Dear Jeyamohan,
The speech on the importance of reading is poignant and eloquent at the same time. Yes, reading has many uses in this modern world, and it is unavoidable for improving our intellect and mind. But at the age of 62, I feel differently about reading.
I was an ardent reader in my twenties. I met Sujatha once and introduced myself as his fan in 1986. Later my reading automatically stopped. Our family dynamics, work environment, and social context discourage reading habits. Throughout our lives we can never meet another person who is reading a book. Everyone around us tends to be both curious and dismissive about reading habits.
I am not assigning blame to anyone; I acknowledge my responsibility as well. But at this age, when time becomes a burden to me, I turn to reading. I was very active on social media and eventually found that it creates depression. Its very mode is negative, and we cannot deal with unknown people from the entire globe with our limited sense and emotional setup. So I left and began to read.
I selected Sujatha and almost completed all of his novels. Toward the end, I felt I could easily judge his wit and the form of the story. His style is stale and somewhat artificial. In fact, I felt that he was writing in a manner similar to a serious adult who is pretending to be a mischievous young man. I moved ahead and discovered your writing.
Actually, I approached you based on the criticisms you expressed about Sujatha. Then I locked in to your world and am now reading Venmurasu. I find that reading is very soothing, similar to a deep meditation. While I was active on social media, my sleeping cycle was disturbed, but now I am perfect on it. I have things to discuss with my wife. I am telling the story of Venmurasu to her every day.
Others may perceive reading differently, but for me, it serves as a highly effective form of meditation.
Jegan
