Today is April 23, 2020, and
the world is under lockdown to contain the spread of Corona Virus.
Today is also the World Book Day.
The
entertainment zones are closed. The watering holes have gone dry. The
weekend trips cannot be undertaken. The sporting events have been
suspended. The places of worship are soulless. The TV Serials and Web
Series have no new content to offer. Many of the mobile games cannot
be played for fear of action by the cops, and some of them are
getting tedious. The memes on Corona Virus only remind us that we
have been consigned to our homes by a virus.
We
the book worms/book
nerds/ book lovers/ bookaholics
are finally ruling the
world. We can travel to Paris. We can feel high without having a
drink. We can read the original version of Harry Potter and Lord of
the Rings. We know what happens when viruses capture the world thanks
to science fiction. We can go the Drones Club. We have retained our
freedom, imagination, and not
fluttered by staying
indoors. We are the
envy of all those friends and family who ridiculed us for
being book aficionados,
and never cultivated a habit of reading. We can go on a train journey
unravelling murder mysteries. Today, they are left only to watch the
Corona ticker, and crib about its impact.
I
too would have been in the
unfortunate lot but for my father drilling the need to read
books. My cousins used to desist visiting my home because my father
used to inexorably advise them to read books. However, we had to
listen to him, and slowly but surely I took interest in reading
books. My father was
not a scholar but knew that books can ennoble
lives. He used to
always say, when you start earning,
buy one good book a month and read it, you
will be able to deal with life in a better way.
It took me nearly a decade and a half of working life to realise
this irrefragable truth.
With
his limited means, he used to buy
me some books. There used to be a friendly shopkeeper who used to
lend us new comics at Rs.1 per day. The books used to come on Friday
night, and should be sold the next day morning. My father used to get
the books from him, and it was my responsibility to read it by next
morning without crumbling the pages. This was an unintentional
introduction to speed reading.
Once
in a month, on Sundays, we used to visit the bookstores in MG Road.
Those days books never came wrapped in plastic, and book shop owners
were always kind enough to let people read books in their shops
without buying them. When my father had some money, he used to buy a
book or two. After the knowledge trip, our trip back home was
conducted on two legs, because that was the only way the home
finances could be managed. Bangalore
still had all the
habiliments of a
garden city, and thus
a six kilometre walk on
a Sunday afternoon did
not break a sweat. Amar
Chitra Katha, Tinkle, Wisdom, Aesop Tales, formed the
staple diet. The bigger
books were mostly about
freedom fighters.
Later
I joined the City Central Library. I was around 12 years at that
time, and was allowed to go to the library alone. There I read about
Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew,
Sherlock Holmes, Discoveries, Inventions, Cricket History,
Shakespeare, Charles
Dickens, Gulliver Travels
etc. After I joined college, with my first scholarship amount, I was
allowed to join the British Library. One
book, I profusely remember having read there was
a science fiction book,
whose name I don’t remember. In
that book carnivorous
plants take over the world, and human beings are consigned to their
homes. During college
days, I was an eager participant in debates,
and as usual not having much knowledge on the subject, I used humour
to ensure that I could speak for a couple of minutes on the topic. My
English Lecturer had suggested me to read PG Wodehouse to sharpen the
quality of humour in my speeches. I was more interested in making a
career in commerce than paying heed to his words, except read a few
pages of a collection of short stories suggested by him.
After
finishing my studies,
I landed up a stable job, and a good income. I forgot reading books,
and better part of my spare time was spent in travelling to and from
work. On weekends, if I was not required to go to office, I used to
roam, watch movies, and eat in fancy restaurants. After
I got married, I used to read an odd book or two but nothing serious.
The
good advices given by our parents and teachers, and ignored by us
have a strange way of coming back to haunt us. In 2008, I stuck a
psychological roadblock, and had to seek medical attention. It was
during one of the sessions, my therapist suggested I should cultivate
hobbies like reading books. He suggested I should read someone
humorous like PG Wodehouse. There I was, having been given both these
advices for free,
now being told the
same, after a heavy dosage of drugs, and a sizeable amount of fee.
I
tried to be wise, and again took a membership of British Library. It
has a sizeable number of PG Wodehouse titles. Though
I was reading the books, but an attachment to them was never there.
It is at this point, I purchased `White Tiger’ by Aravind Adiga. It
is then when I realised what difference it makes to pay and buy a
book. When you buy a book, you are more likely to read it. You can’t
call yourself a genuine book lover if you buy pirated copies. If you
don’t reward the author’s effort, you can never appreciate his
work. In the last 7 to 8 years, I have not purchased a single pirated
copy.
It
took me a lot of time to move from PG Wodehouse works, and most
importantly humour to other genres. Being associated with book clubs
helped in this endeavour, especially We Read Therefore We are Book
Club, Bangalore, and The Book Nerds, Dehradun. The wide spectrum of
well read individuals I meet in these gatherings helped me to try out
other genres. During this period, I read mythology which I thought
was sacrilege to do so, being an atheist. I learnt to appreciate the
fact that Mahabharata was beyond religion.
During
the last seven years,
I have read books
on travel, mythology, politics, dictators, unethical medical
practices, growth of fascist organisations, science fiction,
democracy,
stoicism, conspiracy theories, origin of humanity, graphic novels,
dystopian novels, cricket, murder mysteries, casteism, satire,
self-help books, and poetry. The number of purchased but unread books
is crossing the three figure mark. Kindle has helped to read more
books, one it saves space, and is easy to carry.
My
parting thought to you would be to
start reading. If you
are old, it is never too late. If you are young, you don’t have to
get to late 30s to start reading. Reading is the best hobby you can
cultivate. You can buy a book, put it aside for years, and one fine
day pick it up to read. The book will never crib that it was ignored
for so many years, but will impart all
the knowledge it
has. Book
is the best inheritance you can leave behind to your successors.
Stay safe, take care. Happy World Book Day.
