HOW DID I START READING???????

AS I HAVE TOLD YOU IN THE PREVIOUS BLOG, I READ A LOT (REMEMBER VERY LESS THOUGH). PEOPLE SOMETIMES SAY, I READ UNWANTED STUFF. BUT FOR ME READING CAN NAVER BE UNWANTED. OFCOURSE, ONCE OR TWICE I HAVE STOPPED READING A BOOK HALFWAY THROUGH. THAT HAS ITS OWN REASON. WELL, COMING TO THE POINT……

IN THIS BLOG I JUST WANT TO WRITE MY JOURNEY THROUGH THE BOOKS. IT’S NOT ONLY FOR MY FRIENDS TO READ BUT ALSO FOR ME TO REMEMBER MY UNIQUE JOURNEY.

I NEVER HAD A PRACTICE OF READING FROM MY CHILDHOOD. ACTUALLY SPEAKING NO ONE GAVE ME INTERESTING BOOKS AND AS I REMEMBER NONE OF MY PARENTS WERE AND ARE VORACIOUS READERS. SO FOR ME, THERE WAS NO INSPIRATION AS SUCH.

FORTUNATELY OR UNFORTUNATELY, WHEN I WAS IN MY MIDDLE SCHOOL, MY FATHER USED TO BUY TWO MAGAZINES CALLED ‘SUDHA’ AND ‘TARANGA’. THESE WERE KANNADA MAGAZINES. MY READING HABBIT STARTED FROM THIS TIME. AT THE BEGINNING, I STARTED READING THE CHILDRENS’ COLUMN IN SUDHA. THERE USED TO BE SMALL STORIES PRINTED IN THAT COLUMN AND WAS FUN TO READ IT. THEN GRADUALLY I GRADUATED FROM THAT COLUMN TO A COLUMN AT THE LAST SHEET WHERE SOME BIZZARE NEWS USED TO BE THERE. IT WAS FUN TO READ THAT BECAUSE IT HAD SOME FREAKY STUFF. AFTER SOMETIME, MY BIG BREAK CAME………

I DON’T REMEMBER IF IT WAS IN SUDHA OR TARANGA….BUT ONE STORY CAUGHT MY ATTENTION. IT WAS A SERIES ACTUALLY AND WAS CALLED ‘CHINNARI MUTTHA’. LATER IT WAS MADE INTO A MOVIE ALSO. THIS PARTICULAR STORY WAS WRITTEN SO WELL THAT I STARTED READING IT EVERYTIME AND I ENJOYED IT A LOT. AFTER THIS I HAD DECIDED THAT I WILL READ SOMETHING BIG.

THEN FOR SOMEDAYS AFTER READING ‘CHINNARI MUTTHA’, I COULDNOT READ ANYTHING FOR WHICH THE REASONS I DON’T REMEMBER CLEARLY. THEN ONCE IN MY HIGHSCHOOL, ANOTHER SERIES CAUGHT MY ATTENTION. THAT TIME, ME AND MY FRIENDS WERE INTERESTED IN CREEPY STUFF AND EACH OF US USED TO NARRATE DIFFERENT HORROR STORIES WHICH WERE ACTUALLY COOKED UP. THIS PARTICULAR SERIES I AM TALKING ABOUT WAS SOMETHING VERY RELATED TO MY INTERESTS AT THAT TIME. IF IT WAS ANOTHER HOAX, I WOULDN’T HAVE PROBABLY READ IT. BUT THE AUTHOR CLAIMED IT TO BE A TRUE STORY. SO I READ THAT STUFF AND WAS REALLY FASCINATED HOW THINGS REALLY GO IN SOME SITUATIONS AND I WAS REALLY AWESTRUCK HOW SOME PEOPLE LEAD THEIR LIVES IN SEARCH OF POWER AND FAME.

AFTER READING THIS BOOK AGAIN I COULDN’T READ ANYTHING ELSE AS THE MAGAZINES WERE STOPPED IN MY HOUSE. THEN, I STARTED READING SOME COMICS SUCH AS ‘CHAMPAKA’, ‘CHANDAMAMA’, ETC. I STOPPED SUBSCRIBING THESE BOOKS AFTER MIDDLESCHOOL.

LATER, IN HIGHSCHOOL I DON’T KNOW WHY, BUT MY READING ENTHUSIASM CAME DOWN AND I STOPPED IT FOR SOMETIME. WHEN I WAS HALFWAY THROUGH MY 8THGRADE I GUESS, I SUDDENLY REALIZED THAT THERE WAS A LIBRARY NEAR MY HOUSE AND THOUGHT I WOULD HAVE A LOOK AT THAT. IT WAS A VERY GOOD LIBRARY AND I LIKED THAT ATMOSPHERE VERYMUCH. THERE I STARTED READING COMICS LIKE TINKLE. IT WAS ACTUALLY A REWARD IN DISGUISE ONCE AND THAT TIME I REALIZED HOW HELPFUL IT IS TO READ BOOKS OTHER THAN THE ACADEMICS. ONCE, IN AN ENGLISH TEST CONDUCTED IN MY SCHOOL, THERE WAS A STORY GIVEN AND WE HAD TO GUESS THE NAME OF THAT STORY. THAT STORY WAS ACTUALLY FROM TINKLE. I HAD READ IT AND HENCE I KNEW THE ANSWER FOR THAT QUESTION. WHEN THE PAPERS WERE CORRECTED, I SAW THAT ONLY I HAD WRITTEN THE CORRECT ANSWER IN THE WHOLE CLASS. THIS PARTICULAR INCIDENT THRILLED ME AND WAS AN INSPIRATION FOR ME TO READ MORE AND MORE.I THEN READ MANY BOOKS LIKE ALICE IN WONDERLAND, TINTIN, SOME COMICS BASED ON SUPER HEROES,ETC.

MY READING HAD TO BE ENDED BRIEFLY AGAIN AS I HAD TO PREPARE FOR MY SSLC EXAMS. THEN THERE WERE SO MANY DIVERSIONS IN MY PU COLLEGE THAT I ALMOST HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT BOOKS AND READING.
ONCE, DURING THE HOLIDAYS AFTER MY PUC, I WAS DESTINED TO GET A BREAK AGAIN. THIS TIME, I GOT AN ENGLISH NOVEL WHICH IS INFACT VERY WELL KNOWN. IT WAS “HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE”. IT’S REALLY INTERESTING HOW THIS BOOK CAME INTO MY HAND. THIS BOOK WAS BOUGHT BY MY UNCLE AS A GIFT FOR ONE OF MY COUSINS. BUT FORTUNATELY (FOR ME), SHE ALREADY HAD A COPY OF IT. SO, HE FINALLY GAVE THAT BOOK TO MY BROTHER FROM WHOM I GOT THAT BOOK. THIS WAS ACTUALLY THE FIRST BIG NOVEL I EVER HAD READ IN ENGLISH. I FELT THRILLED TO READ IT. MOREOVER, THE BOOK WAS SO INTERESTING THAT I READ IT DAY AND NIGHT WITH VERY SHORT BREAKS. IT APPEARED AS THOUGH I WAS PREPARING FOR SOME EXAM.

AFTER THIS, STARTED MY NEVER ENDING THIRST FOR BOOKS. LATER, I BOUGHT AND READ TWO OR THREE HARRY POTTER SERIES. LATER, GOING BY MY FRIENDS’ AND UNCLE’S SUGGESTIONS, I READ DIFFERENT BOOKS LIKE SHERLOCK HOLMES, GOD FATHER, ANGELS AND DEAMONS, DA VINCI CODE, JOHN GRISHAM’S TWO-THREE BOOKS, ETC…
I HAD BECOME SO ADDICTED TO READING BY THIS TIME THAT, I DID NOT (ACTUALLY FORGOT TO) SLEEP A WHOLE NIGHT AS I WANTED TO FINISH ‘FIVE POINT SOMEONE’. I ALSO READ ‘ONE NIGHT AT A CALL CENTRE’ WRITTEN BY THE SAME AUTHOR. AMONG THESE BOOKS THE BEST WERE ‘FIVE POIN SOMEONE’ AND ‘GOD FATHER’.

LATER I HAD TO GO TO MYSORE FOR MY TRAINING IN INFOSYS. THERE, I ATTEMPTED TO READ A BOOK BY R.K.NARAYANAN, BUT FAILED AS I FELT THAT THE BOOK WAS VERY BORING. (I DON’T THINK EVERYONE WILL AGREE TO THIS THOUGH). AS I COULDNOT LIVE WITH THE FACT THAT I COULD NOT COMPLETE R.K.N’S BOOK, I TOOK HIS FAMOUS BOOK MALGUDI DAYS AND READ IT SUCCESSFULLY. ACTUALLY SPEAKING STILL I DID NOT LIKE HIS STYLE COMPLETELY. BUT I WAS HAPPY THAT I HAVE READ HIS FAMOUS BOOK. THEN, I READ SOME BIZZARE BOOKS LIKE THE GHOST STORIES,ETC…..I STARTED FEELING THAT I NOW WANTED TO READ WHICHEVER BOOK CAME INTO MY HAND. THEN, I READ SIDNEYSHELDON’S TWO BOOKS.

BY THIS TIME I HAD REALIZED THAT I HAD A UNIQUE PROBLEM. I HAD STARTED GETTING BORED OF ANY AUTHOR AFTER I READ TWO BOOKS BY THAT AUTHOR. THEIR STYLES WERE THE SAME IN THEIR BOOKS AND I COULD NOT READ MORE THAN TWO BOOKS BY A SINGLE AUTHOR.

THEN I ATTEMPTED TO READ ANOTHER BOOK BY JOHN GRISHAM BUT IN VAIN. LATER I FOUND THAT THE THRILLERS NOMORE WERE OF INTEREST TO ME. THEY STARTED TO SEEM VERY BORING. HENCE I DECIDED I’LL GRADUATE TO PHILOSOPHICAL AND SPIRITUAL BOOKS.

FIRST OF ALL, I DECIDED TO READ AND UNDERSTAND BHAGAVADGEETHA. I TOOK VERY LONG TIME FOR THIS AS I HAD TO THINK A LOT AND DEBATE A LOT IN MY MIND AFTER I READ EACH STANZA IN THAT BOOK. THEN, I ALSO SIMULTANEOUSLY READ BOOKS LIKE, ‘MY EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUTH’, ‘MONK WHO SOLD HIS FERRARI’AND ‘THE ALCHEMIST’. APART FROM THESE BOOKS, I ALSO READ BOOK BY SUDHA MURTHY. THIS WAS ABOUT PHILANTHROPY WHICH WAS VERY TOUCHING.THEN I ALSO HAD THE LUCK TO READ THE BOOK’MASKS OF GOD’ BY JOSEPH CAMPBELL. THANKS TO MY FRIEND WHO LENT ME THIS BOOK. ALSO LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST, I READ JEFF ARCHER WHICH WAS VER BORING (IT WAS A THRILLER) TO SAY THE LEAST.

THESE BOOKS WERE SO GOOD THAT I SORT OF GOT TO KNOW ANSWERS FOR MANY QUESTIONS WHICH WERE IN MY MIND FOR A LONG TIME. OFCOURSE, THEY ALSO THREW LOT MORE FRESH QUESTIONS FOR WHICH I AM STILL, TO THIS DAY DEBATING IN MY MIND. I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT THESE DEBATES CAN END ONLY IF I READ MORE AND MORE BOOKS.

OF LATE, I HAVE STARTED READING A GREAT BOOK CALLED ‘WAR AND PEACE’ BY LEOTOLSTOY. IT’S THE SECOND TIME THAT I AM TRYING TO READ THIS BOOK AND AM SURE THAT THIS TIME I’LL BE SUCCESSFUL. I SELECTED THIS BOOK BECAUSE I WAS CURIOUS TO KNOW THE REASON FOR GREAT PEOPLE LIKE MAHATMA GANDHI TO BE INFLUENCED BY LEOTOLSTOY’S WORKS. ANOTHER BOOK GANDHI HAS MENTIONED IN HIS BOOK’MY EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUTH’ IS BHAGAVADGEETHA AND THIS WAS THE MAIN PURPOSE FOR ME READING IT. NOW I KNOW HOW THESE BOOKS CAN INFLUENCE AN INDUVIDUAL’S LIFE. I FEEL LIKE I AM IMPROVING MY THINKING AND FOR THAT MATTER ALL OTHER ASPECTS OF MY LIFE ONLY BY READING BOOKS.

I KNOW THAT AFTER 23YEARS OF MY LIVING, I HAVE NOT READ ANYTHING AND THERE IS LOT MORE TO READ AND LOT MORE TO LEARN. AND ACTUALLY SPEAKING MOST OF THE PEOPLE OF MY AGE GROUP HAVE READ ALMOST TWICE OR THRICE THAN ME AND ARE MORE KNOWLEDGEBLE THAN ME. I AM IN NO WAY COMPETING WITH ANYONE AND AM SINCERELY TRYING TO IMPROVE MYSELF. I HOPE TO CONTINUE READING BOOKS THROUGHOUT MY LIFE.