CURIOUS ATTRACTION TOWARDS THE CLASSICS...

As anyone who knows me even a little will testify-I LOVE BOOKS! For as long as I remember I have always loved handling books of any kind. I have never been choosy about what I read as long as I could make some sense of it. So I can confidently say that my entire life, I have been perusing books. In fact, I remember answering to anyone who asked that my best friends were my books because they made me laugh and cry and helped me when I was sad!

          It wasn’t till my high school that I made a discovery that I can honestly tell has changed my life-I picked up a copy of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice! The reason for my never having got to it before was that-fearing that they might distract me from my studies, my books were locked up every school year, to be handed out only during my vacations (but I was able to circumvent this by haunting my school library!!). So anyway when I read Jane Austen, it was like something irrevocably changed in me or maybe something that was inherent suddenly was awakened. Suddenly Jane Austen wasn’t enough! I literally gorged myself on other authors like Thomas Hardy, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte and Charles Dickens. Each book was like a treat to me- something that I was afraid would disappear one day when I woke up!

          Till today I have never been able to pin-point why reading about a time long gone makes me feel so good! I loved it all- the society, the people, the optimistic note that each novel usually ends on, the morals… oh the list is endless. I have always yearned to be able to go back to a bygone era and live my life there! My bind with history perhaps is a result of this. Every old place I visit, my imagination takes flight and I’m suddenly involved in wondering how people who had lived there centuries ago would have been and how they would go about on a typical day.

          I owe a lot of my achievements to reading the classics, including the title of ‘Geek’ as I’m sometimes referred to! It has aided immensely in the development of my vocabulary and has been a constant source of education-in more ways than one. It has led me on an emotional roller-coaster! Every involved reading of ‘Great Expectations’ has me dissolved into tears and every reading of P G Wodehouse’s books have me rolling around being unable to control my laughter!

          Jane Austen, till today has remained my favorite! Which ‘sensible’ lady hasn’t fallen for Mr. Darcy after reading about him or seeing him on the screen? He will always remain a paradigm for what an ideal man should be like!! Apart from that, being a little bit of a feminist- who can resist admiring Elizabeth Bennett?

          I had never associated with tragedy till I read Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens. For me, life was one bed of roses. But after I read a lot of Dickens and Hardy, I understood how one small event in someone’s life can change their life for ever. After this, I went through a phase of introspection wherein I was forced to question a lot of things I had taken for granted and a lot of my beliefs too. It was almost a rude awakening for me. No longer did I believe in something just because I had been taught to do so. I started doubly contemplating on events and what they would mean to me. Thinking ahead was not something I had done much before but after this phase, I give a lot of my time to thinking about the consequences. Most important it has though me to consider things from various perspectives.

          Much in the manner of my Fantasy books, my classics have taught me several valuable lessons. I was fortunate enough to have a teacher who helped us delve deeper than the surface when it came to books for which I would ever be thankful. The schooling I have had when reading classics, I consider more important than anything I have learnt through my formal education. I have vowed to treasure and follow the morals I have derived from these precious book forever. So though I unfortunately cannot thank the authors of my books personally, nevertheless, I would like to express my gratitude to them for teaching me valuable life lessons which I will use for the rest of my life! Thank you!!!!