I used to be that kid who read a lot. A whole lot. Forget the usual dance/music/drama classes - all I needed was a book or twenty to spend my whole summer holidays with. I started early, about 7 or 8 maybe, on the leftovers and left-behind's of my older cousins' books; books that I was clearly not ready for, so much so that I had to underline words that I didn't understand, wait for my mom to come home in the evening, ask her the meaning of the words and then re-read all the pages from that day all over again! (Until I got old enough to use a dictionary. Man, I loved my big fat Oxford English dictionary)
A book could just hook me in the first 5 pages - I must've been the most gullible (or ideal?) kid to sell a story to! I'd happily read anything I could get my hands on. My favourite reading spot was the corner of the dining table. I always so stuck in the current book I was reading that I used to sit on the table, back to the wall, cross legged, head bent, ignoring all the warnings of "your eyes will deteriorate/you'll have glasses soon if you read like that!", and sit there reading for hours and hours. (still have perfect eyesight, btw.)
Fast Forward about 10 years. Done with college, been working for 6 years (!) now - and I almost can't believe that kid was me. I probably have read about 10 books in those 6 years - completely lost touch with that whole beautiful world. So many distractions, that so many years went by without being counted for!
Damn you Gossip Girl and ANTM and Grey's Anatomy, Damn you IPL and Damn you Facebook!!! Suddenly I'm left behind, I haven't read any of the books the world is talking about - maybe its in my head but I've become so "dumbed" out. Time to get back on track - nothing, nothing in the world can replace the experience of reading a book - laughing out loud (the non virtual kind!), unable to put it down coz you have to know what happens next, and then realising its 5am and you read all night just to find out :)
Thankfully its so easy to just get right back, find an interesting book and settle down with it. That dining table is long gone, but I'm glad that kid is still around!
A book could just hook me in the first 5 pages - I must've been the most gullible (or ideal?) kid to sell a story to! I'd happily read anything I could get my hands on. My favourite reading spot was the corner of the dining table. I always so stuck in the current book I was reading that I used to sit on the table, back to the wall, cross legged, head bent, ignoring all the warnings of "your eyes will deteriorate/you'll have glasses soon if you read like that!", and sit there reading for hours and hours. (still have perfect eyesight, btw.)
Fast Forward about 10 years. Done with college, been working for 6 years (!) now - and I almost can't believe that kid was me. I probably have read about 10 books in those 6 years - completely lost touch with that whole beautiful world. So many distractions, that so many years went by without being counted for!
Damn you Gossip Girl and ANTM and Grey's Anatomy, Damn you IPL and Damn you Facebook!!! Suddenly I'm left behind, I haven't read any of the books the world is talking about - maybe its in my head but I've become so "dumbed" out. Time to get back on track - nothing, nothing in the world can replace the experience of reading a book - laughing out loud (the non virtual kind!), unable to put it down coz you have to know what happens next, and then realising its 5am and you read all night just to find out :)
Thankfully its so easy to just get right back, find an interesting book and settle down with it. That dining table is long gone, but I'm glad that kid is still around!
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