My relationship with books has played a huge part in shaping my life, and I can trace its roots back to my mother, who was determined to make a reader out of me. She regularly took me to our local public library, and would read to me about Clifford the big red dog and Winnie the Pooh, until I was old enough to read about them myself. Short children’s books turned into summer-long reading contests, and before I knew it, I was in the middle of a lifelong romance with books. My approach to reading and my taste in books has evolved over the years, but my love for reading has never faltered, and the knowledge of the extent to which books have changed my life drives me to provide others with the same level of access.
I had a childhood filled with fantasy novels about magical worlds and mythical creatures. I sought out books that sparked my imagination, and I envisioned adult life would be a series of grueling quests, each with a different lesson, from which I would emerge victorious and unscathed. I wanted to travel through time in a Magic Treehouse, ride dragons with Eragon, and learn spells at Hogwarts, just like every other kid my age. My dreams were highly improbable (or maybe impossible, but a part of me still holds out hope), but they filled my life with excitement. The intricate plots taught me to keep an open mind and think out of the box, qualities which developed into problem-solving and critical thinking skills as I grew older. My early love for reading and the way it enriched my life was one of the key driving factors behind the Pune Learns Mobile Library initiative.
With the onset of what I then believed was teenage maturity, came the understanding that reality isn’t filled with the same happy endings as the fantasy novels of my youth. I still read a lot of the same types of books, but I started to look for more meaning in the stories. Instead of marveling at how magnificent magic was, I thought about the motivations of characters, drawing parallels between them and myself, more often one of the supporting characters than the heroes. I was drawn to Sam’s loyalty, without whom Frodo never would’ve reached Mordor, and Eowyn’s bravery, in a story where women are either absent or typecast as weak and in need of protection. While life has never been quite as dramatic as Lord of the Rings led me to believe it would be, I did learn a lot about friendship, relationships, and morals from these books. Wonderfully weird characters like Luna Lovegood encourage me to embrace my individuality – a reminder that feels especially necessary on days when I feel out of place as a woman in tech, wearing bright colors and large earrings in an office filled with dark t-shirts and muted button ups.
I remember receiving Surviving the Applewhites as a gift while I was in school, a book about a young troublemaker who is taken in by an eccentric family of artists, an experience that transforms and brings out the best in both him and the family. Reading about a diverse group that valued skills like singing, acting, and art at par with academic prowess really drove home the fact that talent takes many forms, a message that is especially important for children in India’s schooling system that assigns merit almost exclusively based on academic success. The diversity of settings and characters in books played a huge role in broadening my understanding of the world and introduced me to places, people, and lifestyles that I wouldn’t otherwise have learned about. This experience is especially important for students like ours who are exposed only to people within their own communities, making it hard for them to get a glimpse of opportunities that exist outside of the societal and gender norms they are confined to.
My Reading List
More recently, I’ve branched out from fantasy into related genres like sci-fi, adventure/drama, and historical fiction. Instead of just picking up a book with an interesting blurb and hoping to learn something from reading it, I actively seek out books that may help me understand the situations I find myself in, and I’m constantly surprised by the realization that the best lessons often come from stories of pure fiction. I found hope and creative inspiration in Station Eleven, a very relevant story about life, art, and culture after a devastating pandemic. Reading about all the little acts that contribute to large revolutionary movements in All the Light We Cannot See, a novel about a blind girl’s role in the World War II resistance, renewed my faith in our ability to deal with tough experiences and emerge stronger.
Over the years, the lessons I learned on individuality, community, and values have moulded me into the person I am today, and even now, books are helping me navigate the challenges of 2020. I have no doubt that everyone’s experience with books is incredibly unique, and while I find solace and meaning in the realm of fantasy, others may prefer the worlds of non-fiction, or poetry, or romance. However, I think most of us would agree on the power of words, and the way they are able to transform lives. I know as a team, all of us at Pune Learns saw this immense potential and leveraged it to bring about positive change in our communities. Just as they have been for me, I hope books have been and will continue to be an inspiration and an eye-opener for the children we teach.
– By Pallavi Patil
View this post on Medium.