My love-affair with reading dates a long time back. I still remember my first alphabets book vividly. Sure, the 'reading' was limited to recognizing the alphabet and the accompanied pictorial representation but the feeling of holding that book in your hand was comforting. The picture-stories, the picture dictionaries, 1000 action words, Children's Illustrated Thesaurus. Countless hours were spent looking over the figures, smitten by the illustration. Then windows to the world of fairy tales and the wonderland of Enid Blyton were opened. I am eternally indebted to the latter. The innocent children, the naughty gnomes, the beautiful fairies, the talking toys, edible houses, colourful countrysides did wonders to build my imagination. Later the abridged classics were discovered and there was no looking back. They gave way to original works. A liking for horror and mystery was also discovered. Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes Cases were devoured hungrily, and finally I arrived at the doorstep of the Queen of Mystery, Agatha Christie. The richest pieces of writing in terms of human emotions, human nature, historical facts were laid bare before me.
This is me with never having had a particular flair for writing but deeply in love with books and reading.Which brings me to the actual idea behind this piece of writing. Reading. Writing. Are these two connected to each other in any way? It is almost irresistible to mention the former when the latter is being discussed or vice versa. What is writing? Words woven together with unseen threads of purpose and idea. Yes. I refuse to accept the notion of writing without an aim and idea. There is always a force that leads one to form a piece of writing. Sometimes it is this unconscious aim and will behind penning down words that leads to masterpieces. Words come directly from the mind of the writer, his thought processes, ideas. Where do these ideas come from? The world around you; people, their problems, their joys, politicians, their ideas and the everyday events. Inventions, destruction, births, deaths, promises, lies, success, defeat. Plus there is a barrage of ideas in books: the works of fiction and non-fiction written by writers all over the world. Surely then writing cannot be difficult.
But in less than a year, this belief of mine has suffered a set back. The pieces of writing that my students put before me during my first year as an English teacher got me asking serious questions. I could have foregone the absence of structure in the model, but here there was no base-there were no ideas. A simple task of story-writing on any topic they pleased became their worst nightmare. They could not come up with a suitable theme. I was aghast, but I knew I had to find a remedy-fast. The mere question "whether they read?" became an amusing hands-on-war between my students and I. They read "sometimes" and they did not want to be bothered by the likes of Charles Dickens, the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen. They were thought to be too hard-an idea endorsed by some adults as well. I clarified the position to my students-if they were not to take up reading, they were going to fail! Well, it was true! They had a Shakespearan play to read and quite a few short stories. Themes, character development, structure were things not to be understood without reading. They tried. Sure they hemmed and hawed, but they had to pass the exam. In me, they found a Stickler for grammatical structure and spellings. Red marks in their note-books became the ruling feature. I tried. Tried to make the whole reading and learning process as much fun as possible. They did manage to ram that Shakespearan play down their throats in the end. Most of them passed the exam too, but none with flying colours.
How could the habit of reading have helped them in writing? Reading gives you the knowledge of sentence construction, improves vocabulary and diction. It broadens the thought process as the writer aims to prove and justify his point. It opens your mind to ideas. The technology boom has overshadowed the reading habits. Students prefer to "google" information than to look it up in books. They have taken to short forms of words and slangs due to texting habits. If only the present generation would rediscover the magic of reading, it would not only broaden their minds and bring acceptance but would enable them to bring order in their lives and discover their true selves.
This is me with never having had a particular flair for writing but deeply in love with books and reading.Which brings me to the actual idea behind this piece of writing. Reading. Writing. Are these two connected to each other in any way? It is almost irresistible to mention the former when the latter is being discussed or vice versa. What is writing? Words woven together with unseen threads of purpose and idea. Yes. I refuse to accept the notion of writing without an aim and idea. There is always a force that leads one to form a piece of writing. Sometimes it is this unconscious aim and will behind penning down words that leads to masterpieces. Words come directly from the mind of the writer, his thought processes, ideas. Where do these ideas come from? The world around you; people, their problems, their joys, politicians, their ideas and the everyday events. Inventions, destruction, births, deaths, promises, lies, success, defeat. Plus there is a barrage of ideas in books: the works of fiction and non-fiction written by writers all over the world. Surely then writing cannot be difficult.
But in less than a year, this belief of mine has suffered a set back. The pieces of writing that my students put before me during my first year as an English teacher got me asking serious questions. I could have foregone the absence of structure in the model, but here there was no base-there were no ideas. A simple task of story-writing on any topic they pleased became their worst nightmare. They could not come up with a suitable theme. I was aghast, but I knew I had to find a remedy-fast. The mere question "whether they read?" became an amusing hands-on-war between my students and I. They read "sometimes" and they did not want to be bothered by the likes of Charles Dickens, the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen. They were thought to be too hard-an idea endorsed by some adults as well. I clarified the position to my students-if they were not to take up reading, they were going to fail! Well, it was true! They had a Shakespearan play to read and quite a few short stories. Themes, character development, structure were things not to be understood without reading. They tried. Sure they hemmed and hawed, but they had to pass the exam. In me, they found a Stickler for grammatical structure and spellings. Red marks in their note-books became the ruling feature. I tried. Tried to make the whole reading and learning process as much fun as possible. They did manage to ram that Shakespearan play down their throats in the end. Most of them passed the exam too, but none with flying colours.
How could the habit of reading have helped them in writing? Reading gives you the knowledge of sentence construction, improves vocabulary and diction. It broadens the thought process as the writer aims to prove and justify his point. It opens your mind to ideas. The technology boom has overshadowed the reading habits. Students prefer to "google" information than to look it up in books. They have taken to short forms of words and slangs due to texting habits. If only the present generation would rediscover the magic of reading, it would not only broaden their minds and bring acceptance but would enable them to bring order in their lives and discover their true selves.
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