If writing is an art in which the wise excel, then reading is the art in which wise-to-be take steps - some times baby, sometimes bold - towards achieving excellence. One may think that reading is something any literate person can do. Nay, it is an art which requires flourish not just in reading sentences and deriving obvious meanings, but deciphering umpteen amount of between-the-lines meanings and connotations, thoughts and wisdom which the wise writers spread in numerous hidden and manifested layers. Reading, thus, is no lesser an art. It, too, requires a certain amount of talent and creative wisdom along with zeal and resourcefulness. And above all, it requires a lot of practice to achieve a finesse before one can claim to be well-read.

  

 

Thankfully, we live in a world where anything fine and refined is in such scarcity that even elementary reading allows one to garner enough notoriety. A couple of reputed authors, some propitious thoughts wrapped in the jargons and bombast and one can assume place among the well-read. Indeed, eloquence is often overshadowed by grandiloquence, but even for grandiloquence some eloquence is needed and for that reading is but one good tool.

So, let us delve deep into this art of reading. A wise man had said that some books are to be tasted, some chewed, some chewed and digested. The truly well-read will tell you that reading does not often employ taste buds and digestive system at all. And as most words of wisdom are metaphorically spoken, a good reader is quick to develop his/her understanding of all things metaphorical. For, literary writings often have no intention of being taken literally. So, by using words like tasted, chewed and digested, one is told to fathom the amount of the book to be consumed – not literally, but metaphorically.

 

But while taste buds and digestive system are not involved (in most cases), other systems like circulatory and nervous systems can be sufficiently taxed, depending on the books one reads. For, racing of pulse, quickening of heart beats, and a whole gamut of things involving the nervous system, right from feeling light-headed and sleepy to feeling fully awakened, reading can do a lot of things to people. It is believed that all souls desire awakening. As such, reading is one way to achieve that lofty goal.

 

Another important message from the wisemen of the yore to the readers is not to judge a book by its cover. Books, written by human hands, often bear remarkable similarity to human character. They are often in disguise. Just as people may mistake grandiloquence for eloquence, they may as well misjudge simplicity for being simpleton. Even in books, just like humans, the simplest are often the most profound.

 

Then again, freshly initiated readers often worry about certain books being too fat. But one must always consider the fact that their thickness might allow them a lot of density. I say, when the author has not killed himself writing that fat book, your chances of getting killed reading it are, by far, very remote. Then again, the first thing that not just readers but even wanna-be readers learn about the art of reading is the art of judicious skipping. Didn’t I tell you books are just like life? Here too, judicious skipping ensures smoother sailing.

 

No one should berate the art of judicious skipping as a bad habit of disinterested souls. It is a great art form requiring an astute mind and a certain degree of commitment, if only to finish the book. Above all, it requires one to be judicious. And that, as we all are well aware, is a huge problem area where mankind is concerned. Being judicious requires a certain amount of perception, sensibility and judgement. Now if you go to wise souls asking where you can get all these, they will, inevitably, direct you towards books and that fine art of reading. So, even in being judicious, if only to skip, one requires adequate amount of reading. But I know there are many like my own good self, who have indulged in lot of injudicious skipping thinking they are being absolutely judicious. Once someone declares one as a voracious reader one is compelled to show one’s hunger if only to uphold the title. So, one often reads a lot by perfecting the art of judicious skip.

 

Here one must be warned that often great writers, while threatening to kill you with their eloquence, often hide their most precious pearls in lines and paragraphs which you might instinctively want to skip. In my case, I was often required to go back to previous pages as punishment for my rather injudicious skip. “What was the need,” you may ask. “Who would have known but yourselves?” Alas, among the gentry of well-read people, you will still find some who are truly well-read. You would not want them to pity you. But more than that even if you are not as well-read as otherwise declared, small amount of reading too arms you with an insight to understand the intensity of your loss. You will know when you miss a pearl.

 

Of all the voraciousness that you allow yourself in a lifetime, hunger for reading is perhaps the healthiest. It may take a while before you can acquaint yourself properly with meanings, connotations, and metaphors but once you do so, you feel the wisdom of ages flowing within you strengthening your thoughts, perception, information, language, judgement, personality and character. It feels so good to be well-read and not to reach Google all the time.