Zeena Singh For Eastern Mirror Sunday
Hello folks,
I believe that life has so much to give if only we cared to give a little thought to the most minuscule of joys (which we’d find so much of) only if we’d stop looking at the looming discomforts and discontents.
So here I am, to share with you the simplest joys in my life as I have experienced some time in my life and those that I take as I face each day, at a time.
Of Reading
What does ‘reading’ conjure up for you? A pile of novels, reference books or magazines? Why do you read, for pleasure, for information and knowledge or just sheer curiosity?
For me, it all began with browsing through picture books which had no description or story, perhaps in the form of a colour book, or book of prayers for little children. The pictures often fascinated me keeping me wondering what those pictures were meant to convey. I’d give life to those images wanting so much to be like them, desiring to do what they were doing; everything appeared to be so perfect. Surreal was the world i’d be transported to just by picturing them.
Soon, I was curious to know what the books contained which my sisters shared with each other saying –“This is a very good book…..” That was enough to have me poring over the likes of Pearl S Buck’s “The Good Earth” and Leon Uris’ “Battle Cry” even under my covers at the very early age of seven and eight. What did I get out of it you might wonder?Besides a lot of reproach from my concerned mother who wanted me to get my full share of sleep and not read at the cost of hurting my eyes, I can’t say I got much but surely a very early taste of highly commanding vocabulary. The simpler narration or language of Pearl S Buck did impress on my little intellect, awareness and comprehension of a tinge of a sadness in the story of ‘The Good Earth’. Right or wrong, that was the biggest step towards my attraction to the written word.
Library periods at school channelled right choice of reading material my way which satiated a larger part of my yearn to read.
I admit that I haven’t done much of it as I should have or could have, however I am ever so appreciative of the fact that I was privileged to have been introduced to it a very early age to value the significance and magnitude of gaining what a book can offer.
For what I have gained by way of a blessing, I have opened the doors of my extended reading room to all ages to get a feel of what books can give to every individual across ages, and I share this very simple, unadorned description of the pleasure that I have received out of this wonderful experience called ‘Reading’.
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