Though I was quite fond of literature in my childhood, books weren’t a part of my everyday life. Being more of a sporty kid, I spent most of time playing outdoors.
However, as I became more and more involved with books, I realized that they played an equally, if not a more important role than sports in our lives. It was through reading that I developed a habit of picturing stories. It had its own implications, though. I would invariably find myself too lost in my thoughts.
That being said, I was always fascinated by the idea of expanding my vocabulary. I started reading more stories. And that’s when one of my teachers introduced me to the hitherto unexplored and unknown worlds of poetry and writing. Everything around me – from my friends and family members to random passers-by – assumed story-like dimensions in my head, and I would never feel tired about jotting those anecdotes down. If reading had introduced me to a new world, writing motivated me to create my own and embark on an altogether different journey with books.
Things, however, weren’t as simple as they might seem. As impressive as my creative abilities might look, I had always sucked at grasping new things. Having studied in a Hindi-medium school, the few English books in our curriculum were the only ones I had read up to that point in my life. Helen Keller’s The Story of My Life was the first-ever non-curriculum novel that I read. It gave me a new perspective on life. Besides motivating me, the book taught me that there’s always more than one way to fulfill one’s biggest goals.
Slowly, I was bombarded by scores of ideas as I delved deeper into English literature, and although, by my own honest admission, I have never been a regular or hardcore reader, reading has tremendously enriched my thought process. I have an ingrained belief that no story is less intriguing; it’s rather their impact on us that makes them interesting or boring – for us, that is. That’s why I always prefer stories and emotions over writers.
Over time, books have helped me build a good vocabulary. Now, the next thing I’d like to build is a personal library! To fulfill that goal of mine, I set aside every book that added value to my life – and, believe you me, there are many of them.
Thank you for taking out the time to share your story with us, Saurav! We earnestly hope that you make good on that personal-library goal.
For all the fellow Indian readers who have a similar (or different) story to tell about how books transformed their lives, all you have to do is click the button below and start typing. You can also email your story to us at support@booksameya.in!