I remember when I was a toddler, my tuition teacher made me read a chapter or two from either Hindi or English literature books. She made me understand how to pronounce certain words if you’re unaware of how to speak those. And that’s how I learned to read. Day by day I became fluent in reading, and eventually, I came to enjoy that part of my schedule.
As time passed by this practice came to a stop. Though, every time I passed by a bookstore or library, my eyes lit up. It kind of fascinated me. Then I decided to resume it. The time I held that first book in my hands I didn’t know how it was going to turn out, I didn’t have any slightest of ideas of what it beheld. The book was The Night Train at Deoli by Ruskin Bond. It was a collection of short stories by him and the book title was one such story among them.
They were pleasant and heartwarming. It felt like it should never end. Before this, I didn’t have any hobbies. I was the one without any opinion about anything in the crowd. I felt unsure of myself sharing my thoughts anywhere in public. Everything seemed confusing. But after reading this first book, I saw I became a completely different version of myself. Then came books like “A Kite Runner”, “Tuesdays with Morrie”, “Palace of Illusions”, “Pride and Prejudice”, “Asura”, “A man called Ove”, “An Ember in the Ashes” (it’s a series consisting of 4 books, fantasy fiction), and many more including self helps. Though many were fictional books they made me live in a different world if the story persisted. Fiction doesn’t seem fiction. It’s as if the characters are real people and they’re talking to me. They made me understand empathy, forgiveness, kindness, and patience. Each one of them left an imprint on my mind. Of every question or misunderstanding about anything I held in my mind, the books I read slowly and steadily wiped them all. Not everybody reads, or can just pick up a book and become a reader, though everyone has their own way of finding answers or becoming what they are. And for them, it’s their epiphany. For me, it is reading.
Whenever people get to know that I’m Bookish, I like to read; their question would be either “how can you read such thick books without any pictures in them?” or “what do you understand in those useless bunch of papers? They are merely some stories right?” I can only think of myself from the time when I was going without reading and of myself now. I feel glad. I only reply that “in order to find inner peace and learn empathy, I don’t have to wander. I find them in these bunch of papers, in a world created by imagination.”
I realized I was complaining less, my thoughts seemed intellectual and substantial. I now normalize things, irrelevant to what defines society holds for any certain thing. After reading my first book I read several others and then there was no going back. Talking of the present, I have read many books, in different genres, and every genre I read made me understand people a little bit more to me it’s my way to escape reality and understand reality from other person’s stories. To me, books are the place I find my calmness.
The person I am now, I am proud of myself.
I love the ME, I am becoming;
I love the ME, I have become!
Jaipuria Talks Blog 
It was worth reading this blog. I can totally relate to this. While reading this blog I felt like someone is in front of me and telling me about her experience of reading, how she started reading, how it has changed her way of thinking, how she became able to give her point of view or opinion in front of everyone. Most interesting part was that now after reading a lot most of your confusions got cleared and you have very insightful view. The synergy in this blog is commendable. After reading this i have also decided to start my reading journey because it’s never too late to start something new.
I would love to read more blogs like this in near future.
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Beautifully written blog
I know Priya the Author of this blog in real real life so i can understand how much she loves book and reading. When it comes to story telling Proya is good at that and the same flow and fluency is carried here also it takes a lot of time to understand and to select that what to read and write but the author has some great sense of humor for the situatuon.
It hardly takes 8 min to read the same and after the completion of blog you may go for a re read because the Pace and tone is set well.
I want to congratulate the Author’s spirit and work done by her.
Hope to see some more content from You.
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As you have mentioned that when people know that we like to read books in our leisure time so their expressions are worth watching. I still remember when I started to read my first Novel in starting that was not interesting but after 30-40 pages it became nostalgic for me and that is how I start reading. There is an old saying that I remember while reading your blog “books are the real friends” and I think every book I have read so far I still remember every story. There is one more saying “ the more we read lesser we speak”.
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Your blog on reading is so full of great insights. I love your idea of adapting reading habit,it is really fruitful to read not only as a hobby but as a whole it provides so much of knowledge. Each book teaches so many lessons my last read was Tuesdays with Morrie, changed my perception about life completely. Very well articulated piece. Keep going.
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I used to be an avid reader during schooltime but as the years went by gadgets replaced books and habit got lost but books fascinate me everytime. After such a long time, I just recently started reading Tuesdays with Morrie, and it brought back all of the reasons I used to read; the book offers such wonderful ways to live, and it changed all of my perceptions about life. I can relate so well to your article. Reading is more than simply a relaxing pastime; it’s also an excellent way to expand one’s horizons intellectually. Very well written, keep going.
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