READING MAKETH A FULL MAN; CONFERENCE A READY MAN; AND WRITING AN EXACT MAN

Francis Bacon

 

This was written a long, long time ago. But it holds true forever.

Unfortunately, the new gen is not interested in reading. Recently, a girl with a basic degree came to my office. She said she was trying for PG admission. She was also trying to find a job. She was the daughter of a non teaching staff at the office. I told her, for both the pursuits she has to develop her skill in communicative English and above all she has to be well versed in General Knowledge. For a starter I asked her who Biden was. She blinked. She didn’t know. I asked her whether she was reading any newspaper. Deshabhimani, she replied. I suggested, it would be better if she read one more news paper, preferably an English newspaper. She agreed. I never saw her again.

 

Papa had been subscribing to The Mail, an English newspaper. I grew up watching him read newspapers, both in Malayalam and English. I was a child. But I used to take a comic strip in the English newspaper to him and ask him to explain it to me. I didn’t know any English at that age. My grooming began there. When The Mail stopped publication, Papa subscribed to the Indian Express. By that time I could read English haltingly. I read the Sports page with interest. With the years passing by I became infatuated with the editorials and articles of Frank Moraes.

 

When we started residing in Trivandrum, I continued with Indian Express.

 

Then, one day, we were on our periodical visit to Thalavady. Laji, vehemently told us to switch to The Hindu. He said it offers the finest language.

 

Back in Trivandrum, we switched to The Hindu. It has stayed with us ever since. It has improved our language manifold.

 

Why do I put it here? It is obvious. I would advocate everyone especially the young to read an  English newspaper every day, if they are not doing it till now, to equip them address the challenges they are bound to come across in life.

 

Abraham Jacob

17^th May2024