RCphobia to RCmania!

Raju a student of mine is suffering from RCphobia(an unreasonable fear of the reading comprehension section in aptitude tests), a malady most CAT-takers suffer from. The symptoms: extreme dread of RC, a feeling of great discomfort while through an RC passage, a sudden feeling of ‘lost’ness in the middle of a passage, an inability to grasp the message conveyed, headache, hatred, torture, boredom and whatnot.
Raju strongly feels that including RC in aptitude tests like CAT amounts to criminal torture.
If you too are an RCphobic, then read on…
Simply speaking, you find RC extremely boring.
Most students fear or dislike RC because they consider it boring. Well, before I give you the prescription, let us diagnose the ‘dis’ease.
At the outset, let me make one thing clear: that ‘RC is boring’ is a universal truth!
Now, now, don’t misunderstand me; let us, together, comprehend this ‘universal’ statement.
The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines ‘boring’ as ‘not interesting’. What does this mean?
In our childhood, we were motivated towards different things and actions because they ‘interested’ us. Things that didn’t interest us were habitually avoided, even if they were important, just as we frequently indulged in things that interested us. That was our childhood perspective: we could not differentiate between important and unimportant things. Immaturity led us towards easy, pleasant, comfortable, secure, self-centred, the so-called ‘interesting’ activities. And so, we indulged in them continually. Simply speaking, most things we did were interesting but unimportant. Looking back, we can thus conclude: If what interested us wasn’t necessarily important, and what was important didn’t interest us, then, logically, most things that were ‘not interesting’ may have been very important!
Going back to our ‘universal’ statement, we can surmise thus: When we say RC is extremely uninteresting, what we are actually saying is RC is extremely ‘important’. This is the essence of my logic; some may disagree, but it drives home the point. RC is boring because you ‘think’ so, you ‘feel’ so.
Well, why is it so? Because, what you are now is an extension of your childhood.
Now, consider this—
Our personality is collection of our traits and characteristics. All our present traits were once our habits. Our habits were those that we acquired by frequent repetition of certain activities. Simply put: An action frequently done becomes a habit; a habit continued becomes our trait. And, you know, old habits die hard. This is exactly why you still find yourself in front of the idiot-box wasting time; you still chit-chat with friends gaining nothing of importance; you still smoke; you still fall prey to external attractions; you still lie on the sofa doing nothing; you still day-dream; you still procrastinate; you still hate to do the home work; you still refuse to go to the grocery for mom; and above all, you still HATE TO READ!
If you had read in your childhood with interest, as you did all those ‘interesting’ things, you would not have found RC so boring(all those who don’t dread RC know what I mean). The point is as simple as that.
Does this mean that just because of your childhood folly, you can’t do anything about RC now?
NO, IT DOESN’T!
What it means is you must confront the truth. The truth about likes, dislikes, interests, disinterests, habits good and bad, hobbies, traits, characteristics; the truth about attitudes and one’s judgment of importance. They are not genetic!
What it means is you must change your attitude towards important but not so interesting things.
Yeah, that’s it, YOU MUST CHANGE YOU OUTLOOK TOWARDS RC!
Because, you are a child, no more.
Because, you’ve chosen to take CAT now.
And, because, that’s precisely why RC is important!
So, love RC.
It’s difficult I know, not impossible.
Impossible is nothing!
Just ‘love’ it!

ON READING

One of life’s greatest skills is reading. In fact, it is the most important of all; it is the mother of all learning skills. A person devoid of the reading habit is not living a colourful life at all. True, life without this habit is equal to the black and white TV.
A habitual reader, I can’t imagine life sans reading. My life has been full of imagination, full of colours, full of fun and everything life, thanks to my reading habit. I experience every ‘nano’second of my life in its true sense—all the books and authors have taught me how.
For me, every book has been ‘a’ life and life has been a book!
I live a book and read the life!
I cherish all the moments I’ve lived in books…
I’ve been in love everytime I’ve read a romantic novel,(I’ve read ‘Love Story’ by Erich Segal infinite times); I’ve been on adventurous journeys by the sea, in the sky, through forests, deserts etc., with the famous five, Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Santiago and many others and faced dangers, fought enemies, got hurt, overcame problems and enjoyed myself; I’ve experienced the dark side of human life with Alfred Hitchcock, Roald Dahl, Graham Greene, Elgar Alan Poe and others; I’ve explored space and roamed about life’s ‘lab’ with H.G.Wells, P.G.Wodehouse, Isaac Asimov, Stephen Hawking, etc.; I’ve solved many a murder mystery with the one and only Sherlock Holmes, the extraordinary Hercule Poirot, the impossibly simple Miss Marple; I’ve understood the great Shakespeare, befriended O Henry and Oscar Wilde, been intimidated by Elgar Alan Poe and lived with the godfather; I’ve been on the train to Pakistan, seen who the God of small things is, cried in the Cry, the beloved Country and To Kill A Mocking Bird; I’ve visited exotic places, met different people, tasted a variety of dishes; I’ve been inspired by the monk who sold his Ferrari; I’ve been a Gandhi, a Kalam, a Lincoln…I’ve lived many other lives that I've read about; I’ve even ‘died’ a number of times, once with Morrie in Tuesdays with Morrie...!
What not did I do! All with my best friend—the book.

Recommended reading(for the beginners, only.)

Here I give a list of books and authors that I’ve read and found very interesting. These, I feel shall help you develop the reading habit to begin with, and improve your reading comprehension in general. The ultimate results may vary based on ‘how much’ reading you actually do everyday. I advise you to read a lot, not just the ones given here, but other books and authors and most importantly newspaper-editorials and magazines(both political and general).
Most of these books fall under the ‘Fiction’ category, yet, I’ve sub-grouped them to make your choice easier. You may choose any of the books or authors from the category that matches your likes.

I-For the beginners (the ones who have yet to cultivate the reading habit):
Charles Dickens(Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist); Mark Twain(The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper); Lewis Carrol; Jonathan Swift; Rudyard Kipling; R.L.Stevenson; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle(all the Sherlock Holmes’ stories and novels); Enid Blyton(the Famous Five novel series and the Enchanted Wood); the Hardy Boys series; the Secret Seven series; the Harry Potter series; short story versions of Shakespearean dramas(Tales from Shakespeare) by Charles Lamb; R.K.Narayan.

II-Fiction, Sci-fi Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Detective Fiction-- For the ones who are already in the habit of reading:
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Agatha Christie(there are more that 40 novels by her); Jeffrey Archer, Sidney Sheldon, Irwing Wallace, Michael Crichton, Mario Puzo(especially the Godfather and Fools Die); Paolo Coelho(The Alchemist); Alfred Hitchcock, P.G.Wodehouse, Graham Greene, H.G.Wells, Erich Segal(especially Love Story); Edgar Alan Poe; Mitch Albom; Arundhati Roy, Khushwanth Singh; R.K.Narayan; Dan Brown, Stephen King.

III-Inspiration:
The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho; The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari, the Greatness Guide by Robin Sharma; The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey; Wings of Fire; My Experiments with Truth; Tuesdays with Morrie and For One More Day by Mitch Albom; Fools Die by Mario Puzo.

IV-Romance:
Love Story by Erich Segal; A farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway; The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne; Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy; An Equal Music by Vikram Seth; Gone With the Wind by I-don’t-remember-who; A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens; Romeo and Juliet and other Shakespearean romances; Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

V- Poetry
John Keats, Emily Dickinson, Rabindranath Tagore, P.B.Shelley, William Wordsworth, Shakespeare, Nissim Ezekeil, Sarojini Naidu, T.S.Eliot.

NOTE: The above list contains books and authors that I've read, one persons "I've-read-list", hence, it cannot be a comprehensive list.
Shortly, I shall add a list of Non-fiction books and authors