On Reading.

Its been so long since I updated on Edulix's blog, I kind of missed it. But with deadlines staring at you in the face its difficult to write and so much more difficult to think. The writer in me has been hibernating, but in my sleep I keep dreaming of summer. I was going through the forums after a very long time and so much has changed. There are so many new people, I feel a little lost. Tanmay is now Maharaja, Saraj's display picture has changed, everybody has these cool but big display pictures. There are so many OTs, which are such good stress relievers. Also, I realised that most Edulixites listen to head-banging music, and I don't. I feel a little left out.

I read this OT about favorite books, and I kept writing in the Post Reply Box until I had a good blog sized entry, and I think hmm, this could go in the blog. I am such a sucker for books!

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I was never a good writer to begin with. When asked to write an essay on "Myself" in Junior KG, I copied my neighbouring boy's essay in class. So my essay went like "My name is Siddharth". I spent a lot of time trying to spell Siddharth right. Um, I mean copying the name right. When my teacher knew that I had copied I was so surprised, and started beliving teachers are very clever and one must not lie to them. When I was five I read my first book - Ladybird's Heidi. I pronounced Heidi as 'Haddi' and made everybody laugh. Heidi was followed by William Tell and a sense of wonder about how brave William Tell was and insatiable curiosity about a cross bow. My mom told me a cross bow was like a bow and arrow we saw in Mahabharat every Sunday morning. Wooden jhaadu-sticks served as arrows and a bent stick with a thin thread forcing it into a curved shape served as a bow. A fine little elf I must have made, with not a single arrow ever leaving the bow. An irrational fear of having my eyeball stuck to the end of the stick took over after incessant nagging by my mom to give up on my bow and arrow. It soon lay abandoned on a garden bench for birds to make nests with out of those sticks.

I started reading Fairytales when I was eight. Hansel and Gratel scared me and fascinated me at the same time. Imagine a chocolate house with windows made up of sugar, its any kid's dream. And being fattened in a cage to be cooked for dinner is any kid's nightmare. Jorinda and Joringel made me long for fairytale love. I've been a believer in love since then.

It seems to be humbug but although I so love fairytales, I hate Enid Blyton's books. When I was a kid, I'd always want to have lemonade and black current buns and believed that nimbu-paani is lemonade. Although I had a street dog as a pet who accompanied me to school and ran along as I cycled, waited until school got over to come home with me, she never was like Scamper. So what if she loved me so much more than 10 Scampers could ever love anybody. There was hardly any place in the house, forget about having a garden shed. My mom wore shalwaar kameezes and never skirts like Peter and Janet's mom did. You spend your summers longing for a life like the Secret Seven, and its disappointing when you don't have that life. Luckily, even as a kid I never let it affect me. But I know for sure that my kids will not read Enid Blyton.

Mills and Boon was this series most girls in my class carried secretly in their bags and sometimes swapped. Story books were not allowed in school, and a 'raid' by the prefects lead to confiscation of nearly 30 Mills and Boon books. So I finally read a copy of Mills and Boon and I was eeked out. I indulged in Maths instead and Geometry became my favorite subject. I finally graduated from Enid Blyton and Tintin (which I still love) to Robin Cook. I wanted to be like Susan Wheeler of Coma but identified with the reclusive Jack Stapelton in Contagion. I soon got bored of Robin Cook. I have something against authors who write too many similar books. I believe in having a single masterpiece. If you read The Kite Runner you'd know what I'm talking about. The summer after graduating from Engineering Scool saw me reading Lord of the Rings - something I had been putting off for nearly four years. My Edulix profile would be a good indicator of how it has affected me.

After reading works of Rumi translated in English, I discovered Khalil Gibran when I was 18, and have formed a bond with him which no number of lives, rebirths and deaths can break. In Gibran I have discovered myself and discovered love. My kind of love.

So coming back to the topic of favorite books:
Antoine de Saint Exupery - The Little Prince.
Jules Verne - Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea.
J.R.R. Tolkien - Lord of the Rings.
Khaled Hosseini - The Kite Runner.

I keep coming back to the Little Prince, and finding new meaning in the words everytime I read it. Its truly a master-piece.

Alright bloggie, will keep you updated as often as I can~