students…our old text book). Happy reading!!!
7 comments:
Reality check 2:
The writing got better.
Like the blog.
Im the reader, who roams the whole store n dont know wht i m goin 2 read.wouldnt read ramayana though...heavy for me.
"its getting better all the time " - (the beatles).
im sorry but i cannot identify with the books "calling" out to you part! i still think its an excuse for laziness!
you've got to structure you're writing a little bit tho-
but you've got some interesting observations...to convert what you see and think into words is a practised art after all...
Loved the part of the book calling out to u...
i read a lot of stuff that nobody else does n its cos the book appeals to me.
NIKUNJ
There's a reason you've started writing. Its not just a release for you, its your freaking bread n butter.
Recall stuff id told u at carters. And don't wait for ppl to comment. Get serious boss (sorry for the straightforwardness!)
Tc!
P.S Try n identify a particular SOMETHING (don't ask me, i don't know.)
You started classifying 3 kinds of readers: well let me add a 4th. The kind who get bored and lost reading something which is written in a continuous paragraph.
Frankly I had to read the damn thing twice to understand what you were trying to say. And it felt all a little too random.
I mean like a one line reference to one kind of reader, and then a mahabharat on another kind. That too all in the same paragraph.
Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I just need to learn how to read again.
-Aa
It was great that you mentioned Gadhyanjali. The stories in that like ek ticket maha vikat, the story starting with a description of thatheri bazaar, a travelogue, etc were all so great. I also have chhah rang ekanki, also ICSE syllabus book at my time.
In school, we had Gadhyanjali as a text book for ICSE 8th which was supposed to be continued the next year. In the middle of the next year, they suddenly changed the Hindi text book to another book. And the school collected all the text books to be exchanged. I couldn't believe my luck when I came across your blog post. I've been searching for a long time for the Gadhyanjali text book stories, all of which I loved to read. If it is possible, please could you do a cam scan of the contents so that I can download the stories and print them out ?
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