With my heart pounding in my chest, I would realize that the sound I heard was my cuckoo clock, declaring into the cold, silent night that it was two in the morning. I would consider going back to bed, but I could risk it some more, I could read just one more chapter tonight, my parents were still sound asleep.
I would smuggle library books into my house, keep it hidden, and then read it in the middle of the night, in the safety of my bathtub; when the rest of the world (read: parents) was (were) sleeping. This, sadly, is a reality in almost every Indian student's life, where society thinks that extra - curricular reading is a habit to be nipped in the bud.
Why? Because it is a distraction, they say. It takes your mind off of school-work, it makes you lose concentration in your studies. Reading stories, they say, is a waste of time; time that could be spent in revisions of boring schoolwork that dulls your brain and kills imagination.
They are entitled to their opinions, I'm sure, but literature has been the main shaping force in the way I think and percieve the world today.
Right from the beginning, I have looked for parallels to life in books. It gives you a sense of comfort to know that the characters you have grown up with also faced the same choices and trials that you did. In today's world, fandoms bring people together. But isn't it weird how one person who is in a fandom is almost always in another? And a person who isn't part of a fandom is seldom a part of any fandom. This just proves my theory that people who like reading will continue to read, and people who aren't taught to appreciate the perks of reading at a young age will continue to deny any advantages to reading. The human mind will go to lengths to convince itself that it is right.
If you have been reading my stuff for a while, you know that I am obsessed with Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim. One day, in future, perhaps, I will have to make time to do a write up about it; because it deserves its own dissertation. If you haven't already seen the play, I recommend you do, provided you keep an open mind and aren't easily offended. The play deals with the battle between Good vs Nice, which is a grey area people don't usually venture into; and it is a refreshing change from all the Disney movies that we fill our brains with (Guilty.)
People by now would be sceptic of me dragging religion into all my pieces, but fact remains, books have taught me more about tolerance and faith than any other religion in real life.
If you have read my scathing review of C S Lewis's finale to his epic series, you would know that I was extremely disappointed in the book. It was clearly religious propaganda trying to pass itself off as a children's novel. But the book did manage to teach me something, something so deep that my religion had not taught me yet.
The prince of the foriegn kingdom had been born into another religion, and being the good son that he was, he followed his ancestor's religion to the letter. The turning point for me came when he looked at Aslan, realized he had been worshipping the wrong God. But Aslan kept smiling, and said something to the effect of (I'm paraphrasing here), 'All those sacrifices and prayers that you made to your God, I will consider that you made them to me.'
As a child, I did not fully grasp the meaning. As an adult, I am amazed that a children's book answered the question I had thought I'd never get an answer to.
If anyone is waiting for me to talk about Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or the worthy new addition to this list, Percy Jackson/Magnus Chase...I shall not delve into that vast vein of richness in this post, for that would drag on forever.
But I am going to say this, the reason I am who I am now is because I read these books; they shaped my childhood, they influenced my thoughts, they kept me company when I was lonely, and they were always there when I needed them.
For me, opening up one of these books is truly like coming home.
'Roads go ever on and on
Under cloud and under star.
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.'
- J R R Tolkein (Lord of the Rings).