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Guarding
the Reading Habit
Rezwan
Haque
W.
Somerset Maugham once declared "I would sooner read
a timetable or a catalogue than nothing at all." I
agree with him completely. Reading timetables and catalogues
not only helps to plod through long hours in waiting rooms,
but also provides us with bits of information which may
prove to be handy later on. Often I have enlightened friends
with knowledge gained from staring at posters and some of
them have indeed been grateful to me for remembering tidbits.
Reading posters, however, is not a preoccupation that is
unique to me. After all, I am sure all of you spend many
minutes, every day, perusing the plethora billboards in
Dhaka while stuck in monstrous traffic jams. The traffic
situation has of course deteriorated over the past few years
and the number of resourceful entrepreneurs has augmented.
This has naturally been accompanied by a surge in the reading
habit (reading of posters and billboards that is), which,
paradoxically, masks the sad reality that nowadays fewer
and fewer people turn to books as a source of recreation.
Curling
up with a good book in a quiet corner can be an immensely
enjoyable experience, not only because it provides hours
of reading pleasure, but also because it is a wonderful
opportunity to grab a much-needed break from our hectic
daily schedules. Reading is thus a form of escapism, enabling
one to drift off into a surreal world and toy with one's
imagination. It can act as a palliative. It can soothe.
It can divert. I have invariably found books to be a remarkable
salve when I am plagued by the frustrations of life, and
will always remain an ardent advocate of the reading habit.
So why
is reading experiencing a dip in popularity? The emergence
of new modes of entertainment in recent years is surely
one of the reasons. It is true that widespread access to
the Internet, the increase in the options offered by cable
television, and the rampant piracy of CDs (making them cheap
at half the price), has led to the creation of viable alternatives
as far as indoor entertainment is concerned. Another possible
explanation is that people have become busier over the years
(or have pretended to become so), meaning that they are
less and less willing to engage themeselves in to the admittedly
time-consuming activity of reading. To rush through the
newspaper headlines is all they can afford. Or maybe it
is just that our work life involves such a lot of reading
that books are the last things we look for when we
come home.
All
that is fine as far as conscientious, diligent and hard-working
adults go. But what about kids? It would be stretching the
imagination to accept that they too are leading frantic,
caffeine-driven lives these days. Why don't children - and
adolescents read? (Some do of course, but they are only
exceptions which prove the rule). Again the answer lies
in the development of modern forms of entertainment (i.e.
PC games and the like). I believe that it is important for
children to read, and read widely, to develop their imagination
and maturity. Reading supplies food for thought; food that,
if digested, will furnish young and inquisitive minds with
an arsenal to combat the unpredictable future. While it
is true that such food can be elicited from other sources,
it is also unlikely that kids will be exposed to them. For
students it is often advisable to read books other than
prescribed texts so that they have a more comprehensive
knowledge regarding their subject matter. It helps. I know
it helps.
On a
more general level, reading makes you more informed and
intelligent. Even if you don't become more intelligent,
you will have had a pleasurable experience after reading
a good book; so there is nothing to lose. After all, it
is a truth almost universally acknowledged that no one ever
got dumber by reading…
Some
encouraging signs exist, which lead optimists to believe
that the reading habit is not a bygone phenomenon to be
examined by historians. It is always nice to see the mobile
libraries of the Biswa Shahithyo Kendro plying the streets
of Dhaka, for instance. A few bookshops (e.g. Etcetera,
Omni Books) have sprung up, catering to those with a penchant
for English books in particular. (You can order books from
amazon.com through Omni Books, if you would like to obtain
publications not available in the country). And of course
last summer there was a rush to get copies of Brick Lane
and Living History -as well as The Order of the Phoenix
for younger readers.
Hopefully
this popularity is not transient and is transformed into
a long-lived demand for books to provide recreation.
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