Reading is one of the most underrated hobbies
that one can possess. However, I need to forewarn that unfortunately it is a
dying hobby as well. As someone who has been exposed to books quite early in childhood
it is not a big deal that I still pursue this hobby. The earliest memory of me
reading a book is as a 6 or 7 year old. My father used to get me these picture
books which had more pictures and a very few words. It was a colour illustration,
basically there will be a picture and then a bit of text. It traced the
everyday life of a family of four, a father mother with 2 children. Right now I
only remember the name of the little girl in the book, Jane. Each book was
hardly 10-12 pages in length and would go on to explain different activities. One
book could be about the family visiting the beach another about a park another
about School and so on. It described the lives of the protagonists in a foreign
country which made it all the more interesting. I was rather amused when I
heard one of my elderly cousins narrating as to how I was obsessed with these
books when I was a kid. It so happened that me along with my Dad and Mom used
to come once in a year to Kerala to our Family home. In those days we were
based out of Gwalior Madhya Pradesh where my father was posted as an Indian
Police Service Officer. My cousins who were almost the same age as me would
come and ask me to play with them. I would be sitting near my grandmother and
reading these books, who would chase them away telling them to leave me
undisturbed. I have no recollection of this incident but it is highly probable
that this might have occurred.
Another initiation towards reading is the huge
number of books that were there courtesy my father’s huge book collection. Long
before Matt Damon made “The Bourne Trilogy” a popular movie franchisee I had
read “The Bourne Identity” by Robert Ludlum as a teenager. I remember after
reading the first 2 books in the Series with bated breath, I called up my
cousin to check with her if she had the third and final installment of the
book. Quite often if a book in a series was missing it was quite possible that
the missing book might be among my father’s brothers book Collections. I wasn’t
relieved to be told that she indeed had the copy but she agreed that she would lend
it to me on one condition; I had to lend her the other 2 books. Ian Fleming,
Eric Van Lustbader, Robert Ludlum, Fredrick Forsyth, Wilbur Smith, James Patterson
were household names that I still recollect vividly.
James Hadley Chase and Nick Carter series also
captivated my imagination. By now you must have rightly guessed that all these
books were of the Thriller, Crime and Action genre. It has to be also mentioned
that all these books did have a bit of explicit content as well .I had read 3
Ian Fleming books Casino Royale, Dr No and The Moonraker before watching my
first James Bond movie “Tomorrow never dies” starring Pierce Brosnan and
Michelle Yeoh.
I developed this habit of reading the book
first and then watching the movie then. Needless to say I have been disappointed
many a times to see the adaptation of a book on screen. Most often than not the
soul of the story is lost when it is made into a movie. The only exception
being “The Godfather” by Mario Puzo which I found the book and the movie to be
equally engaging. Marlon Brando playing the ageing don and Al Pacino playing
his son are legends on their own right. I have still not watched the movie “Life
of Pie” because I want to read the book first. This was the story at our home
Now moving onto the School I was fortunate
enough to study in Loyola School, Trivandrum which greatly encouraged reading.
Every week we could borrow upto 2 books. At the age of 10 I was introduced the
Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven and Famous Five series. Oh boy it was such a delight
to follow a group of children out there solving mysteries which was enough to
captivate any child’s imagination. The team meetings of the Secret Seven were closed
door and the door would be opened only if a specific password was said. Every
meeting used to decide what would be the next meetings password. Mind you this was much before a computer or a smartphone
made an entry into our lives which used the same Principle. The Famous Five was
also having a very similar setting with a dog as its member. How much ever I
try to recollect I can’t remember a single name of any of the characters. I
remember I used to maintain a list of the Famous Five and Secret Seven books
that I had read at that time.
Within a couple of years I outgrew them and slowly graduated to the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series. The brothers Frank and Joe Hardy on one end and Nancy Drew on her own were out to solve mysteries. It was also a sneak peek into the world of teenagers in the Western world which was lapped up by the adolescents in India. The concept of boyfriend-girlfriend was introduced to us during this time. At this age we were hooked to books. It so happened that I used to commute in the School Bus. It was a 45 minute ride for me it was not an uncommon sight to see boys busy ready books during the entire course of the journey or so for that matter reading their books even when they were waiting at the bus stop. I was also no different as you could always find a book on my hand. I guess more or less the habit has stuck with me to the say the least. When I am travelling by flight or by train I always make it a point to carry a book with me all the time. Train journeys are the best if you ask me because it gives you ample time to read and settle into a rhythm. Take for instance my journey from Mumbai (where I live currently) to Thiruvananthapuram (my hometown) takes around 30 hours. With a book you are fully engaged during the waking hours and time passes more quickly. Whenever, you want to take a beak you just need to look at the scenic beauty of the Konkan or just hop out at any station and stretch your legs maybe get a hot chai or some snacks to recharge yourself. The problem with flight journeys though you get a few hours it doesn’t let you settle into a rhythm. Living in a city notorious for traffic it is a norm than an exception to reach the airport well ahead of time. That gives you a lot of time after check in to read.
Moving on by the time I was 14 I got tired of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series it was time to take it to the next level. I remember that was the first time I read Sherlock Holmes I remember that I had to re-read the deductions of Sherlock Holmes mostly towards the end of each story where Mr Holmes explains to his side kick Dr Watson as to how he had arrived to his conclusions. It was a bit taxing but still fun. Years later when I watched the BBC series of Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch as the protagonist it evoked a deep sense of nostalgia and I was easily able to follow the plotlines. However, no such extra effort was required to read Agatha Christie’s series with Hercule Poirot as its protagonist. It is at this time that I slowly started reading the Nick Carter and James Bond Series of books from my Dad’s collection. The next 3 years with your tenth and twelfth boards along with the quintessential Engineering/Medical Entrance exams ensured that I didn’t touch a single book other than my study books during that period.
To be continued...
Click here for Part 2
To be continued...
Click here for Part 2
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