Books? Give me more!

Reading being more than a hobby, it is a part of my existence. Plus, I study languages, so reading is an inevitable task which often gets molded into something bigger and beautiful- a habit. We read in the class, we read for fun, we study the best pieces of literature and dissect it into smaller pieces and analyze them deeply, again I return to the hostel and read to fall asleep, as well as to keep myself engaged when there’s nothing else to keep myself engaged in. Recently I read an article by Shashi Tharoor entitled ‘Growing up with books in India’. I was in awe with this man when I read that he started reading Noddy and other children’s classics at the age of three. Let me not get deeper into the discussion of that article, because just like all his other writings this is not an exception. Its beautifully well written and there we discuss the habit of reading and then writing as well. Being a literature student I wonder many a times what literature actually does to us. Why do we all read. Of course it is a question which can be answered in our own ways. The reasons differ from one person to the other.

For me reading is like opening up whole new horizons of ideas, thoughts and world in front of us. Sometimes this is exactly the reason why we choose to read. To seek new worlds and meet new people through pages and words. Many of us term it as a means of escaping the reality. And I would be lying if I deny it. Books have this amazing magical power of transporting us to a new place where everything is different from the place where we actually live. These places have magic, spells, strange creatures in it, not at all like the mundane place where we reside. More reasons to read! When we walk into a library, most of time we pick up books that belong to our favorite genre, so more often than not we read things we love the most. Weaving around ourselves a whole new world, placing things around the way we want them to be. Simple, peaceful, perfect... these are mine.

I asked someone one day why she doesn’t read and she responded saying that she doesn’t like wasting her time over the silly made up stories and fictional works by random people. I was quite taken aback by this reaction, I mean I respect the fact that fiction is not her thing, but who said that is the only genre of books available. Then I came to understand that not many people are aware of the wide range of genre of books that are in the market, ready to be chosen and read. People have narrowed it down to only fiction, or the widely popular fables. Hence reading is often considered a waste of time. They do not understand the point of reading things that were written by some stranger continents away, for which they are still getting the royalty for, and most importantly reading these and wasting time while there are so many “important” things to do in life. Like taking a piece of paper and listing down your goals for life, reading the newspaper, working your ass off trying to obtain a professional degree, because you know these are the things we should be living for, aren't they?

I am in no way trying to undermine the importance of studies or that of reading the newspaper, but what about opening up our minds to new ideas and thoughts, maybe a little bit of philosophy too?

That is one thing we forget to do while we all are too busy earning our lives. We have meticulously drawn a clear line and separates what is practical and what is not. We have fixed norms on how to lead our childhood, teenage and adulthood. Sadly, reading doesn’t make into the list of all the practical things to be done. Hence buying books and reading them falls into the category of wastage; of money and time. The two most precious things in our life.

Let us take a moment and think otherwise. Let us get away from reality and try to learn all those ‘impractical’ reasons why we read and why we need to read.

Recently I got into an extremely irrational and unnecessarily tense debate about the existence of god. The fundamental idea of human civilization sticking to one another in the name of religion was being questioned by a post that I shared on a social media. I hadn’t negated the idea of god, nor had I spoken against one. Yet I faced radical extremist questions that led one to the other, built on the sturdy base of Upanishads and Vedas, which I wonder whether the debater had read themselves. It blew out of proportion, and ended with one huge question “why does all lit students turn out this way, with tendencies to question anything and everything that comes their way, why are lit people so liberal?”

The largely generalized question silenced me for a while but as I thought about it there was one thing that I was absolutely sure of- I am not an extremist. I am quite liberal, and open to ideas that are different from mine. For I think differences constitute the individualism of a person and makes him or her stand out of the crowd. I don’t force people to think the way I do, nor do I accept their rational thoughts that may sound indeed well researched or philosophical. I assert my opinions wherever I am and make sure that I make my point, while accepting and apologizing for mistakes if in case I made any. Now let’s ponder why, why why. Why am I not an extremist, why am I open to new takes on the same redundant issue, how do I succeed in making a valid point during a heated argument.

I think it all comes down to one sole habit in my life, reading. As we get acquainted with books, one after the other we get to know different people in different circumstances. I am not talking about fiction here, but also any other non-fictional write ups like an autobiography, collection of articles, etc. As we read them we learn that the standards that the society has fixed and which is thereby being imposed on every human being deemed right by the ‘norms’ of society, has been done so, only for the profit of a few and often ignores a large part of the society whom we name underprivileged. We are forced then to question who made these laws and why not bring a change. Soon we understand that it is quite impossible to make people understand the nonfunctional norms, or force them to come out of this web. Then instead of changing the society we change ourselves thereby becoming a liberal human being with an open mind.

We learn to accept everyone the way they are, we judge less and we learn tolerance.  

Huff… I feel like I have answered a few questions that were boiling up inside my head. Now what?

Go people, Go read! Isn’t this inspiration enough?

Ranging from flying magical chairs that transport us to faraway lands (credits: Enid Blyton), to accounts of wars and terror, books come with a wide range of ideas, concepts, thoughts. It also comes dressed in hardbound, paperback and these days in various other versions that are compatible to read on an eBook reader or a kindle. As the book opens and we get engulfed in that delicious fragrance of a new book, it is a whole new universe where we get to imagine what we want to. No one dictates you around and it’s all up to us to come up with interpretations. While interpreting these write-ups ideas emerge that we thought we were never even capable of. All the creative nerves get stimulated and we come up with our own set of ideas regarding one particular book or poem. And sometimes while gracefully doing these we might even find the love of our life, and fall in love with their stream of consciousness and ideas of life.

Impractically practical reasons why we read. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?