Books

Thought Thought (Day 33 - 2 Aug 2013)

 can make you who you want to be.

I want to share my own experience today. This was when I was in my 2^nd or 3^rd std, all I wanted to do was play, play and play some more. Though playing is good, it did not take me anywhere and make me think any different than already. Way back then, we did not have a TV in most of the houses and we would wait for weekend to throng out community recreation center to watch Chitrahar and Appu-Aur-Pappu. And in school, we were made to watch some science related stuff on some days – can’t remember what. Later, when TVs became popular, I was totally addicted to it (I still am, but just not able to find time to give in to the addiction).

May be dad thought that I was becoming an idiot in front of the big box. He gave me the most wonderful gift I’ve ever received till date. A subscription with the local library. A voracious reader himself, he encouraged me read anything and everything I could get access to. He said I might, at some point, like a genre which I would like better than others. Reading books opened a new world to me. It let my imagination fly with every book I read.

A book can create an entirely different imagination to each person who reads it. It encourages us to think beyond what reaches the eyes. As they say, books are always a man’s best friend (the other is the dog, of course).  Though I love watching all those travel & movie channels on TV, I personally feel it limits your thought process. Everything is presented in front of you and says “this is it”. You tend to accept it and move on with life. But with books, even before you finish a story, you can come up with different climaxes and endings. You can alter the story as you feel best. Not so with what is on TV.

I do not know if I have become an extraordinary person by having a small library at home or reading lots of books, but I sure have learnt about many extraordinary people. In fact, all that information has made me extra-ordinary; books have humbled me :)