Books in one’s life
By: K S S Pillai
It is said that the best way to spend a rainy day at home is with a steaming cup of tea and a good book, ensuring that one escapes from boredom while gaining some knowledge. Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th American President, once said: I am a part of everything I have read. Louis L’Amour, the famous author of Western novels with gun-slinging heroes streaking through deserts on their half-wild horses, also had a similar view: Once you have read a book you care about, some parts of it always remain with you.
We read books for different reasons. They help in understanding why the people of a country behaved in a particular way years ago. Travel books take the reader to distant lands with their peculiar geography and the lifestyle of people residing there.
One can understand the history of a country if he is more familiar with the period people lived there. Those who are interested in the way people thought could understand their views if they read books written during that period.
When time rests heavy in our hands with no one close to our hearts nearby, we can read a book written by a writer we like. Those written about the people, their culture, traditions and psychology can give us a correct picture of that time instead of relying on other sources.
They also help to improve one’s mastery of the language. Reading anything, from novels to advertisements, is the best way to develop skills in that language. It is rightly said that words flow like rivers after one has read a thousand books.
People used to visit Sunday markets early in the morning where one could buy old and sometimes difficult-to-get books at a fraction of their original price. There were also a couple of libraries in every town from where books could be borrowed and read. Before the advent of technologies like the Internet, they were the main centres where one could use expensive reference books.
They are of little use now as a smartphone can provide any information in a few seconds. There are e-books, much cheaper than the printed books, designed to be read on devices like computers, tablets, or smartphones. E-readers, light in weight, are also there, eliminating the necessity of carrying heavy books while relaxing in your room or travelling. We can also download free e-books, read them, and delete them afterwards to free the space. Those with poor eyesight can now ‘read’ books by listening to audiobooks.
Reading books has become such a part of intellectuals that the habit is used sometimes to create a false impression about one. The first thing that a friend of mine does after finishing the formalities at an airport is going to a book stall there and buying a voluminous paperback. He then sits engrossed in the book till the flight reaches its destination. Once he reaches home, he is no more interested in the new acquisition and keeps it in the glass-fronted cupboard prominently placed in his living room, true to the adage that nothing furnishes a sitting room so beautifully as books.
We often come across news items and photographs of people donating books of their recently dead relatives to libraries. Speeches are made about the benevolent act of the donor and his commitment to encourage the reading habit in society. The truth that the donor has only cleared the space occupied by the books never comes out.
There is a library in my city that organizes talks by people on ‘the book I like’ every few days. Some people interested in books attend those meetings and make lengthy speeches. Reporters are invited to the event, and a report and photographs are published the next day.
(The author is a retired professor of English. A regular contributor to ‘The Kashmir Vision’, his articles and short stories have appeared in various national and international publications)
