
My next encounter with literature, outside my school syllabus, ensued when I was 8 years old. It was my 8th birthday and my father gifted me my 1st story book. Thereafter, every year he would take me and my brother to the book stall in the Dusshera Mela to buy us books.
But, living in a small town in the hindi hinterland with not much awareness and avenues, my tryst with English Literature remained an annual affair limited to the Dusshera Mela. Later, the reading part dwindled to the course text books and the pressure of securing good marks disrupted my romantic liaison with English Literature.
I was later able to re-kindle my love for books and reading after completing my studies and securing a job. Although I have been regularly reading for the last 10 years but still I feel I have alot to catch up. It makes me realize I would have been a lot more wiser if I would not have missed reading in my school years.
When my son was born, I decided I would introduce him to the books pretty early in life and sow the seeds of love for reading in him. So I bought him his first baby touch books when he turned 8 months. From baby touch books, he graduated to picture books soon after he turned 1 and now after 2 years we have a houseful of books for him comprising of a combination of graphic illustrations books, simple story books, Dr Seuss, alphabets and number books and many books dedicated to his interest in buses, cars, diggers etc. The books remain unevenly distributed across all the rooms so that no opportunity gets lost in the event of exploring books.
We have a daily ritual of reading atleast 2 books just before sleeping at night, one a short story book and the other would be any other favourite of his. The key to generate his interest has been to infuse some dramatic expressions and the pitch adjustments while reading the stories. If any day Dhruv refuses to tidy up his toys at dinner time, he is told that no tidy up means no reading at bed time. Not being able to read (though I am the one who does the reading for him) sounds too much of a punishment to him and the toys get tidied up very fast. This leads me to think may be I have been able to attain some feet in developing his interest in books and reading at such a young age.

Today, when I was confidently informing daddy about this milestone, he told me this is no big deal. When he was a kid he used to read alot of comics, champak etc and Dhruv is also going through the similar phase and whatever he reads or I read to him is just like comics and champak for him.
Though I disagree with daddy but at the same time he has left me thinking that I will be able to make a difference with Dhruv only when I remain consistent in my efforts to teach him reading making him an independent reader and to be able to steer his interest to books of every genre.


I like it. Totally agree with you that consistency will get you desired results…all the best for your success in future on this count, my friend 🙂
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Thanks Pallavi.
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Books are the one thing I’m truly grateful to my dad about. Lovely post.
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Thanks Damyanti for dropping by and liking the post.
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I think i did my debut with Champak. And among books, i can’t forget one book which my father bought me from Agra – Roosi Lok Kathayen. This book has Russian folk tales describing their lifestyle and social structure. I used to fantasize about it and had read it atleast 50-60 times. With my daughter now 17 months, she has 4 books – Learn with Bruno (story), Cinderella (picture book), My big book of nursery rhymes, My big book of objects. As of now she loves me reading for her, can’t say for future.
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I would say fix up a daily schedule, stick to it, keep reading to her and she will go a long way.
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I can totally relate to this. I don’t remember when I started reading. With Z, I read a lot of books I grew up reading. It always works.
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For me, its like a discovery of the vast universe of children books because of Dhruv. It is a learning experience for me as well with every new book that we read together.
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