Reading is not a kind of habit that all of us want to perform but rather we avoid it as much as we can. The same held true for me until the middle of 2021 when I read something for the first time that changed the way I live my life. I'd like to start by providing some insights into my life and how I ended up reading more than I ever thought I possibly could. Ever since I was a kid, I've always seen my mother read books. We had (and still do) a great number of books which the only person who would read was my mother. Although we never had a book shelf, we had more books scattered in the house than that could even fit inside one. Despite such a huge number of books all the time I'd never developed the habit of reading. My younger sister started reading books at an early age but I didn't. I despised it and was so indifferent to it.
As I grew older and started going to school, I started reading my textbooks but nothing other than them. Reading just wasn't my thing. When I crossed the threshold of teenage I got introduced to the Internet by my friends and started spending much of my time on that. At a time when most chunks of our day are spent on social media and gaming, it makes reading books a bit harder. In the beginning of 2020, my father bought me a book called 'Sherlock Holmes' hoping that I would read it. I was kind of interested in reading it at first but then I succumbed to the complexity of the English language it was written in. So I no longer read it and put it away in a drawer where it lay unread for months.
One day, as I had nothing to do and craved something that could stave off my boredom, I took out 'Sherlock Holmes' out of curiosity and started reading it. I was fascinated to know about the great detective Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr. Watson with whom he would investigate complicated cases. I also learnt about his great techniques of deducing someone's entire life just by taking a mere look at him. I finished both of the 2 volumes of that book over the course of 2 months. I came to realize how much beauty of the world of literature I was missing out on. After having finished reading 'Sherlock Holmes' I started reading another book called 'Wings of fire' which delineates the life story of APJ Abdul Kalam. I learnt from that book a vast array of things concerning perseverance and how a man can achieve his goals by working hard. I also read a fantastic book called 'The Alchemist' from which I learnt about how our lives are very often influenced by our destinies and luck and that we should always be content with what god destines us to achieve. I also learnt about the cosmos including the birth of the universe, how planets and stars form, how the universe will come to an end due to entropy and so many other fascinating things simply by reading books.
Reading completely reprogrammed my brain and steered my mind towards thinking about things that I never even imagined. I started imagining how negligent it was of us that we choose things that give us pleasure in the short term over books instead of opening our eyes to the reality of the world. Perhaps you don't read books and think you just aren't like those who do read books. But you can change yourself like I did. Read whatever book you have at home. It could be a story book written by Rabindranath Tagore or maybe a non-fiction book written by a famous thinker and educationist you've never read before. Just give it a shot. I guarantee you'll be astounded to find out how much there is to know about the world and how you can contribute your beautiful ideas to its consistent development. The habit of reading teaches you to be thoughtful of things, observant of the nature, positive about your environment and more importantly generous towards others. Great writer Ernest Hemingway said it best, "There's no friend as loyal as a book."
The writer is a student of Class X, Rani Bilash Moni Govt. Boys High School, Gazipur
