The man behind National Reading Day is Kerala-born P.N. Panicker, who took efforts to make Kerala the first 100% literate State in India. He passed away at the age of 86 on June 19, 1995. To commemorate his service to the “Read and Grow Movement”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Panicker’s death anniversary as National Reading Day since 2017.
Many legendary scholars, big titans, scientists, writers, poets and artists have created history only through reading. Reading has many advantages. We come to understand the minds of different people, their knowledge and experience, true stories, the art of presentation and a good foresight in our speech and deliverance.
In the digital world, reading has become scarce. But still we see people who are interested in books adding to their library. Once the thirst is imbibed, the craze and enthusiasm for books will never go away. I recall the days in the 1980s and 1990s where books alone were our entertainment.
Books are our best companions. There is a lot of fascination in reading novels, personal experiences of great authors, poets, motivational speakers, their way of expression, usage of words and vivid explanations. I personally feel like feeding our mind with reading daily is equally important to feeding our body with food. It’s like breathing in and breathing out, inhaling knowledge and exhaling output, thereby we grow and become a new personality every day.
Reading takes us around the world. We learn to love, respect, be reasonable, disciplined, patient, handle tough situations with much maturity, give space to grow, become bold, brave, confident and see people with all grace and understanding. We also learn to calm our mind, overcome negativity, stress and anxiety. Reading never allows us to stop growing. It’s like a thirsty mind longing for more wisdom. We can see many legends achieve their laurels through someone’s inspiration. Reading inspires us to align our thoughts, words and actions. Reading transforms us to a better human. Transformation is maturity. Maturity is Growth. Growth is Wisdom. Wisdom when utilised becomes skill. So reading is inevitable.
People in Bengaluru at Cubbon Park and in Coimbatore at Bharathi Park promote community reading every Sunday, which is a brilliant idea. Parents, volunteers and likeminded people should come forward to follow this practice in all cities. Let’s make our children better humans by inculcating the reading habit.
Also, I suggest, it is important to set up a mini-library in every home and set aside a separate time, say half an hour every night before bed, as family reading time, which would bring peace and harmony into the family. The love of books would be the greatest treasure we bequeath to them.
nanuradha09@gmail.com
