I thought of quietly making an event for myself in these strange times, to remain hopeful a bit. I realised that it has been ten years since I started reading seriously and independently.
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I am deliberately marking 2010 as the starting point, because it coincides with the intellectual void of leaving an institution (and the wonderful access to the library at CEPT) and carving one’s own journey into the profession. It was in 2010 I finished my post graduation at CEPT. The two years before 2010 at CEPT had been a substantial deep exposure to reading. I was barely catching up with the architectural reading I had to read as part of the curriculum. In comparison, I had read too little during my under graduation in USD Mysore, due to lack of exposure to the value and discipline of reading. But I was fairly familiar with the 4-5 cupboard of books at our library in USD. I remember reading the Architectural Record regularly, which the library used to subscribe to. This was the only portal to know a bit about contemporary architecture, before the norm of Archdaily-Dezeen days. In CEPT, most of the books were derived suggestions from wonderful teachers. Prof K.B. Jain, used to say to reflect on any problem in life, one could either look at cricket or read Hesse’s Siddhartha. I bought that book as soon as he said that. Snehal Shah used to continuously remind how it was a crime not to use the full potential of library card, which allowed a PG student to loan 7 books. My other teacher, Bijoy Ramachandran introduced to me the world of Richard Sennet and Rafael Moneo.( I remember how Moneo was delighted to know, that Bijoy carried two of his heavy books to get signed in an event in Goa) It is not only that teachers introduce and make the books visible, they also allow to look at ideologies of Moneo, Hesse, Sennet through their perspective. This borrowed lens of viewing the world is of immense importance to my education.
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2010 also marks an important moment. I could buy a book online! Flipkart stated to deliver books (only books then). Actually Amazon also started as a book delivery company. This ability to buy books online marked a huge change. It democratised access to knowledge. I remember when studying in Mysore, it was extremely difficult to stumble/discover new authors or books. I am still grateful, though it was still limited, to our wonderful small collection which was made possible by Prof. Daroga . This was early days of everyday internet and phones were not smart yet. One had to travel to KD road ( like 2 kms from where is stayed) for a decent internet connectivity . Was expensive too. I remember a teacher then who used get to get some really interesting books, but share it only with his favourite student/s. Used to envy them a lot, as I was not under his radar in UG. It was then a liberation to be in CEPT library. Even when I recently visited ( almost after a decade) the new CEPT library, most of the old staff and the graceful main librarian Tejaswaini Ben remembered me from my college days. I was delighted to know they recognised me even now. Moving from loaning books to buying books is an important threshold in reading. So this casual everyday act of getting a book delivered to your door is a privilege, one which I would like to recall everytime a book gets delivered.
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I also discovered Pico Iyer in 2010. I vividly remember reading a essay on Pico Iyer in Pradeep Sebastian’s book ‘The Groaning Shelf’. I remember picking up the book from the Crossword store near SG Highway. Actually I visited the store because, it was designed by Apurva Amin, whom I had trained under. I picked up Pradeep Sebastian book, because I remember him from some articles he wrote in the The Hindu. The significant minor (major now) reading habit I had picked up from my father. I used to subscribe to the Chennai print edition of The Hindu paper in Ahmedabad ( as they was no local edition), which used to arrive by air, a day late sometimes. A habit which is still the most disciplined reading I am engaged in. The Hindu has a huge impact on my reading habit. In school the only books I read were Tinkle and Sherlock Holmes and started reading the paper then. So only after reading Pico Iyer, I have considered my self as a serious and independent reader. I can be flamboyant in saying that I have all (almost) of his books. Since then I have been seriously reading and discovered Amit Chaudhri, Amitava Kumar, Austin Kleon. It has take taken almost ten years from me to find my own ecology of reading and family of writers who keep shaping my ideas and world views.
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I am happy my reading has become very eclectic today. I am currently reading a brilliant book ‘Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation’ by Michael Pollan. Actually the trigger to write this piece is how surprised I am of myself to be reading a book on cooking with such pleasure (even though I don’t cook much or am neither a foodie ). It is the shear pleasure of accessing ideas and minds of these wonderful writers. I was introduced to Pollan by a self help book on time management and productivity ‘Make Time : How to Focus on what Matters Every Day’ by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky. I am rereading (second reading in 2 years) Pico Iyer’s ‘Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells’ on the side. Recently pending unfinished books are ‘The Library Book’ by Susan Orlean and ‘The Art of Thinking’ by Alan Jacob. The two books in quarantine are Amitava Kumar’s collection of Essays ‘Lunch with a Bigot : The Writer in the World’ and Tim Parks ‘Pen in Hand : Reading, Rereading and other Mysteries’. I did not imagine to be in a landscape like this ten years before and I am conscious and grateful to all the connections which led me to this terrain of reading.
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It has taken years for this to happen. Earlier, whenever I went to a bookshop, I used to go the architecture section and may be to fiction. Now I ambulate the whole bookshop. My biases of books on spirituality and inabilities to read poetry are also breaking slowly. To share my interests I also started book club at WCFA, around 4 years back. I envy the students in the club who have already read more than me even before they joined college. I have completely missed the natural track of reading i.e. Classics – Fiction – Non Fiction – Poetry – Philosophy . I am yet to read the classics. To be involved and develop an ecology of reading, one also has to be aware of all the fragile connections that led to a particular book or a writer. Even though I started reading very late, I consider it a huge privilege to have read whatever I have read till now. This piece is just a reminder to myself ; to keep reading.
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mofussillab 