MY BRIEF HISTORY OF READING
Ganesh Karapakula – Grade XI
Realizing my interaction with the books of various genres, it seems to me that a major part of the knowledge which I hold right now has its sources in just those words – in just those books. Those words are ambiguous – each one has its own world of meanings, each such world when combined with another such world makes a whole lot of sense which I perceive by exploration in my own way – a genuine exploration. This exploration has been rigorous at least to me. Each time I re-read those words, I would perceive their meaning differently than what I would have perceived during the previous reading(s). Those guys just drag me and place me in the maze of their linked worlds, a maze which has divergent paths from each world to another. It is not a matter of getting out of that maze but of reentering the maze to explore differently without any sort of distortion.
I still remember when I first held a little rhyme book, I didn’t quite understand what those rhymes meant to me. It was only after having read an omnibus of great works in poetry that I could understand a little of the aesthetics of rhymes. I still remember when I was in my lazy times, knowing in depth never occurred in me just because I refused to read beyond the first pages of all those good books. It’s only after I had become open-minded in terms of my willingness to read has my knowledge expanded in its depths. Only after having read at least a small fraction of all the good books have they become my role models! Yes, role models!
Nowadays, I have desperation to express – express how much ever I want to and the way I want to! I have been staring at those books which express so brilliantly and effectively! I want to express just like them – I have all those books in my shelves and library, each one lying there as my role model. The inspiration from those busted my period of dormancy – my love for writing has germinated! But what is interesting here is that, some of my writing becomes independent and narrates its story by itself back to me! By seeing the other great books occupying such dignity and having such freedom to express, I too want to liberate. Looking back into the history of myself, my soul has been becoming bigger and bigger each time I would finish reading a book and it subsumed in my soul!
Filed under: Reading
