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.