Life-time ofromancingwith books - II

 

 

 

 

WHEN everybody studied text books through the academic year and more around examination time, it was an absolute fun to indulge in extra-curricular reading -- novels, poems, travelogues, plays, essays, biographies, interpretation of art and literature ...! That was the most beautiful part of student-days and that continues to be the most beautiful part of life today -- reading something that is beyond prescription. It is that reading that has made what one today is, so to say. But then, the loud-thinker also faced good deal of social ridicule for not studying and instead reading extra-curricular books in shockingly big numbers. “He is out of his mind. He does not know what he is losing in life when he gives a secondary status to studies.” Such remarks were actually an every-day affair. Unmindful of that, the loud-thinker continued his romance with books -- much to his peace of mind, much to his sincere glee, much to his honest satisfaction that words could hardly capture.

 

Eventually, the loud-thinker realised that what made the difference during his professional work, during his world travels, during his encounters with great personages of the time were reading of extra-curricular books that taught him much more than the text books could ever achieve. Life was and is and will be sheer blissfulness with books not bound by subjects but abounding with life’s nectar. Of course, choosing the right book for one’s reading is a tough challenge. One can make a mistake while choosing the books if one goes by only the cover or the last-page blurb about the book. That may be misleading, all right. But if one has a quick reading of a few pages of the book in a scattered manner, then one gets a far better idea of the content of the book. With that awareness, making choice of books for one’s own reading becomes a lot easier. The loud-thinker has always remained thankful to the family-ecosystem in which even extra-curricular books were allowed to be read openly and not under the quilt. The reason of this freedom was simple: Books were the most honoured entities in the house. In other words, books were always most welcome, most endeared, most endured -- and reading the books, therefore, was the most honourable activity. Sports had the second place in the list of priorities.

 

Any sport. Out in the field or woods or waters, or inside the house -- every sport was permitted and encouraged. School studies had their own importance, all right. But the priority number was third. In such an atmosphere, books became a special-purpose-vehicle to elevate one’s personality, to scale up knowledge outside text books, to get ready for larger life when others in the age-bracket were still wrestling with their text books. Those were the real good times with extra-curricular book -- on all subjects that included space science to ancient history to cosmology to oceanography to literature and other arts. The whole experience was rich beyond words, absolutely divine in its feel. That romance with books still continues -- with greater zeal, with deeper commitment, with closer connect with the printed word. Every moment with books is totally delicious, absolutely sumptuous, doubtlessly wholesome ...! The loud-thinker wonders why conscious effort is not made in homes and schools and colleges to promote reading not as a pastime but as a calling for lifetime! Extra-curricular reading is something very essential to learning.

 

It enhances the beauty of scholastic studies. For, when the teacher teaches a subject from the text-book, the student who has the habit of extra-curricular reading understands the subject far better. The reason is fully educational in nature -- extra reading enhances the student’s general comprehension (not general knowledge). Probably, this gain is often missed in academic thinking. That is a sad part. No matter that, the beauty of extra-reading is that one has the freedom to make the choice -- if to continue reading or stop it or change the subject. For, extra-reading is done never out of compulsion but out of one’s own volition. And that is one big difference.