For the love of reading

-

Last night as I lay down poring over the pages under the bright orangey lamp light, I was being nibbled by a feeling that the day had gone to waste. The day had been glorious. The sun was out and the sky had shone like new furniture. I was up early, too early for a day without work and classes. I had begun the day with the book. Like, I was up and had started reading without even getting up. After two hours of reading, I had been up and working out. For someone who is a huge fan of sunny days, whenever the morning graces with a bright sunlight, it is an open invitation for going out. And yet for someone who is also a big fan of reading, staying home and having a good read of a good book is equally tempting.

I did go out for breakfast, and although I spent some time looking for places I could go, none fit the shoes of convenience. So I ended up laying down on my bed with sun pouring through the window, bright and warm, and reading. And I didn't just read. I lived three lives in three different eras of time. I breathed the sea air of the small village in Cornwall, England. I fell in love, I bore a child, I got lost on a ship to Australia, I turned into a sorrowful bird trapped inside a golden cage. Even if I couldn't go anywhere, I felt exhausted by the end of the day such was the intensity of my involvement in the lives of the book's characters. 

Ever since I came to Australia and discovered bushwalking, I had never let slipped a chance to go out for a walk on a sunny day but yesterday became an exception, but it was a nice exception. It had been quite a while since I lost myself completely to a book and it was a beautiful reminder of how books contain the magical power to just make you forget everything and transport you to places you have never been to and probably never will, to make you live the lives of so many different people, to experience feelings you don't know of and make you feel old and young, and reckless and wise at the same time. Although I have taken to walking more than reading recently, I couldn't help but remember the good old days of reading and reading only for days on end and enjoying it to bits. Winter is coming to an end and spring is upon us. I am looking forward to lazy days of just reading or better yet, taking a book out, laying down on a beach after a walk and reading. Yeah, I like the sound of that.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hyena: Doglike, but like no dog anyone would want as a pet.

-
Image
I am in the middle of reading "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. And I have come across this very intriguing description of this predator we all love to hate: hyena. Frankly speaking, I could not even begin to give a description close to what Mr. Martel has here, although it's obvious that I am not a writer of his caliber. I was impressed by the description he gave earlier in the book for three toed sloths, reminding me of my sister (who broke out to laughing at the similarity; we were in joking terms anyways) but sloths haven't had much influence in my life as much as hyenas have. I'm not saying I am drawn to the animals myself. My dad watches too much of National Geographic and Animal Planet to let us the snippets off of the wildlife in MasaiMara. Of course we hate hyenas; my mom top on the list. So here it is: the spotted hyena. I am not one to hold a prejudice against any animal, but it is a plain fact that the spotted hyena  is not well served by its
Read more

Life Intensely Lived.

-
Image
Copy pasted below is a Japanese poem by Mitsuo Aida translated into English. I don't quite remember where I got this poem from but it's one of the most inspirational pieces of works that I've ever stumbled into. Because it has lived its life intensely the parched grass still attracts the gaze of passers-by. The flowers merely flower, And they do this as well as they can. The white lily, blooming unseen in the valley, Does not need to explain itself to anyone; It lives merely for beauty. Men, however, cannot accept that 'merely'. If tomatoes wanted to be melons, they would look completely ridiculous. I am always amazed that so many people are concerned with wanting to be what they are not; what's the point of making yourself look ridiculous? You don't always have to pretend to be strong, there's no need to prove all the time that everything is going well, you shouldn't be concerned about what other people ar
Read more

Beauty Missed or not.

-
Image
January 4th, 2012. Muktinath, Nepal. I was here. The panoramic view of the beautiful snow-capped mountains of the Mukti Kshetra. There was more snow than I had ever seen in my life. And it was cold. The partial trek to Muktinath from Jomsom had already given me a trailer of the winter life in Mustang. The wind had been relentless. January 1st, 2012. It rained and my dream of seeing snow for the very first time in my life got fulfilled. But every wish has a price to pay. With snow come the shivers. And it was the biting cold that took the most amazing views of my life from my memory. I was so busy feeling cold that I don't have a memory of seeing the view. I did not take the picture. One of my friends did. I saw it after I was back in Jomsom and  and it was too late to be awed. I am awed by this view, don't be mistaken, but  to be actually at the place and breathe in the cold air and the sun too, and take in all the beauty that there is, is something else. It
Read more