Reading, reading, reading

Have you ever pondered on the question that why we read. Every individual may have a different reason to read,but ultimately every one  will agree that  we read to get more knowledge, to expand our knowledge,  for better comprehension, enlightenment, to sharpen our intellect and to increase our perception and awareness about a fact  or a circumstance. We also read for entertainment,  relaxation, diversion and for agreeable occupation for the mind.

   At different stages of our life, our interests and concerns take  a different shape and we  find our liking and fascination for delving in wider  topics  and  subjects, to fathom the ultimate. Right from childhood I started  reading  various books. In our early years I vaguely remember that I used to read Aesop’s Fables, Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and Snowhite and the seven dwarfs and Fairy tales. Then we shifted to Hans Anderson, Tales of Robinhood. With the passage of time the interest shifted  to  Adventures. I remember there used be a series  for adventures for boys and a separate one adventure for girls.

                     In our teens the interest in reading habits also  changed. I remember my mother used to buy  Hindi magazines, Maya and Manohar Kahanian. She used to hide them from me and my younger sister.
We somehow  used to locate them and read  them. We  sisters, were partners in crime.Even though we  studied in a Convent school,where no Hindi  was taught, we could manage to read the “adult” stories. Some how I developed an interest in Hindi novels written by Munshi Prem Chand. I read Godaan, Gaban, Nirmala and many short stories. My Father inspired me to read Gandhi ji’s, My experiment with truth and Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru’s ‘Letters from a father to his daughter.’ 

My parents were  very spiritual. Besides daily prayers, we used to have Akhand Ramayan  puja on special occasions. In 24 hours the whole of Tulsi Das’ Ram Charit Manas  was read. We used to take turns for reading and learnt many lines by heart. I have read Ram Charit Manas numberless times. I read the Mahabharata and Bhagwat Gita. I also read the Bible, as I had many British   friends, with whom I used to go the Church on some Sundays.My Father, though a  spiritual person, was very liberal and broadminded. He never prevented me from going to to a Church, Gurudwara or a Masjid.I have also read Maha Bhagvath  and Guru Nanak's Jap ji Maharaj.
          After going to college I  became an avid reader of Mills and Boon. I used to finish one book every day.All the girls were crazy for these  books.It was at this stage  that I had too much of Mills and Boons. I now shifted to classics.I read A Tale of two Cities Pickwick Papers,War and Peace, Canterbury Tales,Pride and Prejudice ,Emma, Good Earth,Wuthering Heights, Tess,Tom Jones,Robinson Crusoe and many more. I had maintained a small library.  Even now if I find a classic I cannot resist the temptation. Whether it is a novel, a poem, a play, a biography I have read all. Milton, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Fielding,  Bernard Shaw, Shakespeare, Daphne-du Maurier, Bacon, Johnson,  Salman Rushdie, Jane Austen, TS Eliot,or Mark Twain or  other writer I love to read  any thing.

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