Should I read Books ??

[Funny question. This is what i wrote...]

"SHOULD I READ BOOKS?"

Should I? Should I not? That’s the big question it seems. According to me the asked question has a very simple answer. I should. And there the essay should end, isn’t it? Well, you (the reader) won’t get away with this so easily. Read on!

According to me, the reasons for reading books, in general, are manifold. If I consider my case, which is what the title asks me to do, I would arrive at the following reasons. But, first of all, let me introduce the real me and what led me to this life-saving habit of reading books. I am a very dreamy sort of a person, who likes to make use of the world and its characters around him to weave out stories in his woolly head. Since childhood (don’t worry, the flashback wont last too long) I have always loved watching people. The way they walk, talk, run, sit, weep, criticize, scold, haggle, struggle etc. Initially, I was at a loss for words in describing them, their characteristics, their habits and the feelings that they used to show intermittently. And then one day, out of the blue, I fell (I literally tripped) on a pile of Agatha Christie’s. Although I had a nasty scratch on my arm, and was given some time off recover at home, I couldn’t keep myself from going to that very room where I had had that horrible fall. In the process of exploring the room and its mean looking old, dusty volumes of fiction, I fell upon (figuratively speaking, thankfully) a very interesting looking book on a Caribbean Mystery. The author, Agatha Christie, made an old lady, Miss Marple (the detective) unveil the murderer in the Caribbean and I loved every second of it. When I finished the last page of the book, I felt as if a huge window, which had let in fresh air (scented with the most intoxicating smell of old books) had closed and my world had gotten gloomy again. It was then that I realized that how important it was that I continue reading.

I should read books because it gives me a world which I can explore at my will. It gives me the freedom to study people, their characteristics, their habits, their perspectives. It gives me the freedom to judge them, to compare their habits with mine, to add whatever I feel is relevant to my life and abhor the things which I feel are ‘injurious to health’. It gives me ideas, encourages thinking in a new direction and gives me glimpse into the lives of great men and their ways of thinking. Lately, I have started reading non-fiction which has given me information – what happened? When and where? How? It has given me the knowledge which empowers me to relate the past with the present. Hence when I asked “Should I read books?” I wouldn’t answer you. I would simply smile and write down this essay again, if you want!