I read for pleasure. The information content is incidental as far as I am concerned. That is to say I don't go looking for books that will teach me something. Rather I read books that I want to read because they are fun to read. I would rather curl up with a pot boiler than read Jack Welch.
That is not to say I do not learn anything from the books I read. I do. In addition to the pleasure factor, every book has something to give. Some piece of information, a thought or two or simply a different way of looking at things.
The problem is that there are only so many hours in a day. Weekends are for householdy things. Groceries, the broken clock, insurance premium payments, etc etc. And of course to catch up on sleep
Anyway, I read a number of blogs regularly and one of them, Life Hack, has this post titled "How To Automatically Read A Book Per Week Without Taking Any Additional Time Out Of Your Day". The title caught my attention and I eagerly started reading. Agreed with the author for the first few paragraphs. And then I started getting irritated.
The author talks about Audio Books as the solution. Nice, techy solution. But will it work? Say in an Indian context? Let us look at an example:
My wife, Padmaja, is a professional with two kids and a husband. I mention the husband part because she claims she has a lazy bum of a husband. She commutes to work on a scooter. A drive of about 8 Km's which takes about 30 minutes each way. Her day starts at 6.00 am when she has to cook breakfast & lunch for everybody. Then she kicks my butt out of bed at about 6.30 and goes to wake up our daughter, Mamli. She then spends about 45 mins with Mamli reviewing homework or preparation for any tests etc. In the meantime I do my morning stuff (teeth, tea, emails, shave, shower etc) before waking the boy, Bablu. Then we rush through the rest of the morning ritual of getting the kids to school (they commute by school bus) and getting ready for work. Padmaja returns from work at about 6.30 p.m. The rest of the evening is usually taken up by homework and dinner. The kids go to bed at about 9.00 p.m. and we have dinner right after. Bed by 10.30 - 11.30. We rarely watch TV. The post dinner hour is reserved for husband - wife discussions. Plans, moans, etc.
So how does Padmaja find / make the time to read a book? Will audio books work for her? If not, why?
- Audio books are expensive. Paperbacks are relatively inexpensive in comparison.
- They take time to setup on a player like the iPod. Paperback books do not need any "setup". They are ready to go out-of-the-box.
- It is easy to put down a book and then pick it up again after a while. You can quickly scan the previous lines and pick up from where you left off. Try that with an Audio book!
- Unlike for Audio books you don't need a computer to buy and read a regular paper based book. Padmaja hates the home PC anyway. Claims she spends enough time staring at a computer screen at work.
- You can read a book on the pot, leave it in the bathroom till you come back without worrying about damaging a 10,000 rupee gadget. Same with the bed. I am usually very careful where I put down the iPod. The kids are always jumping on the bed and I don't want one of them landing on my precious.
- Driving in Hyderabad, India, while listening to an audio book is a recipe for disaster. Very very bad idea. Listening to music on a portable player if fine as long as you are not trying to understand each and every word of the lyrics.
So on and so forth...
So how does Padmaja find / make time for a book or two?
- Get the lazy bum of a husband to share some of the house work. Let him grumble and scowl but make him do it anyway. A kiss or two (or more)
at the end of the day would work nicely to reduce the grumbling and increase the householdy contributions - Read in bed. She is normally too tired.
- Read on the pot.
- Read in the kitchen. I feel safe making this suggestion because I know Padmaja is a fantastic cook and the end result even with a book in the picture will be excellent. My rotund self is living testimony to this fact!
- Read during coffee breaks. Carrying a paperback in her handbag is not difficult. Of course she would rather spend it speaking with other people! Ecch!
Our lives leave very little time for the things that make life worth living. And to me a good book is one of those things. I am willing to sacrifice other things like sleep to be able to read a book.
Maybe Yama Raj will put me in charge of Patal's Library.
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