Thursday, October 13, 2011

Reading

Reading was a passion that started sometime in my childhood. Of course, in the beginning, it was limited to reading Balarama, Poombatta, Balamangalam and other children's publications in Malayalam. But they helped in fostering the habit of reading. And once I mastered the nuances of English, I took to reading English books too; whenever the oppurtunity arose. Hailing from a small village of Kerala, it was not easy to lay one's hand on English books. The school library held a magical aura as I discoverd the world beyond.... Now, as I look back, I realize that we only had a limited time with books there! It was not until we were in higher classes that we were allowed to take books home.

But, having an uncle who had a good collection of books with him, helped a lot. Every time I visited him, I could read a book or two. He never allowed us to take them with us - I had always wondered why! Now, when people borrow books from me and never return them, I know why he was particular about not letting us take them away. Uncle had a good collection of books and I always enjoyed reading them.

It was a delight to read many books - though I cant recall the authors now. Of course, Enid Blyton topped the list and soon I progressed from farm stories and fantasies to Famous Five, Secret Seven, Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew... A few friends were kind enough to lend me their books and I am still thankful to them for having done so! As the time passed, the interest only deepened. I got lost in the world that the books opened up for me...

Even today, I love reading. Anything ranging from children's book like Kalikkudukka / Minnaminni (they are in Malayalam for Pre-Nursery kids), weekly magazines or monthly magazines to fiction /non fiction are welcome for me!!! I enjoy Noddy, Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia and other similar books the same way I enjoy reading fiction / non fiction. Of late, Alexander Dumas' works like Count of Monte Cristo,and Black Tulip fascinated the reader in me. So did numerous other Indian authors like Chetan Bhagat, Arvind Adiga, Vikas Swarup, Amish Tripathi to name a few. Of Course, there were some books which I felt was a waste of my time and money - the less said about them, the better!

The growing numbers of Indian authors is heartening - but many of the titles had almost the same back drop of colleges / IITs / IIMs and same type of love stories that it has become rather boring to read them! But the fact is that simple stories in simple language are finding more and more readers. That doesn't mean the classics are unreadable. Sometimes, these simple stories make up light reading...

There is a lot of books to read out there.... and the thrill of starting a new book is something different... Sometimes when I read a book second time, it offers me a different perspective... This is more true in the case of Spiritual books.

Books have become a constant companion now. I invariably pack a book wherever I go. Sometimes, I read the book from the collection of our hosts or resort to my book if there is none. Life without books is unimaginable.... it would be difficult to live!


It is my reading habit that has given me the courage and inspiration to keep writing my blog. It is because I love reading that I enjoy reading other blogs too. I believe that there is always something worthwhile to read about!!!  Happy reading to all my fellow readers!!!

4 comments:

M Ajoy Kumar said...

Hi Nisha...nice to read the above post. I remeber to have studied an essay written by Max Beerbohm in my II PUC titled "On Reading". There he talks about how a good book reveals new meanings to the reader on successive readings, especially after a gap of few years. Such books, though rare, are real classics!

Nisha said...

Sir, Thank you very much for the comments! what you said is very true...

roopz said...

I too was a good reader in my childhood. Once when I realized books made my friends to keep a distance from me,I stopped reading.Now I have a lot of human friends.Now I feel at least I read blogs today.But books,I find it hard to read.

In between,you can try out http://www.indiblogger.in/

This is a blogger network.You can read many good blogs and once you register here, you will get more traffic and visitors to your blog..

Nisha said...

Thank you Roopa, Saw your comment only now.

Of Little Trips and Great Learnings

The other day, we (some staff, volunteers and service users of Mary Seacole House, Liverpool) went on a day trip to Llangollen. This wasn&#...