Reading: A world of its own!

I have lost touch,when it comes to writing articles.I believe this is my first attempt after 4 years. I have a feeling that I might make a mess of it. Nevertheless, I’ll try.

Expressing my point of view on several issues, in the written form, has become extremely difficult. I will speak out if I want. But,if you ask me to write it down:I am too lazy. Infact,I believe people have lost their patience, even when it comes to reading.If I did write an article, who really wants to read it?

Reading enthusiasts are on a decline and I’d say even the writing ones are. Patience! Patience is a treasure, on the verge of extinction. Nobody is patient anymore. No one cares for the details. I had read somewhere that our patience limits have come down to 140 characters (Read: Twitter).So true!

However,I can still recollect a time, not so long ago,when books were devoured by us.I doted on the Lord of the Rings, loved the Alchemist and even managed to complete the rather painstakingly detailed and boring (in my opinion) The Invisible Man by H.G.Wells. Such was the enthusiasm towards reading, that books issued from the library, would be read and exchanged amongst one another. And by the time, the week would be over, we would have read two books and not one. Books were kept under the table and read during classes, while our text books lay on the top for the teacher to see. Goosebumps were favourites in this category and 'Game books' were relished as we had so many endings to choose from ! Jeffrey Archer and Agatha Christie books,Sixth Sense,Two towers,Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Sherlock Holmes,William,Animorphs,Twitches, Famous Five, Secret Seven, R.L Stine-Fear series,Sweet Valley Twins etc were most sought after. And,I must admit,the mere activity of listing them down brings a smile on my face. Classics always drew divided opinion. Though I’d say, Pride and Prejudice, Little women, Black Beauty and Peter Pan were loved by all.

Unfortunately,as we grew up,this zeal saw a decline. Also, people had now shifted their focus to different books like the Fountainhead, Godfather, etc. A new breed of authors had also arrived and we saw ourselves reading The Kite Runner, Maximum City or even Chetan Bhagat books (plots for Bollywood movies). Or maybe, we dug up deeper in the book shelves (way back in the past) and drew out George Orwell or even digested down Nietzsche.These classics will always have a target (or niche) audience.

However,the books these days, lack the charm or magic to arrest its readers. And, at the risk of sounding kiddish (though I can heavily refute it isn’t so), reading a Roald Dahl book gives one more pleasure than reading the current best sellers (exceptions always exist to every rule). Authors like Ruskin Bond, Charles Dickens will always remain legends even though their primary audience maybe children. At this juncture, I’d like to express that a good book, article or poem is first made by a nice idea and then followed by the usage of language.Merely using difficult words does not necessarily constitute to a good composition.

Well, I guess the journey of reading has been traced enough and obviously people have moved on to reading their finer interests rather than the general favourites. Also, the books that we end up reading these days are purely academic and no one is remotely interested in them.The last book that I read was the Animal Farm and that was ages ago.Though I’d love to read an autobiography of Sachin Tendulkar or Sourav Ganguly, if they ever decided to write one.

Finally,I’d end this, mentioning about a book, I read (once gain) as a run up to its movie:Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. J.K.Rowling has wonderfully crafted this master piece, loved by adults and children alike.The seven movie-series may have ended but the magic of the book never can,because there is no other way you can explain why one would choke everytime you read the chapter where Dobby dies or your heart melts when Snape’s patronous wields a doe!