Reading a book can be tiresome. Rather it used to be, but now it is exhilarating.
My school had an extensive library. Not one but two libraries. One for Junior school and one for middle and senior school students. A library period was always a fun-filled experience for me. As juniors they showed us documentaries, kids movies and Discovery channel. Reference book and books of Disney characters such as Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel and the like with their shiny glossy paper were the main attractions. Noddy riding on his Toy car and riding in his toy land always amazed me. Ms. Blyton did a fine work.
But why did they do it? They ..my school. What's the purpose behind it? I never realized till I passed out of school. It was the exposure to such a vast collection that made think more. Each book had inside it a gateway to a world filled with imagination and wondrous creatures.
I was never a critical thinker. I always read and forgot about it as soon as I finished. But was it enough ? Thinking is very important. A key to understanding the various portrayals of characters, scenes, situations, views. Something that we might not know ever. Getting a first hand experience by reading and understanding a few words .... the possibilities in itself seems magical and seamless.
Pity that now I have to pay for the common classics that I could read in school for free. No library system is present that could give the kids what their school cannot and fulfill the demands of adults that cannot pay. Reading about the rights of citizen and fundamental duties, it pains when i see no act of philanthropy towards making of a library.
Donate thousands for poojas and 'ram-lila samitis', but none to spare for a neighborhood library..
Are any rising millionaires of India listening? God give me strength to become a millionaire so I could build a library.
