From my early school days I have heard many elders complain that today’s generation doesn’t read. Well I was also someone who was least interested in reading until I started college. My sister is the reason why I started reading. She would bring novels home and slowly I also developed an interest in reading too.
As a student I never read outside my school syllabus. I used to find it very tedious and boring. Nothing interesting I found to read at school library either. May be I was not exposed to the kind of books that could have generated interest in me during school. Even reading newspaper was out of the question. I was least bothered to know what was happening around the world. For me it was a time I concentrated on my studies and probably the only thing I was interested to read was Bible. Outside these two, I was quite interested in dance and singing. So I thoroughly enjoyed those activities.
My Sources
Without reading I couldn’t have got exposed to various ideas. But reading books alone has not been my only source of knowledge. Actually I have not read many books to gain knowledge. I am sure many parents will object if I say watching TV had helped me to gain knowledge. Television like every other invention of man has its evils and virtue. But time has changed there was a time when TV was considered just a pastime or entertainment. Not anymore because of the advancements in technology. Television is a great resource to learn given you have access to some amazing channels like Discovery, National Geographic, History, BBC, CNN, TLC, animal Planet to name a few. I am great fan of TLC (Travel & Living Channel) because it is packed with shows that explore the life style, culture heritage and history of people living in different part of the modern world and the historic times. I find this channel very unique.
The most widely used form for knowledge of the 21st century is undoubtedly Internet. The most convenient factor of internet is you don’t have to go to a public library to search for the book that interests you or that you require to fulfill your need. It’s out there waiting for you to be extracted from the innumerable websites and the best part is that its free except you either should go to a public internet café or should have internet connectivity and a PC at home. All the knowledge in the world is at your fingertips. The only drawback I see is that much information we collect over internet may not be authentic, but I cannot shun from net due to that reason because the choice is vast and we can still spare time to find some authentic info for sure.
But there’s nothing like reading a book sitting near a lake the old conventional way in print. I enjoy reading books held in my hands. It creates a sense of ownership that’s irreplaceable while reading from the softcopy. From any newspaper or magazine there are articles that interest me; for example anything related to nature, lifestyle, animals, celebrities, adventure, social issues, etc.
Few of my favorite novels are Nicholas Sparks’ Walk to Remember, The Note Book, and The Wedding. Chetan Bhagat’s 3 mistakes of my life, 2 States, John Grisham’s The Firm, and Robin Sharma’s Who will cry when you die? Harry Potter etc.
My dream
One of the biggest libraries in the word is The Library of Congress in Washington. It would be nice to visit that place sometime. Also I want to visit Shakespeare and company a small unique book shop in Paris started in 1919.
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| The Library Of Congress |
I want to invest in books more. In the near future I have plans to buy the whole Harry Potter series. Then more of Nicholas Sparks, Chetan Bhagat and others depend on my interest.I love reading. Though I have not been an avid reader in the past; I have picked up my pace. The most voracious reader I know is my friend Sruthi, who has several bags that can hold just books. Wish she was accessible to me to borrow few.
Development of Writing Skills
Reading has enhanced my writing skills. My initial writings were personal diary writing which evolved into poetries and articles due to the extensive knowledge or exposure I got through reading.
When I was in my high school had already started writing long letters to my sis who was doing her graduation in Kovai. I have always been a talkative person. So may be that helped me to write because the only way of communicating to my sis in her college during that time was through letters, not even phone calls were allowed. Once I joined for my plus two educations, I started writing diaries. Later in college I started reading and writing more. I believe the inspiration to write roots from the grief of losing my Dad. The major themes in the short poems I wrote revolved around sadness or of bitter truths in life.
Writing diary was my way of dealing with the issues that was happening in my life soon after my dad’s death. I wrote about my pain, my anger and bitterness towards many people who were hurting me and my family. As a teenager I could not stand people who were not fair to us. I was angry with everyone who was trying my patience. I wrote about how much I loved my father. I cried writing them nights and nights. I wrote about how lonely I felt during those dark times. How hopeless and meaningless I felt. I kept writing diary till I graduated and went for my entrance coaching.
About 6 years of material I destroyed before I joined for my higher education in Bangalore, except one. Because I felt these things in my past needs a closure and must be burnt away from my memory without a trace. So I tore all the diaries and burnt them, praying that all my anger, pain and bitterness also be burnt into ashes. The one I saved has memories of my final year graduation because I wanted to keep those memories intact. Those were some of the best times of my life with my friends. The memories I shouldn’t and didn’t want to hold on I burnt. Though nobody told me how to deal with grief or anger, I recently read in a magazine that what I have done is the best way to manage anger. Write in a piece of paper whatever or whom so ever you are angry about and burn it away. For me writing has been therapeutic in every sense. It has helped to control my negative feelings in a health way and I have achieved the most from it because it has helped me to understand my issues and solve it effectively. Once I write them down, I read them afterwards and have read it sometime down the line and it makes me realize how selfish I sound in some of my own lines, how immature and impatient and foolish I sound in some other. It read the highs and lows of my life. The moments were I felt relieved, relaxed, enlighten, joy, sorrow have been captured into those words.
Though I stopped writing diaries long back, I continue to write poetry and more articles. I stopped writing diaries because I felt my life was not that interesting anymore to keep a daily account of and it sounded more like a routine book and I didn’t find much to jot down. Moreover, I thought it was time to wrap up; as diary writing has served its purpose and I no more needed that as an outlet to filter my struggles and confusions. Also I felt whatever I have wrote down, half of it seemed later as gibberish which has of course helped me to become a better person. I am not saying it was a waste of time.
People tend to discourage socializing as gibberish and wasteful in the name of discipline and productivity which I do not think is wasteful at all. All work and no play make jack a dull boy, right? Likewise, the things we considered serious at some point in past later we tag it as silly. But that has also helped us to shape who we are today. The small and silly things were equally important as the big and serious ones.
But I do miss jotting down at least those important things that has happened since I stopped writing diaries completely. May be I should jot down at least those important moments I have enjoyed in my life and those critical things that have affected me positively or negatively. It is nice to read them down the line and recall the old times.
What I Miss.
I terribly miss watching TLC. I wish I had invested more on books and these channels are really costly at where I am staying currently. I also miss people who read and have intrinsic knowledge in many common things. I have found very few people in my life who could give me company when it comes to talking about my interests. One is my sister and couple of my friends Sruthi and Kichu. I miss discussing with them variosu interesting facts.
I have come across many occasions where I think people might have misunderstood me due to their lack of knowledge rather than mine. I can’t talk to men about various alcohol brands because they think I have the habit of drinking. Even if I do not have, can’t I still be aware of it or what? Except how various drinks taste I could tell everything else from the different various brands to the color, how it is produced, the country of origin, to the distributing company’s name. In a world that’s full of information coming right into your living room; it is easy and shouldn't be surprising to anybody. I have been asked by my family members not to discuss about such things because others would misunderstand meand would think that I am talking from experience.This knowledge is not only for people who have had a couple of drinks, it is for all who has the ability to read. This might sound funny, but it shows how badly people need to cultivate the habit of reading.
Sharing information is the biggest gift we can give others. And it can’t happen unless one reads. The world is full of mystery and who wouldn’t want to discover them. I find that people lack sensitivity towards what’s happening around them. Nobody asks questions. Growing up I have seen people isolate you for asking questions, teachers don’t like questions, and students hates questions. If I ask lot of questions, even my husband gets irritated. Parents get irritated because children ask questions that don’t have answers to. But all these shouldn’t keep us from asking questions. One day somebody will answer our question. In life we all pose questions to God. God always answers them sooner or later. Questions are good as questions are the key to discovery and knowledge.Great men in history were able to invent, bring social reform because they dared to question.
I miss writing letters to my friends, sending them greeting cards. Letter writing is history now. I have a collection of letters send by my friends and cousins and few hand drawn cards back home in a small steel trunk box. Everyting has become virtual. There are no more letters or poetry exchanged by lovers, no cards given during brithdays and i miss those good old days. .
I think people should promote good readingand creative writing than syllabus education. Because just reading school syllabus is not enough. I used to feel what’s the big deal, what they are talking about. But once I started reading I understood. Learning is a continuous process. Everybody is a student in life till we all die. We keep learning and for that process to happen reading is must. Don’t let this habit die so soon. This habit is an asset for life, it’s a life saver.
Let us all cultivate this habit and be inspirations for the coming generations. Knowledge is power, knowledge is wealth and knowldeg brings health, prosperity and happiness. So read, read and read.
