World Book Day: The Joy of Reading

There is an inexplicable thrill about re-reading one of your favorite books, which you had almost forgotten. For the past couple of months, I had been hunting for Arthur Hailey's 'The Final Diagnosis'. I had first picked it up from a cramped library in the bylanes of Matunga during my summer vacations in school. And then I had read almost all his books, but ‘The Final Diagnosis’ remains an all-time favourite. However, to my disbelief, I could not find my copy. Did I not own one? Strange and unlikely!

So recently, while I was looking to buy it, it was perpetually out of stock online and was unavailable at bookstores, too. My last resort was the booksellers on the pavement. But alas, there also, I did not find any luck. As the Sufi master Rumi has said, ‘what you seek is seeking you,’ to my utter delight, a friend found my copy during a de-cluttering spree in her house and happily couriered it back to me without having read a word (sigh!).

As I flipped through the pages, I could not remember the characters' names, barring the central character. However, that night, while I sat with this 380-pager and switched on the reading lamp, the familiar plot started to unfold, and I realized I was experiencing the book differently this time around.

That’s the beauty of revisiting any form of art, especially those pieces of work that have deeply connected with you.  Every read, watch, or experience touches a different chord and builds on the existing love and fondness you have for it.

It is like meeting a long-lost friend and reconnecting with them exactly from where you left off the last time. Reading is one such joy that keeps giving and enriching.

World Book Day - #joyofreading