THIS subject is bound to spring up in public discourse time and again as many people are turning away from reading for reasons never explained satisfactorily. The lamest reason is that they have no time -- given the fast life in modern times in which technology alone rules the roost. That is, of course, the biggest bunkum that one can find. For, if the people spend their near-whole nights with their mobile sets -- spoiling their sleep and eye-sight and health, then it is nonsense to say that they have no time to read books or newspapers. The loud-thinker has always voted for reading of books and newspapers or magazines -- in print. He is certainly not averse to reading on digital platforms -- and he also owns one such device on which he reads hundreds of books. Yet, reading of books and newspapers in physical print on paper has its own benefits -- both medical or physical and emotional or intellectual. As a movement has been launched by governments in some parts of the country to promote reading in print on paper, the loud-thinker feels encouraged to pick up the subject once again for yet another discussion. Just a few days ago, he was privileged to get invited as speaker on the subject in the university.

 

The audience mostly contained university students around twenty years of age and heard the speech respectfully. Later, countless numbers of students thronged the dais to talk to the loud-thinker and said repeatedly that they read books and newspapers. Without exception, each one of them stressed the benefits of reading in print on paper and that they were grateful to their respective families and teachers in school or college. The best part of that conversation with those youngsters was that they were truly well-informed on many subjects as their faces conveyed the impression that they knew what was under discussion.

 

On another similar occasion, the loud-thinker happened to run into a group of students at an academy where they were preparing for all-India competitive examinations. Members of that group -- about 25 in number -- also stated that their teachers and family elders were harping on reading of books and newspapers in print on paper and that activity was proving to be very useful and beneficial to all of them. The logic behind such reading is clear -- and there is no need to elaborate on that. But what remained in memory was the observation of a tall boy in one of the groups of youngsters. In clear words he said, reading helped him acquire a more refined personality. And before his words melted into air, many boys and girls repeated that feeling in voices loud and clear. This is also the experience of the loud-thinker himself -- when he, as a young person in his teens, enjoyed a clear advantage over his peers not only in terms of information but also in terms of presentation, placing forward an argument on a specific point, understanding a fine point, understanding subtle expressions that emerge from what is described as ‘reading between lines’. The loud-thinker knows many young people -- of course now in their forties, so to say -- who went on to crack UPSC or similar examinations and are occupying important positions in the administration in different states of the country.

 

Many, many of them maintain the connect and make a point to thank the loud-thinker for pushing them to reading books and newspapers in print on paper that helped them at every stage of their life’s successful trajectories. Right in this column, the loud-thinker has often written about many VIPs who have made tremendous progress in life on the strength of reading of books and newspapers in print on paper. Meeting such persons has always been a matter of sheer delight as they exude an altogether different kind of aura. Those persons include great political leaders, iconic business leaders, legendary sports leaders, art maestros such as painters, vocal and instrumental musicians, sculptors ...! The loud-thinker emerged happier after meeting each such person because he realised that all of them had enriched their lives by their life-long engagement with reading of books and newspapers in print on paper. This is enough for anybody to draw right lessons in favour of reading of books and newspapers in print on paper. For, the advantages are clear even to the blind.