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Thank you, Dad, for giving me the gift of reading. Thank you for loving your grandkids so much. Thank you for being vocal where it mattered and thank you for reminding me to continue pursuing my goal.
Today if I am a voracious reader and read anything and everything under the sun, it is all thanks to my father. He inculcated the habit of reading from a young age.
It was another thing that Harry Potter too played a huge part in me turning into a hooked reader but my dad started the journey. Right from Nancy drew to Hardy Boys, Enid Blyton, Panchatantra and Malgudi days, I remember being introduced to many books and reading them like there is no tomorrow. Both my brother and I started reading quite young and I can say (albeit a little proudly) that we have quite a reading collection.
We did not have ostentatious birthday parties, the latest gadgets or tv but we did have books. We read and read till the cows came home. He never forced either my brother or me to sort out domestic chores at home but there were no cutbacks when it came to reading. It also has to do with the fact that my mother being a school teacher, reading had to be innate, there were no two ways about it.
Looking back, I realise the one thing I received as a blessing and gift is my ability to lose myself into a whole new world via books because you see knowledge and imagination is never-ending. You never really finish learning. Till the end of life, you never finish learning. These are wise words taught to me by my father.
Jeffrey Archer, Ruskin Bond, Jk Rowling, Amish Tripathi, Ashwin Sanghi, Devdutt Pattanaik are just a few names whose books mesmerise.A father’s gift is most precious especially when it is intangible, stays with you life long and guides you on your journey alone.
The habit of reading is a habit dying sadly amongst the people today. Not many pick up a hardcopy (or Kindle ) to read when at home. Most are busy on social media and putting the latest hashtag along with the latest photo or just plainly whiling away time, aimlessly scrolling.
My advice is to all those people would be exactly what my dad said two years back: pick up a damn book and read instead of wasting time on useless apps! And therein my forgotten affair with books started again. You tend to lose yourself in life, in day to day activities, work, marriage, kids.Here again, my dad reminded me of something that was still worth pursuing. As a person that wants to pursue a writing career, it only makes sense for me to read continually.
As a daughter, I still don’t agree with a lot of his viewpoints, his impatience and quick temper (age mellows you down is a misnomer) but there are so many things he did right and I just want to concentrate on those and thank him.
Thank you, Dad, for giving me the gift of reading. Thank you for loving your grandkids so much. Thank you for being vocal where it mattered and thank you for reminding me to continue pursuing my goal.Sometimes love and gratitude cannot be put into words.
Born and brought up in Mumbai. A feminist and a voracious reader. read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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