My family and other books

Growing up on Enid Blyton, Mark Twain and many English fairy tales, I dreamt of well read families having big studies and even bigger collection of books. When I grew up and the Victorian, Bengali and most famous author works solidified this belief. But here I was, from a family with a home devoid of books, study or a reading nook. We didn’t have a reading room to retire to, or book shelves bursting, literature was never considered a dinner table or evening tea topic and libraries were never visited. 

While comic books were quite prevalent in my north India hindi speaking childhood but they were limited to Diamond and Raj comics. For the Rs 10, I sometimes received from my parents, I would exchange 5 books at Rs 2 rent each from the local comic book shop. But this is not considered serious reading and it definitely doesn’t help your language or vocabulary. It’s purely entertainment and devoid of any literary association. 

So how did I start loving reading and writing. I like to spend hours with books, collect them, showcase them, carry them everywhere, talk about them and review them. I seemed the odd one out in my family. I thought I was this nerd duckling in her family of Punjabi rola shola. For most part of my life this is what I believed. But if you watch closely there are signs of family association. 

Now almost retired my father has been reading a lot. He reads crime, historical, political and mythological fiction. Amish, Ashwin Sanghi and Ashok Banker. My mother tells me he used to read detective stories in his younger days. There was a particular detective series with a protagonist named Vishal. He does not admit now but am assuming it was a Hindi pulp fiction series sold at railway stations. Anyone who reads this genre, never admits to reading it. Despite hiding his fandom this detective was what he named his first born after. We have lately shared some good conversations about books, authors and their stories. May be that is where I get my book love from.  

My mother has been a fan of female magazines. Sarita, Grehshobha and all monthly magazines had a standard subscription at our house. There were day to day life stories with female protagonists who were dealing with issues of home, marriage and domesticity. Sometimes there were love stories and sometimes social messages on dowry, widow remarriage and feminism. Both to amuse and inspire Middle Aged women. There were cooking recipes, cloth designs and sweater styles that house wives copied and passed along. The last few pages were dedicated to jokes, cartoons and puzzles which were my favourite part. After all I would not leave a book lying around unread by me. She did mention much later that she would read M&Bs in her college days but that information was hidden from me till I passed the teenage when these books make quite an impression. Also I have never really enjoyed romance genre. 

My mother and I have both enjoyed film and fashion magazines for the exorbitant gossip and designs. From make up tips, celebrity interviews and the shopping catalogues everything is meant to be read. My mother tells me how she was so fond of reading that while doing jhadoo she would sit down to start reading the scraps she gathered. So was she the source of my passion for reading! 

My elder brother, an ICSE pass out compared to my CBSE affiliation. The emphasis on language in ICSE and maths/ science in CBSE is a known fact. While I struggled with my book - Maggie cuts her hair, he was exposed to Shakespeare‘s Julius Ceaser. He grew up to be fluent in English and I was a product of Hindi medium. He would instruct and intimidate us with his usage of heavy English words. We didn’t understand him but his superiority on us was established. 

Everyone remembers the Birbal story where he throws water on a multi - lingual who starts abusing in his native. Not my brother he kept his accent and English vocabulary intact in anger or excitement. The sad part of this country is that English speakers are considered intelligent vis-a-vis a native speaker. Anyways by the virtue of his Anglophi-lingo there were some books around the house, somewhere in a cupboard or a drawer.

He claims to get me into reading. Well, doubtful! But I did manage to read a few of his books although most of them were too serious. Can you imagine developing a love for reading from ‘The autumn of a patriarch’ or Don Quixote. He told me - it was a famous book because it didn’t use much full stops. I am glad I put a full stop to reading it or I would have lost my mind like the dictator. 

In fact he was the one who made me stop reading my favorite newspaper. In his continued effort to promote English language he shut down Punjab Kesari. The best Hindi daily masala newspaper in the North Indian belt. As a child it was my daily dose of entertainment. It had the most spicy, fun and interesting news especially the supplement. But no it was not up to his standards, instead he initiated Economic times. The sepia shades, dull, boring news paper with numbers and line charts never made any sense to me. Huh! 

He does read a lot now but mostly non fiction - biographies, political writers or award winners. It gives him good content to use in the ‘intellectual’ debates with his other ‘intellectual’ friends. No one in the family participates in this. 

Then comes my next brother. He has only read one book in his life. Excluding text books while that is also doubtful. Now you must be thinking which is this special book. You will never guess. No it’s not a classic or Sherlock Holmes, it’s not even comic or cartoon books, it’s not even newspaper or magazine. Hold your breath, it is, it is - the biography of Osama Bin Laden. 

Can you believe it. And this was his published biography while he was alive. My brother finished it yes, but as you know the protagonist’s story was not over. We have been encouraging him to read the new version but he just doesn’t have interest. Thank fully his kids read! 

So somewhere in all these encounters with literature, my love for books has grown. As you can see we all love different genres and are different characters. Ours was not a bookish family but I can bet that we make an interesting book ourselves. You see when we meet we live life rather than read life! 🤓

Also don’t think that you need genes or family support to be what you wish to do. Pick up a music instrument even if no one sings in your family. Pick up dancing shoes even if the family is born with many left feet. You can be anything. ♥️