'Show me a bookshelf and i will tell you everything you'll ever need to know about him' - Walter Mosley
The ideas, the inspiration and the pleasure that these books give aren't going anywhere but the entire ecosystem of reading (which was anywhich scarce) has been replaced by brain-numbing social networking sites and mindlessly binge-watching on Netflix.
To begin with, reading at leisure for pleasure and satisfaction had never been a part of our culture. From our school days, reading was always associated with rot learning & 'by-heart' the syllabus and once it was completed, books were thrown away at a corner to be never looked back. So, while growing-up, reading became more of a punishment or compulsion and never a ritual and that habit remained with us forever.
The walk to the library has now been replaced by a casual stroll to the nearby malls or cinema theaters, where they get their weekly dose of dopamine rush. Then, will the libraries continue to survive and remain open. The answer, sadly is, NO.
Book shelf used to be a pride of one's house, a medium of boasting one's knowledge, curiosity and intelligence. Not anymore. New age homes have bars, instead. Books are also a perfect solution for gifts that can be magical for the receiver and stays with the receiver for almost, lifetime. But who gives books, these days ?
Few weeks back, I was arguing with a friend on this reading habit or lack thereof and he connected this to the literary rates of our country. According to him, the actual literacy rate is far lower in our country than what's projected hence many can't actually read but my argument to that reasoning was - even amongst the literate, how many actually read for the sake of information, knowledge, pleasure and satisfaction? Far, far less..
I'm not as bitter as I might sound because I know that as a generation, we had been raised and taught in such a way that we never looked forward to reading but what's worrying is that even our present generation is being raised liked that, be it at schools or at homes. nothing's changed..
I am not putting forward a list on the advantages of reading because everyone knows about it nor I am arguing that we should somehow magically cultivate this culture or habit of reading because I know when it's come to reading it's a losing battle against social networking sites, web series and all major distractions.
But to that minuscule population who still believes and continues to read, it's up to us to figure out how to pass on that habit to our next generation and not let it lose in this wast sea of distractions.
And for me, the 'one' important reason that I read books is because, in this digital era of information overload, books separate noise from real knowledge.
Books can change lives, only if you allow them to.
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