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Sunday, January 08, 2006

On his reading, his dreams and his just-another-guy life….

There was something about books, that drew him to it.No, not the books that are prescribed in the syllabus…..but those books, which he could read at leisure, and absorb, just the amount and the thoughts that he chose to absorb…he didn’t have to understand or accept the book in its entirety..he would read other books too, the thriller ones, that are written to be best-sellers and then to be made to Hollywood movies, fetching large sums to the author, and the downright dumb books, written for dumbos……for that matter, he would read any book, as long as it was not his text book

He loved to read any book, any book..after reading which, his understanding of the entire book wouldn’t be tested, which was why he would abhor the text books.

For his middle class parents, education was the only ticket to the good life and they pushed him no end, all the while, loving him and praying for him. And so, it perturbed his parents, no end, that the boy would react as if he has been asked to drink poison when asked to read his text books. He was always with those useless books(as his parents called any other book , he read)

To his parents , he was the rebel, who wouldn’t understand…
But to himself he was the rebel with a cause…
He couldn’t get himself to read books and be judged about his understanding..books are for open interpretation, he would say….

So , one fine day,his parents had a little talk with him about the financial situation..He understood.

“Please stop reading all those other books and concentrate on your studies”, they pleaded…., he loved them and he yielded…

He never read those books he loved to read and had planned to read…The whirpool called competition swallowed him…

So did he give up his love of reading, and flow along with life?
No, he just did his duty as a son, then as a father and finally when he retired, he opened a library!!!!!

5 comments:

Jeevan said...

wow. super monu. when we get older, we can read any books, on our own. for me also it is very hard to ready the school books and feel easy to read the book on my own.

Anonymous said...

sweet one

Unknown said...

I met a person who perhaps has the same story to say ! He now (after retirement) runs a lending library.

Good first for a short story :)

Sriram said...

Hmm... Dunno if I'd agree with your conclusion, but that's just how we think, isn't it? :)

monu said...

@jeevan
i am like that too
:)

@vasanthi
thanks!

@Jayan
i guess, the man who runs the library i go to must be like that too, he is retired...thought abt this story on the way back from library
:)

@sriram
i dont get u..we think?
but i beleive most of us yield to circumstances without so much as a fight , because we have duties towards others as well as much we have towards our own self
wat say?