Good Old Reading

To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life. -W. Somerset Maugham
In an age when browsing the net, playing with funky handsets and passing non-stop SMSs seem to be the order of the day, reading a book in a peaceful corner of a library has become an archaic idea for most people. While technology is slowly taking a steady control over individual lives, the reading habit is fast vanishing into thin air. The city libraries are a mute witness to this. They present a gloomy picture of the gradual depletion of voracious readers who used to flock the libraries every evening. Apart from a few elderly people and a handful of students, the libraries wear a deserted look most of the time.
These libraries are neither stacked nor maintained well. Hundreds of books lie on the shelves gathering dust, and most of them remain ungrouped. Librarians blame it on the lack of staff and proper funds for renovation.
Much after the Internet boom, reading was almost wiped across you lives as the interactive medium of images was so engrossing that it left little room for the dotted line. With the dish antenna entering our reverie-like homes, there was literally such a hue and cry for imagery all around that somehow simple pleasures like an intelligent game of scrabble or even a small get-together of families was a lost feature!
A decade ago if someone said that he or she hadn’t read a Tagore or a Tolstoy, that person was looked down upon by others. There was a strong sense of accountability and responsibility among the youth. They were much more conscious and well read because at that time ‘simple living and high thinking’ was the dictum. But with the gradual advent of globalisation and nuclear family structures, life has become mechanical and money-oriented. Students are constantly being whipped for performance and the concept of intrinsic value addition is now a long lost idea. Despite being educated and brought up in a rational society, there are times when we fail to understand the difference between intelligence and wisdom! Perhaps it’s only when you observe and understand the world around you, do you realize that difference can be altered for increasing your pace of the learning curve.
Sadly, the reading habit is on the decline among children as well. Ordinarily kids dislike reading material that is dedicatedly made for them as their appreciation for listening skills are so honed that school sub consciously makes them listen to tales and instructions. Popeye and his gang, aided by multimedia games have drowned the shuffle of the pages. Though the Harry Potter mania gripped children these days, it could just be another ephemeral phase withering away sooner or later.
“But why blame it on the kids for all this wean-off-from-reading culture? It is the parents who are responsible for this,” says an English professor. Parents blame it on the mounting pressure on the children in schools and tuition classes.
“My son hardly gets time to read story books. In the little time he gets after finishing the home work, all he wants to do is watch the cartoon channel or play video games,” says Vijaylakshmi whose nine-year-old son ”is glued to the idiot” box whenever he gets the time. The other problem is that there is a tremendous pressure upon students to perform and excel.
The situation is no better among college students. Library for them becomes popular only before the final examination. It is then that the students, in a panic state, just browse through their course related books.
There are also regular visitors to the libraries among them, though they constitute a small minority who frequently borrow books. ‘’But more often than not, students visit the libraries for their research work rather than reading a book for their own pleasure. In fact, nowadays libraries have become common hangouts for the college students,’’ remarks another professor.
But what is the reason behind this wean-off-from-reading attitude? ‘’Parents are so psyched about the future of their children that most of the times it is they who discourage their wards from reading any other book than their textbooks,’’ the professors say.
Tough and intense competition has further deepened the insecurity among the middle class families. ‘’But they fail to understand that for an all-round development of an individual, reading habit is essential.’’ If at the primary level, the habit of reading books is not cultivated among children, then at the college level it becomes very difficult to develop the habit. ‘’That is why we feel that extra reading should be made compulsory at the school level,’’ they say.
Some assert that reading is not a diversion from serious tasks; rather it contributes to the fulfilment of those tasks. ‘’At a time when it is not rare to find students using dubious means and short-uts to pass examinations, the reading skill, if instilled in them, will make them savour learning and also increase their faith in themselves and their abilities.’’
In spite of such refrains, books continue to find their way to the right readers. Libraries in the city may not boast of good attendance, but they do attract ardent readers, who still exist somewhere in the midst of this discouraging scenario. That many contemporary writers are coming out with masterpieces on different subjects is an indicator to this fact. At a time when recreation, enjoyment and mechanical learning have become operative words, it is reassuring to find that bibliophiles are there. It does not matter whether these such booklovers access books on-line or browse them physically, before buying them.
However, reading has probably survived a plethora of distractions and has yet maintained to be some of choicest hobbies one would choose to possess! Avid readers tend to have a better grasp on realities and are known to be better judges of people. Of course the type of books you read quite generally depends on your attitude and personality! But reading as a habit has always allowed to nurture a wholesome sense of well being. Being a total book worm it wasn’t difficult to let my brother also accept this so-far genetic habit, but it did take quite a while for me to sell this idea to him! Most of us read books to lull ourselves to sleep.

Walking Tall with a Book
Perhaps we as human beings, distinct as we are from the rest of the living species need to build up this habit of reading as especially for kids it’s really difficult for parents to make the switch from a totally pictured short comic to a immensely boring book of at least a hundred pages, specifically one that has no images or diagrams. I faced that problem myself so I don’t blame any kid who’d frown at the idea.

And as we age the books also tend to age with us. With our professional lifestyles, it’s difficult to manage a non-fiction, with deadlines set for the next day’s presentation! After all who’d want a taste of the boss’s ire! Many of us miss out on reading in this very manner and sadly it is only in times of sorrow or grief that we seek refuge in reading some sensible stuff that is either in the form of a ’Live it up!’, book or some of us might be inclined towards religion!Of course all of this reading comes only next to our listening to others talk about optimism when we are down an out! From all of this I can only conclude that if you choose to make reading your constant companion, you’ll never walk alone! Besides you’ll have more to discover in life than you’d ever thought about! Think about it, somewhere, in some bright corner of the world, there’s some book waiting for you!