CAN READING HABIT BE TAUGHT?
“The
habit of reading is the only enjoyment
in
which there is no alloy.
It
lasts when all other pleasures fade.”
Anthony
Trollope
Many
parents keep making this request to me: “Sir, please tell my son/daughter to
read.”
I smile. There
are two reasons behind that smile… One: I did not cultivate the reading habit till
I was in twelfth standard. Two: Most of the parents, who want me to tell their
children to read, don’t read.
So, is there a ‘right
time’ to cultivate this reading habit in life? Is it something that can be ‘taught’
to someone, particularly little children?
I am not a child
psychologist; hence, I do not know whether or not reading habit can be ‘taught’.
But, this much I know: each one has a personal reason as to why he or she reads
books. Between the parents, one may swear by the books; the other may simply stay
off them. Or, both may be fond of reading; but, not their children. Or, parents
may not have touched books in their lives; but, their children may become
voracious readers. Of the two siblings, one may love reading, the other may detest
it…
They say,
reading stories to little children ignites the thirst for reading in children.
I have reason to believe, it does. As I said, my parents were too simple and unschooled,
that they did not – and could not - read books to me when I was small. But, when
I look back on those growing-up years, I can vividly remember some of the
teachers who were great storytellers. In twelfth standard, the teacher who
taught me English literature succeeded in igniting the thirst for reading in my
heart. By the time I landed in F. Y. B. Com, the thirst to write well and speak
well had become strong inside me, thanks to my idol, Prof. B. S. Raman… I
wanted to teach like him, write like him. And, that was the definite point in
my life: I spent lots and lots of time reading to grow… and self-develop.
No
teachers ever nudged me to read, leave alone my parents or friends. I started
reading because, I wanted to write well and speak well… And, the first book,
which I kept reading for hours and hours sitting in our college library, long after the
college hours, was ‘Write Better, Speak Better’ from Reader’s Digest. Our college
library would not allow us to take it home; nor this book was available in the
open market (I couldn’t afford to buy it either). So, I sat there in the library for long
hours and read that book till late into nights. Many years later, here in Bombay, when I received my first salary from a temporary job, I bought a copy
of that book, which I still possess.
Another thing
that happened during my degree-college days goes on to prove the point which Paulo Coelho tries to
make in his statement: “When you know what you want, the whole Universe
conspires in your favour.” A friend of my aunt, Sr. Lawrence, travelled
hundreds of miles from her convent to our humble home in Mangalore, just to present
to me a brand-new copy of ‘Webster’s
Encyclopedic Dictionary’. Wow, what a
treasure that was for an aspiring writer and speaker! This one-of-a-kind encyclopedic
dictionary had a special section called ‘Writers’ Guide’. I spent endless hours
going through this treasure even after I migrated to Bombay. I still possess this
treasure.
And, then, as I
keep saying tirelessly, the book that transformed my life was ‘Think and Grow
Rich’ by Napoleon Hill. I was reading this book when I was jobless and hungry,
here in Bombay… I was reading it over and over[GD1
and over again. Alongside, I was reading every other book of Napoleon Hill,
Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale… Those were glorious days of my life!
The floodgates
had been thrown open, by now… I kept buying books and reading them… books of all genres
– self-help, biographies, autobiographies, business books, fiction, poetry,
almost every kind.
I will turn 64,
come this July. I have written thousands of Blog posts… written/edited or published
dozens of books for The Dawn Club… But, one thing I have not been able to do is
this: make another human read!
Maybe, I have…
Unwittingly.
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: Paulo Coelho
Videoes: TEDx Talks
Comments