My reading has gone down considerably since you know what happened and i moved to Bangalore. I might have mentioned somewhere that the dude found a stack of Science fiction/Fantasy books that i drooled all over. Turns out i might have spent more time drooling than actually reading. It started off well, i finished The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and it was good. Then i moved on to Stranger in a Strange Land, a book i had heard so much about, an author i had heard so much about. I was prepared to love it, even if that meant changing the meaning of love! It was... boring. Not that it didnt have its moments, but the signal to noise ratio was too low, and all the signal got over pretty fast. I trawled through it and then moved on to The Windup Girl. What with the Hugo and all, i'd wanted to read it for ever. But, it was taking too much of effort, and instead of reading becoming relaxing and invigorating (yes, it can be both at the same time), it became something to check off a list - did i read something this week? Tick.
Some neurons in my head decided to go all dramatic, and proposed the theory that maybe the problem is not with the book, that maybe reading doesnt mean that much anymore, that maybe you know what has changed that too. (i know, no one proposes theories with so many maybes, but these are my neurons, for me sometimes, even my name is Vinaya, maybe).
One fine Wednesday afternoon at work, i found a book lying on my neighbours desk. I cant pass a book by without investigating, so i picked it up. Saw the name Papadimitriou, remembered a professor from long ago mentioning him, and maybe even a textbook, and opened it to find a comic book! It was Logicomix - a comic book about the search for a solid foundation for Mathematics! I took it to my desk, and that is all i did for the rest of the day at work - read it*. Somewhere in between, i looked up, smiled at the world in general and felt really glad to be alive. That is what a good book can do.
* Do not ask me at what stage i got so comfortable with the new surroundings to be able to do something like that in full public eye. I have a hundred justifications as to why i did it, but even after 5 years at the last workplace, i couldnt have done it there. Maybe you know what also gives you a thick skin!
Some neurons in my head decided to go all dramatic, and proposed the theory that maybe the problem is not with the book, that maybe reading doesnt mean that much anymore, that maybe you know what has changed that too. (i know, no one proposes theories with so many maybes, but these are my neurons, for me sometimes, even my name is Vinaya, maybe).
One fine Wednesday afternoon at work, i found a book lying on my neighbours desk. I cant pass a book by without investigating, so i picked it up. Saw the name Papadimitriou, remembered a professor from long ago mentioning him, and maybe even a textbook, and opened it to find a comic book! It was Logicomix - a comic book about the search for a solid foundation for Mathematics! I took it to my desk, and that is all i did for the rest of the day at work - read it*. Somewhere in between, i looked up, smiled at the world in general and felt really glad to be alive. That is what a good book can do.
* Do not ask me at what stage i got so comfortable with the new surroundings to be able to do something like that in full public eye. I have a hundred justifications as to why i did it, but even after 5 years at the last workplace, i couldnt have done it there. Maybe you know what also gives you a thick skin!
3 comments:
I am only around halfway done with Logicomix. Have to find another fine Wednesday afternoon :)
Heinlein - did you read Stranger or some other book? I thought maybe i started with the wrong book. Dune is full of awesome!
Ab to kharidnach padinga.. Aaj se dinner bandh :p
:D
Bechne ko khoon bhi bacha nahi hai kya?
Btw, if you come to Bangalore, do NOT go back without visting Blossoms. Of course, if you do visit Blossoms, there is the risk that you might never go back!
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