Joie de reading…the Joy of reading

Reading is one of the most beneficial habits and the benefits are self-obvious. Reading a book is like a journey that begins from the first page and ends when the last page is turned. Like few journeys, the memories remain for the rest of your life. It is like living someone else’s life momentarily. It’s like looking at the world with a different angle, a different perspective. 

What reading imparts is broadening of thoughts and unleashing of imagination. Some use it for relaxation, some for gaining knowledge. For some, it’s a meditation. Like it is said, “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”, perhaps for reading I would say that “Benefit lies in the eyes of the pursuer”.

I developed the habit of reading pretty late in my life. As mentioned in my earlier post, it was through a friend of mine, that I stumbled upon this habit. He used to take me to the scrap dealer’s shop (raddiwala) and we use to search books from the heap of books covered with dust and dirt. We often got good deals there. I have bought some good books at throw away prices. This was when I was doing my engineering. So I feel that I was pretty late in enjoying one of the most rewarding habits. I feel two things help you a lot in shaping your character, reading and travelling.

Here, I would like to mention few quotes and stories that have helped me and I would like to share;

This too shall pass

I had read this somewhere. This helps me in good times to be humble and keep my feet grounded. In difficult times, it gives me assurance that this will also pass and there will be light at the end of the tunnel. Many times, I have realized that you laugh at things when you look back after many years what looked like a worry at that particular time. It is just facing the situation with your best efforts.

Whatever happens, happens for good

This was a short story about a king and the minister that I have read. The king had a minister who always said that ‘whatever happens, happens for good’. One day they went for hunting. The king and the minister lost their way and were separated from the troops. The minister said, ‘whatever happens happens for good’. Roaming in the forest, parched and hungry, the king sees a deer. He pulls his bow and arrow and when he is about to shoot the deer, the bow slips and cuts his thumb. The king is in agonizing pain. The minister repeats, “Whatever happens…” The king this time is really pissed with all this. Soon the troops find them both and then back to their kingdom. On their return the king commands his soldiers to put the minister in the dungeon.

Days pass and so do months. After about 6 months, the king again goes for hunting. This time his entourage is captured by a group of cannibals. They take the king and his troops to their place and get ready for the feast. But they have one policy. They would not eat a handicapped person. They see that the king doesn’t have a thumb and so free him. The king remembers the words of his minister ‘whatever happens…” He immediately calls his minister on his return and apologizes. The minister again says, “Whatever happens…” The king says that he had forgiven him but because of this the minister has spent 6 months in the cell. How is this good?

The minister replies, “Sir, if you had not punished me and not confined me to the dungeon, I would have been with you in this hunting expedition also. I would have been with you when the cannibals captured you. And as the case is, you would have been released as you had no thumb but I would have made a jolly good feast for them, So whatever happens…”

Don’t be serious, be sincere

This was from the excerpt from the speech given by Chetan Bhagat at symbiosis. I am just copy pasting it.

Life is one of those races in nursery school, where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.

Don’t take life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said – don’t be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It’s ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

Don’t be serious, be sincere.

How to stop worrying and start living….a book by Dale Carnegie

I was gifted this book by my dad on my eighteen birthday. There could not have been any better gift than this. This is a self-help book and though the title may seem repulsive, it is worth a read. It is one of the best self-help books I have come across. I read it regularly. The thing what separates this book is that, it is full of stories and experiences and it is left to the reader how to put it to use.

Serenity prayer

This I read in the above book, ‘How to stop worrying and start living’. Written by American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, it goes like this;

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

There are many things like these, many quotes, many books, many stories. The source of inspiration varies from person to person. You never know from where you will get inspire or get answer to the questions you face.

I think somebody rightly summed it up by saying, ‘Reading is to mind, what exercise is to body’. 

So, keep reading and stay inspired.