Poo and books

I remember those days when I used to be so enthusiastic reading stories and essays even when I was in just the second grade, or even smaller, I don't know. I have a faint memory of enjoying the characters do weird things, going through odd situations, having fun... and the like.I got totally lost in their world. Hansel and Gretel, for example. Their story has always fascinated me since I was as young as a third grader student. back then I only enjoyed the cleverness of Hansel for generating the idea of making their way back home through the dense forest and the tactfulness of Gretel in fooling the witch and actually killing her. Yeah I used to imagine the 'cake and pastry' house, jewels, the cruelty of step-moms and so on... the jist?? I also wondered why a father would be so weak in front of his wife?? Afterall, I had always witnessed male supremacy in my family and the society around me. And I grew up reading Gulliver's travels, Robinson Crusoe, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, The Merchant of Venice and many many Nepali myths. In fact, whenever a new session started, I used to complete reading every stories and essays from my elder sister's books as she was just one class senior to me. That was fun :)

I grew up reading everything that was handy. Ramayana, for instance, is one of the books I love reading over and over again. Some of its verses are so touching... and in fact I can recite a few verses without having to look at the book. I humm them whenever I am stressed out or in a dilemma, and that actually helps!! :) I also picked books from library and read them, most of them full of short stories... fairy tales, myths, essays, and actually anything that was short.

My reading habit got a complete break when I reached the ninth standard. The school and my parents gave me so much of pressure about the upcoming SLC exams and I was asked to focus simply on those bulky, boring, text-books. I am so glad those horrible days are over now.

I was not used to reading novels. It was only after I joined Don Bosco for higher secondary level education that I found a suitable environment to give continuity to my reading passion. My dear friend Smita was an avid reader. She read almost all the time. And actually she is the one who inspired me to read a whole novel. The first novel I completely read was "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank. And loved the novel so much, I started writing in my diary more and more often. Now I have almost stopped writing in my diary... May be I will continue again.

We used to exchange books and read turn by turn. Smita already had a good collection of novels and I used to borrow them from her and the British Council Library. It used to be fun going to the library after college, selecting books from a large collection and reading all the time. I always made sure to complete at least 3 novels in a week and I almost always reached that target. Besides, many of my friends also had a membership there so we had loads of fun. And how can I forget to mention the Lama's Cafe where we hanged around, ate laughed and did all fun on earth?? It was such a nice restaurant. Smita, Sooman, Sapna, Sabita, Rashmita, Upama and me, and sometimes more!!

While at college, I read quite a lot of Mills and Boons series... the romantic novels. I loved them then, but don't find it that interesting now. May be I have grown up now (hehe). And I also read a lot of Anthropological and Sociological papers. Sociology was one of my major papers at +2 so I had to go through most of them anyway. But they really amused me. They were interesting stuffs afterall, to know about so many varied culture, beliefs and all of people living in different corners of the world.

Some of the most beautiful books I have read are Jane Eyre, If Tommorow Never Comes, Nothing Lasts Forever, The Alchemist, The Guru of Love, Master of the Game, The Great Gatsby, and not to forget, my all time favourite "Sophie's World". I have read Sophie's World thrice already and am planning to re-read it again very soon. And by the way, Sooman had gifted me that book!! Smita had gifted me "Master of the Game"... so sweet of them. I also read "Master of the Game" twice.

I love to read essays as well. I get to read many beautiful and intellectual essays in my course. Most of them are difficult to understand but the challenge provides me more energy and zeal.

I like reading short stories from any writers. Antov Chekov tops the list of my favourite story-teller however. And drama?? I enjoy going through them. My favourite dramatist - William Shakespeare, who else?? Shakespeare, because I don't remember any other dramatist at the moment :)

I love reading e-texts as well. Some of them are too cool. You can get to read stories, essays, and many other texts which are really good. Some of my favourites are "love is a fallacy" which is a short story (really interesting), Bertrand Russell's "Why I am not a Christian?", "Who moved my Cheese" by (I don't know) and many more... Just google it friends, and you will have a sea of choice!!

The novels which I have started but not completed are "The Golden Notebook" by Doris Lessing, "Beyond the Illusions" by Shiva Shivangini Shah and "The Catcher in the Rye" by Sallinger. I am planning to finish each very soon. Wish me luck!! And keep reading... :)

My suggestion: Read for pleasure, read for knowledge... don't relate yourself to the characters and events too deeply or it will lead you to an unnatural state of mind.