Tsundoku

Books. Perhaps, my first crush. And the only one that has been fruitful. 😛

I have more books than I can ever read and I continue to add to my collection. While the genre of books I read hasn’t changed in years, I am a bit picky about what I read on a particular day. But I try to finish the book I started before I pick another.

In this section, I will write about my reading habits, buying habits, books I read, etc.

When did it all start?

Legend has it (sounds great when something begins this way, isn’t it?) that I am addicted to books from my childhood days.

We got two newspapers daily, Deccan Herald and Kannada Prabha, and Chandamama monthly magazine in our home in 1980s. Apparently, I read all of them with equal interest. In fact, I have kept some pages of those Chandamama magazines even now. So, I guess that was when my reading habits started.

During summer holidays, I went to Indian Institute World Culture library and read TinTin comics. Whenever we used to visit my cousin’s place in Hospet, we read Chacha Chaudhary comics from the library. Back home, I read TP Kailasam’s books from City Central Library near South End circle during weekends and vacations.

After I started earning, I bought books of my choice. Just like every book has its reader, I believe there is a book for every budget. Even if you have just 10 rupees, you can get a book from National Book Trust.

My uncle (doddappa, to be precise), Major KC Raghavan’s vast collection of books inspired me to buy books for collection. One book I started buying just because he had is Reader’s Digest. Even today I don’t really know what is so great about it. But back then, I just wanted to imitate him. If doddappa has it, there must be something special about it. That’s all that mattered.