For the love of reading...

For the love of reading…

The dizziness I felt after having landed from the intoxicating city of Las Vegas prompted me to write this piece. A fortnight before that, I was in the picturesque country side of Montana--lush fields, scorching sun, ruggedness and pulling of calves. In between, I also soaked in the business of Manhattan and witnessed the rise and fall of one of the world’s largest conglomerates. There have been other stops--the terror-struck country of Afghanistan with all its anguish and pain, the dazzling city of Paris and, the bitter and tormenting cold of a January night in an Indian field.
        No, I am no hitchhiker, travelling the world. I am simply a reading enthusiast. The books I’ve read are my boarding pass and their writers fly me the world over. They are the ones who skillfully manage to blend my fantasies and reality all into one & serve me the most delicious fare you can get. You can’t demystify the genius of their recipes, just savor them.
          You might be sitting snuggled in a corner of your sofa and your heart weeps slowly for the disease stricken girl, who never did a mean thing in her life. You are mesmerized by the charms of the Evil, while rooting for the Hero. You glide from continent to continent, without so much as having to move from your place.Such is the gift of authors to their readers.
          Reading is like a potent drug, which within no time increases your appetite for it, forcing you to surrender all your senses and just live in and out of that book you hold. I am a self-confessed victim! It ceases to be a hobby alone. It becomes your ultimate mood elevator and, sometimes your window to what depression truly is!
          One of my favorite authors, I was blown away by Sidney Sheldon books right after the first. Though I knew the drill after a few books, I longed to read more and more of his novels. Women are his protagonists and the yearning for success and fame usually forms the core of his books. When I was coming to the end of the last of his novels, I felt a void consuming me…emptiness. Such is the bond some authors form with you.
  On days when you are too busy to read a novel, you can satiate your craving with a short story. Short stories have their own charm, just like novels. While a novel layers its characters and slowly paints its settings to transform your being for the time you read it, short stories tackle the same challenge albeit in a rather concise manner.
  Surely fiction is more appealing than fact. But reading purely fiction is like gorging on chocolates and pastries alone. Well-written articles and non-fiction books definitely help me to keep the mind healthier as also satiated.
  Sure, science enlightens me, art baffles me, music heals my soul, but reading captures it… twists and turns it. Sometimes quietly touches it and at other times tugs at it wildly and leaves me panting for more!
  Here’s a big thank you to the writer…thank you for infusing so much color, vitality, excitement, and thrill into my otherwise humdrum life!