Influence Of Books

Of all the education that I have had in my school and college years, apart from the fact that I can read, write and understand a little, there has been not been much of value addition to my life. I say this as I now remember nothing of what I learnt from the impractical theoretical methods by which one was forced to learn the lessons. It has been 27 years since I discontinued my formal learning but  life’s lessons have hardly been learnt  from these years at all.

In fact while only some of life’s lessons  have come from books that I read in school, others have mostly come from those I read outside my educational courses. Of course my primary school years shaped a lot of my thinking when I read classics like ‘David Copperfield’, ‘Great Expectations’, ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’, ‘Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ and the like. The hardships faced by the protagonists in these books, the brutality of conditions like slavery, the desire of every boy to be free, adventurous, the windfalls  that shape the life of orphan Pip, the twists and turns in many other tales that I read continue to influence the way I think in life.

Other than that there are two dog- eared 60 pages notebooks of hymns that Sister Tarcissia taught us when I was in classes from fifth to seventh that I draw on in various situations in my life. ‘We shall overcome’,  ‘Count your blessings’, ‘Discovering God’, ‘Peace and Joy’ taught me so much more about life. Morning and evening prayers, prayers for those in distress, prayers for guidance, for strength, for gratitude…all handwritten with pencil…I hold close to my heart till this date and remain a precious part of my life.

My growing up years were mainly influenced by books like ‘The catcher in the Rye’ by J D Salinger which dealt with a youth’s search for his  self and his place in the world, Richard Bach’s ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ where the seagull knew that there was more to himself and life, Kahlil Gibran’s ‘The Prophet’ that taught and still teaches me the meaning of life, ‘Gitanjali’ Rabindranath Tagore’s song offerings to the creator depicting the yearning to merge with God and Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ which taught patience and perseverance.

In recent years I have read many fine books but one that remains fresh in my mind is Gregory David Robert’s novel ‘Shantaram’ which is the author’s spiritual journey in life shaped by people and incidents in India.