Why should you read books*?
Like every year *our Hasti school had a exhibition of books on the library day to commemorate the birthday of Sri Rangrajan* the pioneer of library science in india.
*School always organises variety of project like 1.DEAR(do every thing away to Read) 2, Family reading 3. Issuing three books for a quarter of month and make children to write the review of the books read while returning the same. 4.organising exhibition of new titles every month end.to motivate students and parents to read .
Students have questions in their mind as
*Why should you read & What did the books teach*?
*Here is the answer*
*If you have ten rupees, keep eight rupees for your own expenses*. There is a saying that out of the remaining two rupees, *buy a rose worth one rupee* and *a book worth one rupee*. *A rose will tell you why to live and a book will teach you how to live*. Books are very valuable. Marathi literature is an inexhaustible wealth. The more you loot, the more it grows. Even if one Dnyaneshwari is read again and again, each OV gets a new meaning. We Marathi people are really lucky, we have got a great history as well as a great tradition of literature.
When I started reading books, I had not decided what to read. I went on reading whatever came up in the public library and gradually acquired a great treasure of Marathi literature. *It started with a book called Papillon*. A French criminal named Henri Charrier wrote this book. *Henry was known in the criminal world as Papillon. He was not a big criminal. But he was falsely accused of murder and thrown into an infamous prison in French Guiana*. There he had to undergo severe imprisonment. He decided to teach those who lied to him a lesson, to follow him from prison and to go back to France. His journey was not easy. Still, he ran with great determination and courage. He wrote all this story himself and Rabindra Gurjar brought it into Marathi. *This book taught that difficulties can arise at any time in life and it requires courage, indomitable self-confidence to face them*. *Struggle comes every step* *and you have to fight it with determination*.
Savarkar’s book ” *Mazhi Janmthep* ” cannot be forgotten *when the subject of courage and indomitable self-confidence comes up*. Savarkar was sentenced to two life terms. One was a life sentence of 25 years. That means Savarkar would come out of jail after 50 years. In short, there was no chance of coming out alive. Yet they did not waver after hearing the punishment. He listened to the British government. You will not be able to stay in India for long. So my punishment will end soon. Only they can show such fierce confidence. After going to Andaman’s Cellular Jail, he met a harsh bari, and the physical and mental torture began. One had to do the stew in the given pot. After a small suspicion in his own cell, his smell lingered. Despite such terrible adversity, he dreamed of India’s independence. *If we want to learn that we can face difficulties in life and we can overcome them, we must read ‘Maaji Janamthep’*. If any adversity comes to our lot, we start to realize that it is nothing compared to what the revolutionaries went through.
*There are many examples of books that teach how to live*. One of them I read is – *Deserter! Gunther Bahnmann was a German soldier. He was assigned to Libya. His father was hanged by Nazi soldiers while he was fighting for Hitler*. So he decided to leave the army. His dream was to go to Germany and meet his mother. But his journey was not easy. He could have been killed for running away from the army. However, he continued to evade the Germans and their allies, the Italian army, and *finally fell into the hands of the enemy, the British. He learned English while in British captivity and wrote this book*.
Vijay Deodhar translated many books. Many of those books are based on adventure. All these books encourage us to be brave. The book ‘*Sattar Diwas*’ translated by Rabindra Gurjar must also be mentioned. *A plane crashes into a remote mountain and the surviving passengers struggle to survive in this book*. *These travelers cut up and ate the flesh of dead fellow* travelers to keep themselves alive in the icy terrain. They were eventually found and rescued. *Those who want to commit suicide due to failure in life must read this book* to know what it is like to try hard to live. This true story inspires us to survive even the most adverse situations. If you want to know how many people struggle to survive, you should also read the *book* ‘*I need to escape*’. *Some British soldiers were interned by Russia. The great courage these soldiers did to escape is the subject of this book*. After the captivity, these soldiers walked from Russia to India. British ruled here. Realizing that the British would send him back to England after coming to India, he traveled to India on foot, suffering from hunger and fever through very cold regions. He came across the British Army at the Indian border and was sent to England. *From this book we can learn that a man sacrifices his life on occasion and overcomes many obstacles to get freedom*. We know how precious the freedom we have is. It also shows how much a soldier works for the country.
Many biographies were also written in India. *The book ‘Grandmother of London* ‘ is one of them. Radhabai Vanarse, a widow living in Vidarbha during the British rule, was suffering from poverty. It was impossible to feed the girls. She got married again and moved to England. *Unfortunately the second husband also passed away. Poverty came again*. English was not spoken. *She was illiterate. Still living in England, she ran a restaurant and *bought four buildings in London*
P.L. Deshpande, Atre, Yashwantrao Chavan went to London, they used to go to her restaurant. Atre praised her and said that because of her, London should also become a part of Maharashtra. *This book makes the reader optimistic, inspires to struggle*. You can learn from this book that no matter how many difficulties you face, *difficulties can be overcome by hard work and success can be achieved*.
*Some books teach how to live and some books teach why to live*. You can laugh at the inconsistencies in life. Deshpande’s books teach and this book shows that the greatest joy in life is to be able to laugh heartily. “If you eat fodder, you will be put in a district jail in a square cap and if you eat lakhs of rupees, you will be made a representative of the people”, his joke still holds true even after many years. “Asami Asami” is still a reflection of the common man. Books by Mr. Mirasdar, Ramesh Mantri are also entertaining. Shna Navare, V.P. Kale tells a lot through short stories. Fine articles by Venkatesh Madgulkar and Ravindra Pinge are very readable. Madgulkar describes his village as Khumasdar. And Pinge has written extensively on his own wanderings. These writings make us look around. Life shows us so much around us. His books teach us to put aside our little problems, daily cries and enjoy it.
*Stories, biographies are expressed through many words. But the poem conveys a great meaning in few words*. How to be optimistic and positive can be learned from Mangesh Padgaonkar’s last chapter of ‘*Ya Janmavar, Ya Jaganavar’*. Padgaonkar has written,
I will pinch this soil a thousand times with these lips,
Endure eternal death to live here,
Only the world should float on the pimpal leaf here,
Love this birth, this life forever.
*As we live, we endure endless suffering. At times, he even faces death. Yet Padgaonkar writes that just as Lord Krishna floated away from the Pimpal leaf in the flood, this world is also going to float away. When there are many negative events happening around, this optimism gives a lot of lift to the mind*. Another thing you need to lift your spirits is to have someone stand by you. One can overcome great difficulties if one only perseveres. This is what *Kusumagraja’s poem ‘Kana*’ teaches. *A student of his has come to Kusumagraja. His house has been destroyed by flood water. He comes and says,
“Do you recognize me sir?” – Someone came in the rain,
Clothes were dirty, water on hair.
He sat for a moment then smiled and looked up
“Gangamai guest came, went and stayed in the nest”
Flood water entered his house. But without giving a name to that water, he calls it Gangamai and continues.
” Mahervashine danced like a child within the four walls,
How will it go free, but the wife survived.
The wall crumbled, the hearth went out, nothing was taken away,
Put some water on the eyelids as prasad.
Sange Sir is now fighting for the stewardship,
Building a wall, removing mud”
Kusumagraja thought of giving him some money as help. But he rejected it. Kusumagraj writes,
He got up smiling as he went to his pocket,
I don’t want money sir, I felt a little lonely.
*Even if the world is broken, the backbone is not broken.
Put your hands on your back, just say fight*!
This flood affected student is very respectable. He doesn’t want money, just patience from sir. All he wants is to put his hand on Sarani’s back and say fight!! Kusumagraja’s poem is remembered by many for the patience that is needed!
This is the specialty of Marathi books. These *books give strength to live*. It is as if they are fighting with their hands behind their backs. So should your collection of books. *Instead of giving wealth to our next generation, we should give books*. Because the generation that got wealth becomes crippled whereas the generation that got books becomes able.
*Pablo Neruda’s poem that highlights the importance of books is* ,
*If you don’t travel,
If you don’t read,
If you don’t listen to the sounds of life,
You start dying slowly
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