Remember that famous 'Bàzigar' song? "Kitabe bahot to padhi hongi tumne" is the first line of that song. Well, the world today seems to have taken the song seriously. People are reading either face (mostly to pick some moolah on the way) as a book or they are reading the Facebook!
In that obsession with either fleeting relationships or with technology, reading, seems to have taken a backseat. Oh, yes, the mode of reading does not matter. It can be the Kindle, too, though personally I love the print pattern. Forget the mode though, in our 'social media' obsessed world, reading has dwindled. Well, what with self publishing being rampant, there are millions of writers today. Are there (m)any readers though?
Reading matters hugely. Hence the relevance of the Reading Day, celebrated every year on April 23. It celebrates the copyright conventions, too. Yet it is better known as the Reading Day. Why April 23?
The date of April 23 honours the death anniversaries of literary giants such as William Shakespeare, Miguel Cervantes, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, as well as notably the birth anniversaries of other greats like Haldor K. Laxness, Maurice Druon, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla (actually his death anniversary falls on April 23), and Manuel Mejía Vallejo.
Reading these and other greats changes your life forever. Remember the childhood kaleidoscope? It was made of broken bangle pieces. Yet each time, you shifted the angle just a wee bit, a new pattern emerged! Well, reading is a kaleidoscope on life. Each new read shifts our understanding of life, of the world.
Reading is living zillion lives vicariously. Reading enriches us immensely. We understand the grime and the glory of human(e) existence. A head, a heart, a soul nourished on reading is unbelievably better than a person whose t.v. screen is bigger than her bookcase!
Books are silent companions. Their being there, next to you, energises, yet calms you. They are friends of our soul. They never get angry, frustrated, irritated with us. They never ill-treat, bad-mouth or gossip about us. Instead they give the best insight on life.
Books are forever. Whatever the variety, classic or pop, they alter you. They enrich your very style of being (and becoming). Read. Read every day. The corner in the room then becomes the universe. Read all types of books. Discuss them, debate them. Let the read wor(l)ds become a unique cultural vortex that would always give you a still center in the crazily spinning contemporary realities around! Reading is living (a full life)!
Pratima@ Reading is like Hanuman. You never realise how the very devotion in the process makes your soul Ram. Yes, our blog tomorrow would deal with Hanuman. Today let us realise how single minded devotion to reading makes us better versions of ourselves!
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