Read Religiously

In my childhood days our recreation meant playing indoor or outdoor games, meeting friends and relatives, going to the park or beach, long walks, radio and reading. Reading became one of the important ways of knowing what was happening across the world (through newspapers) and getting exposed to stories, values, thoughts, cultures, history, fiction, philosophy etc. through books, comics, magazines etc.

I used to be a voracious reader and my language skills became stronger with each passing day. Perhaps I picked up my interest in reading through my father who used to religiously spend an hour each day reading. He, and subsequently I, used to love to read anything that came our way. Even the waste paper used to wrap up something could have something of interest. I remember being addicted to Readers Digest and I would have read each issue from cover to cover for over 30 years. I have benefited tremendously in shaping my own thinking mainly thanks to the time spent reading. I still remember fondly the stories from Indian Puranas and history, stories from Leo Tolstoy etc. which formed a deep impression in my mind.

One of my friends recently mentioned that reading autobiographies is great because we get exposed to a great persons thinking and outlook without necessarily having to spend a long time with that person. If we read one autobiography a week, it could be equivalent of meeting 52 great personalities within a year. What a fantastic thought.

Reading is no longer considered important by the most of the youth of today. A lot of their spare time is spent in front of the idiot box watching entertaining channels which have no real education value. There is also a huge interest in playing games on the computer and surfing / chatting. Even TV and the net can be useful, if the right kinds of channel or sites are visited. Most youngsters, however, prefer entertainment to education. By reading less and less, I fear our youth will rapidly lose language skills and will also not be engaging the mind in learning and developing.

Reading is one habit that we should all cultivate. And we should be choosy about what we read. The mind is capable of doing great things. It just needs a little bit of encouragement and reading provides just that. With this habit, you can travel across the universe while sitting in your chair and let the mind explore new frontiers. Reading can take you back centuries into the past or let your mind travel into the future. With the values that you learn by reading, you can shape your life and become achieve greatness.

"A man who does not read good books, has no advantage over one who can’t read them"
- Mark Twain

"Reading all the good books is like a conversation with the finest men of past centuries" – Rene Descartes