This piece is not to pass a
judgement on that lady. For all you know, it may have been a joke made in poor
taste. We know for sure that that lady is a smart person working in a senior
role in a reputed multinational company. So, no comments on her intellectual capability
either.
The fact is: her remark made us
think. And this is the reply I would have wished to give her. Not a lecture on
the merits of reading habits in general, but a very personal account about what
books have meant to me all my life. Before I forget, a heartfelt thank to that
neighbour, who made us understand ourselves a little better.
Witness a Beautiful
Mind
Books are an embodiment of
accumulated knowledge, thoughts, imagination and emotions of the author(s) on a
chosen set of topics. It’s an image of a beautiful mind -- the most beautiful
thing in nature. Is it the only possible image? Of course not! The beauty of
mind can reveal itself in various forms: a picture, a movie, a play, a
sculpture, a speech, an organisation, a product, an idea, a piece of research…
I think this list is endless. Even a beautiful human relation is a creation of
a beautiful human mind.
Books, or long form writing of
any kind, is one such manifestation. It can’t be done by individual, isolated
pieces or by mere expertise in a language. The intellectual glue, the overarching
theme of the book that binds it together, and how its tiny little parts fit
together without being forced, is one of the most beautiful things I have
witnessed. This phenomenon is what keeps me picking one book after another.
It’s not necessarily a thirst for knowledge which is available in other forms
too and probably more efficient one than books. It’s also not for
entertainment, which again, is an easily available commodity in many other
forms.
Active and Nourishing
Entertainment
There’s another reason why
reading, especially reading books, is such a unique experience. The magical
experience hidden in the books is a gentle and shy creature. It comes and
knocks on your mind’s door only once. If you are distracted, if you aren’t
attentive, you will miss that. The experience you get on reading is also
possible only when you put in the active effort of searching in the words that
the book is trying to project on your mind’s screen. This is active
entertainment as opposed to passive ones like audio-visual or social media. This,
it’s been long and repeatedly evidenced in literature, is very good for your
mind. You aren’t just consuming pre-digested nuggets of information and
entertainment, but are actively working on it, processing it to create the
experience or outcome you are seeking. This is a fundamentally effortful
activity yet is capable of creating a level of relaxation not achievable
through most other forms of entertainment. Its analogy in the physical domain
is exercising. Of course, it’s strenuous and makes you sweat, yet it may be a
more effective way of unwinding after a hectic day than watching a movie or partying
hard.
Commune with Great
Minds
Many books, especially
non-fiction books, have given me an exquisite experience of being in a
conversation with the author. Great books don’t merely present content that has
to be passively absorbed by the reader. Rather, they are written in a
conversational style, goading the reader to think, agree, disagree, challenge, applaud
and sometimes say ‘Eureka!’. An intense reading session has often left me with
an aftertaste of having conversed with a great mind.
A Noble Escape
Books are also an escape — from
a reality that sometimes tends to get too monotonous and dreary, where
sometimes one tends to feel like a prisoner — of ordinary, practical, worldly
and socially acceptable ways. But this escape, unlike many others, doesn’t
intoxicate you, doesn’t create dependence. Instead, it liberates you to forget
yourself and your ordinary selfish life by immersing yourself into loftier
issues and subjects: philosophy, science, arts. Such an escape, even if
temporary, cleanses you, leaves you perceptive of a reality beyond yourself. It
wakes you to your fundamental right to delve into selfless ruminations. This
leads to personal growth and nourishment of the soul.
So those are a few of the reasons
why I read books. And that’s the experience I would like to share with others
through this library. I feel that a culture of reading and sharing your
afterthoughts with others could foster a culture of intellectual vibrance in our
society. I understand that whether this happens in reality is predicated by how
well people accept this thought and this initiative. The degree of broader acceptance
of an idea/initiative is often not a reflection of the quality, scalability or
effectiveness of an idea but a reflection of the state of the world and the
people who populate it. My career in doing research has made this conviction
very sound.
This is what I would have liked
to tell the neighbour who asked, “Why read books?” Books and reading are not
for everyone. But there are people who love reading books; and these are people
— kids and adults alike — who would benefit from this magical experience if
initiated at some point in their lives. And pardon my bias, but the more the
number of such people, the merrier a place this world will be.
