Being a good reader

Which is the last non-fiction book you read recently? What are the current topics that have engrossed the world? Who is the best seller of this year? If you don’t know the answer to any of the above, you simply give a nay shrug. You are on the right page.

I am a fellow nescient citizen of this group, who now hold-hands with you in this companionship. I am a non-reader by choice. Why? Because I take leisure in ignoring the book-stalls on pavements of broad-streets. I simply look away to the road side hawkers with a pile of unfamiliar volumes- fiction, non-fiction, biographies, mainstream writer’s section, eccentric writer’s corners, the aesthetic writers or the shiny-gloss of those ever-smiling colorful magazines. I do sometimes read my newspaper, I hover on the headlines, skim through the sports page, looking for cricket or some bold news on a sports star then I simply jump to gossip on the page 3.
Okay! You say this guy is a total loser! Why did he bother to write all this? do you feel you are better than me? lets see! how do you estimate yourself as a reader-?

What kind of a reader are you –

1. Are you a voracious reader? – Irrespective of its merit, your hunger for material is insatiable & you devour on any thing that gets on to your hands it’s a part of your staple diet.

2. Or Are you an omnivorous reader? – Your reading-range cuts through all fields, you have read books on sociology, war history, psychology, sports, autobiographies, medicine, architecture, economics, and philosophies. You can easily engage in all sorts of discussions with people of all kind.
3. Or Are you an expert reader in a particular field? – leave aside your profession or your college time readings, you are the person who has developed interest in a topic and tried to penetrate its nuances to the innermost core, almost like a morbid obsession. As if you’re planning to write the sequel or a similar engaging volume.

4. No! or Are you a dabbler? – You don’t read books to gain knowledge or get ideas, your sole purpose while slipping through the pages is to pass time. Maybe on a short travel on bus, while going to sleep, or alone on a boring evening etcetera. Nothing really matters on the receiving ends of your brain.

5. Maybe you just read self-help books – you are like me! you want to improve your vocabulary, your English grammar, pronunciation, some tips on something, a quick view on a fancy technique, from those how to books?

In the end, whichever category you belong to, even though the above list is not exhaustive in nature. How do you rate yourself as a reader on a whole? (poser ,mediocre, active, super-active)

Honestly,I would hardly pass an analysis on a reading scale and abashedly fill the fifth point. My excuse – am an outdoor person! Is it yours too?

I mean who would want to sit and waste time on fiction novels or reading about someone who is long gone in past century. Why should one keep his mind enthralled by the highs and lows of emotions that are simply (just) vicarious feelings in the end. I should rather live my life outside my room, have my own experiences, maybe go biking, play some sports, get wasted in a pub, lose track of time in night-outs. Etcetera, why not?

There is not even one good reason for which a noble soul could ever convince me to pick a hardcover and start reading it. (do you also feel the same? )

Okay! I guess we sympathize with each other & we are pretty synced in our opinions, but before we proceed, here’s a well known adage about the three different minds in this world–

1. Those who talk about their lives, other people’s lives, gossips.

2. Thos who talk about the upcoming technology, newly introduced architecture, the conspicuous changes that excite you more than the others and you want to be a part of it.

3. Those who talk about ideas, things that can change the world, things that will follow in years to come, those who spend time writing or collecting their thought , in order to bring a radical change in the society, economy, science.

Now Give a mild stroll to your neurons and look for your position, in one among the top three.

So moving forward– let us consider it a benign pleasure of us cool citizens of the outdoor’s, to look into the boring reader’s world for a change. May-be we might understand their choices of misery for a change. Just for a second, let’s think what’s our actual reasons for not picking up a book like them. Here’s mine-

1. I am recently convalescing from an decade long acute sinusitis (maxillas), so doctor told me it has affected your concentration to a great extent. The positive vibes don’t fall on the modulus and you hardly absorb or concentrate to anything, your mind wavers on every third second of the clock. So getting past college books was a big deal, forget other stuff. So if you’re one of those poor souls, well! get medicine first!

2. You find reading a very intriguing & painstaking process, after few pages, your mind is overwhelmed with lines and words & it starts getting boring.so anything that is boring induces somnolence. Hence, you leave it and you do something more engaging- like watching television!

3. You try reading sometimes but your brain is popped up with so many difficult words, the activity is discontinued and next thing you are doing is thumb-nailing a dictionary to your table.

4. You don’t like fiction (neither do I), but you can’t choose any non-fiction stuff because you don’t know where to actually start. You are befuddled in that long lining rack of books. Somebody comes in and suggest something very simple, thin and common. You feel offended to you intellect and you skip the exercise. It’s all a waste you say, so let’s move on!

godspeed.
vishu mishra