I always came
across with a demotivating question which let me think about the worth of
spending time on reading. Yes, the question is -- “What’s the benefit of
reading?”
From my childhood my surroundings sets
contradictory path for me (about this topic).
Specially:
-- Don’t read book, read the nature.
-- Go out and learn from the friends, not from the books.
-- Book is your best friend, it never betrays.
-- Bookish knowledge is not fit for the world
-- World is for knowledgeable person, you should gain knowledge from books.
-- Study hard and be smarter.
-- Smart people have hands on experience…
I think who all
are reading this, gives similar confused look as I give it to them.
As you grow
older, you have responsibility to teach or share what you learn from your
action. So let me tell you what benefit I get from reading.
First of all, I
have no specific choice for the book I read. I read train ticket too (And how that
benefits!!!)...
Real life vs book
Ok, real life
and bookish life is two different thing. But you need to realize that a bookish
life is someone’s real life. A book to me is a writer’s observation marinated
with imagination, cooked with realization, garnished with proposals and served
in plate made of social bindings. So, nothing comes out of nothing.
Pick any famous book (other than
fantasy) and you will see the writer either observed the fact or explained by
someone who was part of the fact. Even the fantasy books are outcome of the
writer’s imagination towards a solution of a problem.
So, what you are actually
learning is “Someone’s real life”. Life is really short to learn from your own
mistakes.
Consider tomorrow you will die
You never know,
what you are going to face tomorrow. Our lifespan is inconspicuous dot in
time’s eyes. We need to be prepared for all the battle, consciously and
unconsciously. You are the weakest species in this world. You can’t even
predict the risk. You either need “Experience” or “Knowledge” to foresee the
problems. You cannot fail all the time as demand of expertise grows with your
age. World is changing continuously. Tomorrow, when you die, some writer write
in their journal about your case that you died because of alcohol. You didn’t
know because your job is alcohol testing. You never see or heard about anyone
who died because of this. But someone give up the job because of your death.
Matter of fact; learn about what
you are doing. You are reading about someone’s mistake and writing your
mistakes for someone with the ink of your life.
Windows that need to open
We have length,
breadth and height. I look different in every mirror in the mirror room. Same people
behave differently in different situation. Same decibel is fatal for someone
and fun for someone. Same facial expression for cry and laugh. Same winter is
boon for someone and bane for some. Love is life and torture. Dream soothes you
up and wake you up. Killing is good and bad. Happiness brings happiness to
someone by killing someone’s happiness. Hope is ignition and a weapon of
exploitation. Thoughts creates and
confuses.
Every window has its own view of
a same place. Only the projection is different. As a human without wing, you
really have very less window. Books give me windows that need to open. While in
library I see those windows beckoning me to see beyond that. Perspective and
relativity brings rhythm in life. Not as the omnipotent I can’t be in two place
at a time. But while reading a book actually I can. I can laugh in pain, dream
in chaos, and sleep in run when fly with my books. These windows keeps the
fresh air flow in my life continuously.
Right may be wrong
No
religion is bad, only the explanations are. Everyone scared to write their
opinion because once written it needs explanation, it always challenged by
someone with innovation. Reading is not learning.
Books are the only source where
you will come to know the truth. Yes there are books which confuse you and take
you far from the truth. But counter-books always clear the confusion.
And finally
The Bliss of solitude
Boredom,
loneliness and waiting in queue, three absolute part of anyone’s life. You may be a great orator, people magnet or extrovert person, but mostly you are alone. You may be a part of crowd but as they don't know you or your likes you start feeling lonely and bored standing in the queue of your life. And
these are frustration designers. Frustration brings anger and anger is banger. I
never get bored as those chained alphabets play with my emotion, I never feel
lonely as characters always walk and talk to me and in queue rather enjoying people’s
frustration I always move forward page by page.
These are my
explanation of why I read books. I simultaneously read several books and my
stack of my iPad full of books from different genre. From light weight funny novels,
to heavy weight spiritual analysis of mythical characters. Other than Bengali,
Hindi, English there are plenty of translated books are in my shelf. Due to the
continuous bohemian life I cannot carry physical books. Thanks to the technology,
though I love to touch the smell of new books, I can’t buy as I don’t like to
throw books. Books are always my second best friend after people. As you
completed reading my long explanation I think you will now stop asking me “What’s
the benefit of reading?” Happy knowledge hunt.
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