I used to be a big time reader when I was in school, reading and gaming were my 2 passions. Apart from academic books, I used to indulge myself in all sort of stories and works. Be it from a foreign author or in my native language (hindi), my mind had this habit of creating the world, placing the character and just living the story POV style. Unlike any other medium, books allowed me to live and breathe in a fantasy world imagined by someone else but created by me. This aspect of reading had kept me coming back for more and more.
Now fast forward to my college life and few years after college, my other passion had taken over completely. I was competing, streaming and was trying to make a name for myself. All the time I had, I poured into that and reading couldn't even take a backseat.. It had just disappeared from my life. Over time I had forgotten the joy that it had given me. The vivid world that I had created/lived through, the character that I have bonded with.. the alternate reality that I used to create while reading. All gone! And the worst part of it all I paid no attention to it, I moved on like someone who never loved it. But I did love it, I loved to it the point that I would sit for hours reading, finishing a novel in a single day.
Now let's fast forward to 2025, I was chilling with few friends on discord watching a movie. I noticed a new voice among the familiar voices, at the point I had no idea how this random moment is going to bring back the joy of reading back to my life.
Passing time on discord, discussing life from one random topic to another idk how we ended up talking about books. We ended up talking about our past experiences and how we got into reading, why books fascinated us and then she asked why did I quit, i couldn't answer because I never paid attention to it, a major part of my life that made me who I am, I just quit on it that's so unlike me.
Let's take a detour and let me tell you all about myself, who I am, where I come from and how this obsession with reading made me who I am. I come from a very small town in Uttar Pradesh, India. Although my schooling was in English medium school but the teachers themselves had a hard time speaking/understanding english. The reading obsession kept my grades good but that's was just a side quest I just wanted to read, read, read and understand the author's mentality. Used to keep a dictionary next to me (yes pre internet era) while reading.. this obsession with understanding the author improved my understanding of the language significantly (still learning to this day) . It's safe to say this passion of mine helped me learn English on my own and just propelled my career on a upwards trajectory and I am really glad for it.
Now, let's go back to year 2025 and to the moment when the realisation hit me. See I always wanted to read but circumstances were such that I did not but now that I have realised and all the memories have come back rushing to me, the passion was reignited. So I asked her what should I start with? And that's how I got introduced to Crime n Punishment. After 7 years I had a book in my hand and I was reading again. What a masterpiece it was, the gloomy portrait of city that Dostoevsky had created, the main character, Roskolnikov (an overthinker, reminded me of myself just the overthinking part), the backstories, the back n forth between the detective and Roskolnikov, the tense environment. It brought back all the joy that i used to feel about this medium. My mind started to create these wild worlds again, it was nostalgic, it was beautiful, it was something that was missing all this time. After that I have been reading profusely,
I have finsihed Normal People, Capitalist Realism, Aapka Bunty, The Stranger, The Vegetarian, Currently reading The God of Small Things and have 3-4 lined up after this. (Suggest some of your hidden gems)
I am glad that I rediscovered the Magic of Books, the way it directed my early life I think it's going to do the same again!
I LOVE READING AND THIS TIME AROUND I AM NOT LETTING IT DIE!!!
by anujdbgt