Blast Off with Books

As a child I just loved reading books like Enid Blyton, Famous Five, Tintin Series, Dr. Seuss, The Hardy Boys, The Adventures of Sherlock Homes, the Indian classic books like – Amar Chitra Katha. Archies, Readers Digest, Encyclopedias, books by famous authors like Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Ruskin Bond, R. K. Narayan, books of various kinds.

In fact, I had a group of friends, neighbors and cousins with whom I used to have a competition to finish reading a book at a stretch or to read maximum number of books in the summer vacations. Oh! What a splendid time we spent together reading. Those were the days of countless books, relaxed afternoons and overnight sleepovers spent inside a comfortable rug with a book wrapped up in those tiny little fingers. Now that doesn’t mean I had a book shelf at home or a series and collection of the best books in town. These were books mostly, borrowed from cousins and friends or from a scrap dealer,  books from libraries and books received as a gift.  

Did I say gift? Indeed yes, a boon it was, a blessing as it shaped the way I am today as an individual. Books are a source of knowledge… truly.. or rather much more than that … it is the way you express yourselves…. It is the way you learn to share. It teaches you to think, gives your thoughts the wings to fly beyond the boundaries of your confined space into a world of imagination, puts your thoughts into words with a creative flair to express yourselves and gives you the freedom to reach out.

Unfortunately, the generation today is so fast paced that they miss out on the little pleasures of life – family picnics, summer afternoons playing hide n seek, reading volumes of books, climbing over the trees or star gazing while sleeping on the terrace of your house, late night walks on the beach or park. Amongst all this having a book for life is the most cherished or at least I feel so as I have gained a lot from books. As a mother of an 8 year old it’s always been a challenge to have my son hooked on a good quality book and I have always failed at my attempts but yes I haven’t stopped trying.

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.Books, A Friend for Life!