You have a library period?
He enquired after looking at my timetable stuck on the blue door in our government quarters.
Yes, we have it three times. It’s like a free period for us.
Which book did you read today then?
Well, I just hold a book in my hand. I finish my homework in that time so that I can play more in the evening, I share my secret, feeling accomplished.
No. You will not do that anymore. Next time, read a book – actually, can you get one home?
Yes, I can
Get a Nancy Drew or a Agatha Christie – I will read it out to you.
And that’s how it all began.
I never read till the my 8th grade. It’s true. I never had my Enid Blyton or the Roald Dahl. Books meant the school books – the science text book, the history one, etc. But then Mutacha started reading out to me when I was in 8th grade and it didn’t take more than one or two reading out loud sessions for me to start living in them. From Nancy Drew to Agatha Christie to John Grisham – that was my world till 12th grade. I still remember crying for the first time while reading, John Grisham’s Client (the crying while reading hasn’t stopped much)
It’s the realisation of what I missed when I was a child that makes sure that I read to Aryav every day, mostly nights from the time I could remember!
I might have had a 12 hour shoot day, or meetings which made me travel to every part of the city, but it hasn’t changed much. It might be the same book again and again for a few weeks, but I see his happiness when he comes to bed every night.
Today, this book – he announces every night, pulling out a book from his library.
Mutacha bought me my first Harry Potter and the Sorcerers’ Stone. It still stands tall in my library with the other books which have made me laugh, cry, given me company, and played a small part in who I am today, and with a hope that Aryav will inherit them one day and live in the amazing world of stories, like I have been.
Like they say, better late than never 🙂
| In just a few words.... | 