To read or...
Never judge
a book by its cover! And don’t get awestruck by a man who’s reading it!!
The other
day, I happened to attend an event in a college about Vachan Prerana Din, the
day that highlights the importance of reading. It is celebrated in the memory of
former president late Dr Abdul Kalam. Some speeches bespoke their struggle of preparation
to quote verbatim of renowned thinkers. While they were speaking, I could read
their minds as their efforts of translating something into words which they had
not experienced were visible. The most honest speech came from the anchor. She announced
name of a girl to speak and the girl backed out. Oh, the anchor described the
programme preparation process. “I asked girls who is the best speaker among
you. They told each other’ names. Not one volunteered and I had to force them….”
I could relate to the anchor as she was genuine and honest. Yes, in a flurry of
wise words, her honest testimony stuck me because it didn’t come from the book…
After the
programme, girls, during an informal interaction asked me, what’s your opinion?
I was in a fix. I didn’t want to tell them that reading books changed
perspectives. In the world of Internet, when everyone was armed with every sort
of knowledge under the sun, could I make a tall claim that reading was the essential?
When the most meritorious and learned in the county were jobless, could I talk
about importan
“I can’t
read long books. Sheer size puts me off,” confided a girl. I said read twitter,
short one line headlines... “What should we read?” the other girl asked. That question
didn’t have a standard answer in the first place. “Read what suits your taste. But
see to it that you just don’t become bookish…”
The whole
incident reminded me of my boasting books and reading…I flaunted many covers
with stylish philosophical names… I impressed librarians becoming the first
borrower of many so called heavy titles…then came my kindle and adored it. My obsession
for reading had gotten to an extent that I had taken one ‘reading vacation’…to
my dismay, I had forgotten the bagful of books and kindle. The whole week doing
nothing sounded like a waste of time. The very first day was not as much ordeal
as I had imagined that to be. That was the best time I read a different stuff
in life without books… I was reading a lot…the mountains, sylvan surroundings,
the sunset… I read my own mind and a lot unfolded…thanks to forgotten kindle,
it rekindled own forgotten self.
Of
course, it doesn’t mean I stopped reading. Yes, but l learnt to read white
spaces and also between the lines. A philosopher like J Krishnamurti doesn’t allow
us to make any reading and theories make a reference point. Apparently illiterate
mystique Ramakrishna Paramahansa offers the wisdom from the open book called
life. Swami Vivekananda asks us to manifest the divinity within… and here are
we, talking of books and theories…
Of course,
I didn’t want to undermine importance of reading. But it must take us beyond
books. An unconditioned mind could be the best gift an open book can bestow us
with! Who can undermine reading if we learn to read the fine print?
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