Reading

I am an avid reader. I can read anytime, anywhere. I read anything and everything which is readable, be it the hoardings on the road or the piece of paper in which the thelewala gives moongfalli :P. Sometimes, I so wish that I could read Kannada, as in Bangalore, there is so much Kannada everywhere. There has never been a time in my life when I have not read anything (except when I didn't know how to read :P) Exam time, holiday time, night, day. I was never a night person. I prefer getting up early in the morning, but I remember, once I stayed up till very late in the night, just because I HAD TO finish a novel. In fact, apart from sleeping, I must have spent more hours of my life in reading rather than any other activity.

I have never read a self help or a non-fiction book. I tried but I couldn’t. It’s just that I don’t enjoy them. And for me, reading is my happy thing to do. I look forward to reading everyday. So I just can’t read anything, which might be good for me, but do not interest me. So I end up reading fiction. And reading fiction has changed my life in so many ways. I have come to know about people whom I may never meet, the places I may never visit, the emotions I may never experience­­ and just tiny, tiny things which I would never even know about. If I had all the money and all the time in the world, I would do nothing but READ. I can forget anything when I am reading.

The credit for my love of reading goes to my parents, who are ardent readers themselves. When we were kids, Papa had subscribed to a number of weekly, fortnightly and monthly magazines for us which we looked forward to. We used to finish them in one and wait for more.. Some of them included Champak, Chandamama, Children’s Digest, Children’s Magazine, India Today, Outlook, Traveller, even Filmfare (this explains my love for Bollywood J ) and a lot more. My mother being a school teacher would get a number of books and magazines for us from her school library. I was lucky that I got such teachers in my formative years in school who always encouraged me to read.

And reading is what differentiates me from the rest. I don’t have any talent to speak of – can’t dance, sing, draw, paint or write. Nor do I have any particular interest in any kind of sports. What I can do is – read. And honestly speaking, personally, I don’t know anyone who reads more than me. There are people who read a wider variety of books and are more knowledgeable, but when you talk about quantity or the number of books, you can’t beat me J Also, there is the speed at which I read. Again, I don’t know anyone who reads faster than me. Reading faster has many advantages and disadvantages for me. Advantage is I can read so much more in a limited period of time. Disadvantage being often I am left with nothing to read. Also, I don’t completely enjoy the book as I am in so much of a rush to know what happened next, that I many a times miss the subtleties which makes a book a classic. One bright thing of this is that I can re-read the book multiple times. Also, in the subsequent reads I am more relaxed and pay more attention to the minute details which I missed earlier because I already know what is coming up.

 I have been reading a lot lately. The reason being, my office has shifted and it’s a good one hour ride from my place, so I have ample time to read. In fact, I have finished five novels in the month of May alone J  So don’t be surprised, if you get a series of book reviews from me :P

If there is one thing that I seriously and truly want to pass on to my future generation, it would be books.

Here’s to a lifetime of reading, learning and enjoying!