On reading books...

Will books be displayed next to dinosaur bones in museums in a few years from now? I very sincerely hope not, but still this question lingers with an uncertain feeling in my mind so very often.

I should make my stand clear. I am no enemy to invention, technology or scientific advancement. In fact very far from IT. But I also love the old fashioned reading, touch and feel of books, the different smells from new and old dog eared books, the memories these books invoke, the ability to share, borrow, lend, marking cherished lines, simply love the physical presence of a book, as opposed to the online books and reading books using Kindle Fire and other such devices.

Please understand I am NOT dis regarding the comfort and accessibility that the online books on the cloud, that technology offers us. Technology has provided the amazing accessibility to information/books anytime from anywhere. And that is wonderfully amazingly convenient. But I also do not want the physical books becoming out of habit. These reading devices brings books and information closer to us than we think is many cases. At the same time, they make books and the reading experience twice far removed.

I always prefer to buy books as presents and would be happy if I am able to receive books the same way too. But I am coming across too many people buying Kindle/iPad and other e-readers in place of books. And I am afraid we are bringing up a generation of youngsters who do not know the value of real books. Instead they are exposed only to the devices from which they can read and do other things. Which encroaches upon their ability to read a book, complete it and think about it. Now they can read a few pages on a device, switch to game and then text some etc. Eventually reading might be the last item in the youngsters focus list with a device like iPad o Kindle. Is that healthy?

I do not want reading to be one of those extinct qualities in our children. if our children are our future, they should be able to appreciate the past a little, understand the present a little to prepare for the future. And I think real books can offer the comfort and focus to the kids than the devices. When real books are like loving grandparents, the electronic devices are the paid care takers or baby sitters. We can definitely trust them both, but grand parents are more connected to the kids than baby sitters/care takers. Whats your take on it?

On reading....for research!

I had a chance to talk to my friend's research scholar yesterday. (My friend is a professor at an University in India, she is guiding few research scholars on their doctoral thesis).

This particular student had difficulty reading for research. You know how it is. When you are a research scholar in Language and Literature - you do not have the opportunity to follow logical deduction and scientific research methodology. It is all logical reasoning based on personal understanding. You select some books. Read them, analyze them and present your perception of those books/author or style as your research hypothesis.

And then begins your research. And this person had issues understanding the underlying concepts and formulating ideas on a given time. So, I called to talk to my friend. My friend was in class and her scholar picked up. And I asked her how is your research coming along. And that question unwrapped another one of my impromptu lectures....poor girl, liked it or not, she had to be polite to her prof's friend and listen to my 25 mnts of long distance lecture :)

So this is how I think every research scholar in the literary discipline should approach their reading. Every book needs to be read at least four times *before* beginning to write the draft 1 of you thesis. (exclusively based on my personal experience)

So here you go -

• Familiarize
• Understand
• Analyze
• Criticize

Familiarize: When you have selected a few books for your research, your first step into your research reading should be to get familiar with the book itself. So read the book from front to back, once. Don't stop to think on the subtleties. Don't analyze anything. Just read the book as you would a casual fiction. Then take a note book and write down your first impression. Forget the book and go on to the next one. read all books once, capturing your first impressions as a simple summary in the notebook.

Understand: Now get back to your first book. Start reading, pay more attention to character names and situations. Read completely. Take the same notebook. Now write your second experience with the book. Write down all the character names, if possible sort them into main/sub characters. Theme. Plot. Turning Point and the climax. Make it look like a book report. Do the same to all the books.

Analyze: Now go start reading the book again with meticulous attention to details, with a pencil or highlighter in hand. Read the chapters with your research hypothesis in mind. Whenever you come across any point that would be helpful for your argument, mark it. Go through the whole book, all books. Now take the same notebook and write down only the parts that apply to your research, Write down your supportive quotes from the book with page numbers.

Criticize: Now take the book again, read only the parts that apply to your research. If you are unsure, go over the whole book again. See how in that particular part the author says what you think he says. Collect supporting materials to substantiate your argument and read them too.

And now - you can start writing your draft 1!

Right approach to reading will help you to understand the book much better, much earlier.

Love

Valentine's day: the red heart balloons, flowers, heart shaped chocolate boxes, advertisements to sell perfumes, jewellery, school kids madness in giving out and counting the received valentines (so called garbage that all parents always have to buy, and dump in garbage within the first week, of course behind the kids back)...in a nutshell - the marketing hype & confused madness got me thinking. Thinking about the center of all this hustle...LOVE.

What exactly is love? is it so easily discernible? mmmm I don't think so. Love is an universal feeling - a strong universal feeling that is - that a human feels towards an object, person or some other inanimate thing. Is it true that Love can happen only once? Or there can be only one true love? This brings another question on 'true' love. Well if the feeling is not true it is not love. then why do we sometimes qualify love as 'true' love?

Now getting back to square one - is it possible that any human can love only once? To me this is totally an absurd question. Such a question arises only when we start confusing or mixing up love with marriage, life partnership etc. Meet. Fall in love. Marry. Live ever after. Yes, being true to the relationship is very important. I agree both involved in a relationship must work on mending the walls frequently so no one violates the boundaries.

Does that also mean one should not love anything or anyone else after marriage? Absolutely not. Love your favorite leader, movie star, author, friend, co-worker. Just know your boundaries. Essentially do not get mixed up with admiration, appreciation, friendship (all different manifestations of love) and love - the kind of love that involves a much higher level of intimacy than the average, normal manifestation of love.

Love, like water takes the shape of the container we pour it in. When this love is poured into the spouse it takes a completely different shape. In friendship and other containers - love fits in with multiple different shapes. Just understanding the capacity of the container would mean that we have mastered the art of unconditional love.

Oh well...I love what I love!

Thanks HDS and Thanks Toastmasters!

Thanks to my job at HDS. We have the Hi Definitions Speakers (HDS at HDS) club. And yes I am happy I joined the club! The ice breaker speech - first talk, was an interesting experience. I volunteered to be a speaker for this week during the last week's meeting. And came up with this title "Fences" last week too. But got busy with so many shopping trips, and the usual stuff - so didn't prepare. And this morning dawned!

Oh well I guess enough of blowing my own trumpet!!! I went! I sweat! I Spoke! Spoke what? My favorite subject - "Good fences make good neighbors" Well not only good neighbors, good family, good couple, good friends everything. I am not sure how effectively I conveyed the message. But I will work on improving :)

Working and interacting with a great bunch of people, working on self development in a fun way - what more can you ask for?

சில நினைவுகள்

நொடிகள் எல்லாம் நிமிடங்களில் கரைய
நிமிடங்கள் ஓடி மணிக்குள் மறைய
மணிகள் கூட நாட்கள், வாரங்கள், மாதங்கள் என்று
காலம் கரையும் கணக்கை வார்த்தையில் எப்படி?

நினைவு குமிழிகள் உடைந்த கனவுகள்
வெறும் சோப்புக்குமிழியாய்
சத்தம் இல்லா காற்றும் இல்லா
தடமே இன்றி வெறுமை நிறைக்கும்

சில நினைவுகள் போல
கனவில் மட்டும் கலராய் நிறைந்து
விழித்த போதில் நீரில் கரைந்து -விழி நீரில் கரைந்து
கானல் நிஜமாய் கனவின் உருவாய் ...