What’s with reading….
Tell you what, reading fiction and
non-fiction is on the decline amongst the youth.
And there’s no organized social research
around this, just anecdotal references around what I observe. Fact is, a few
sample of people I have met, just cannot recall books they have read, and even
if they have read a few, cannot really remember most of it.
The world is changing: Analogous to the
cricket example from a 5 day test match, to a one day, to the new T20 format,
games evolve. And I guess so has books. From the thick Thomas Hardy of ‘Far
from the Madding Crowd’ and the Character of Gabriel Oak, the eternal patient
lover on the sideline, book have given way to ‘quick airport reads’ – slim
editions. Most content today are PDF files of Summaries of Books or Articles.
We are saying less in each short burst, but saying ever so much in the multiple
bursts of articles. Akin to Machine gun firing versus a sniper shot.
Again, back then, in my teens, leisure time
was spent with basic toys, board games and TV watching (when it finally
arrived) was a group activity. The radio was primarily for news or music from
Ceylon. Interactions were fewer and travel ever more sparse. The newspaper was our primary connects with
the world outside. Back then, I recall now with immense nostalgia my own HG
Wells ‘time travel machine’ that could take me forward or back ward in time –
said simply, Books.
Books were my favorite companion then, and
a lifelong companion now. Curled with a book, I was transported to new worlds,
events, time, and characters, culture. In the 1:1 silent connect, the book and
I, my imaginative mind, simulated by books conjured up sounds, pictures, living
people, introduced me to new lands, etc. But most of all, I discovered the
power of ‘ideas’. New thoughts, bold thoughts, strange thoughts.
Reading connected me to the living: I could
see more around me, connect more, experience more, and understand more. Books symbolized
the magic of ‘rubbing the Aladdin’s lamp’ and make wishes come true.
To each age, its new propellant for
personal growth. Times must change, old order giving way to new, as Tennyson
says, lest one idea corrupts the world.
For me, give me a great book, some time for
self, and that’s my Nirvana. J
