You are Written About

Every fiction was once a real life story. So with changing times, changes lifestyle, which cascades to change in reading habits. How many times, we have picked up a book, read a few pages, and decided to ditch it because it was the story of an era we do not relate to. In 1800s, life was devoid of technology, human mind was the most wired entity that existed. Countries were run by few men, wars meant newer countries and fiction was about tales of a warrior. When a convict decided to pen down, it involved human relationships, patriotism, politics and loads of picturesque pages making the book alive for the reader. The book readers wanted to know what was in store for them if they went to the prison. These readers were students in history, budding leaders and selected intellects. Reading was still a luxury. You had food and clothing to worry for. Then there were writers like Salinger. They wrote about young minds, the conflicts a teenager faced. The Great Depression was there, people read about money making and how the various parts of the world ran their economies. Benjamin Graham is for all to see. Things changed. The readers were in awe of technology. Sci-fi writers were satisfying the young readers with star trek novels. Warren Buffet, Jim Rogers were there for money makers and Robin Sharma if you already made money. Not many would appreciate if Sharma wrote his book in 1930s. The churning rate at bookshops is increasing with the rate at which our lifestyle is changing. Call centers mushroomed and we had writers telling us about them. With high rate of attrition in relationships, Bhagat made some quick bucks. Stress was all over, and here we had books on health, occult, meditation swarming the place. However, a disturbing trend that stares in our face is the declining number of readers. Books are competing with androids and apples, forcing writers to pour bedroom and smoking scenes in the college backyard. But, ironically they are an honest reflection of the lifestyle my young cousins lead. Two affairs, one divorce, one abusive relationship, a murder in the office washroom. Not exactly fiction. We have faced some of it, seen most of it and heard all of it in real life. Another thought that intrigues me, is that the audience for Bhagat’s readers end up reading books when we have nothing better to do. So if he were to write some serious stuff like a commentary on Darwin with changing mindsets, it would not really be read by the masses or the classes. It would be on a researcher’s table, on the syllabus of a few courses and win an award in a category that we wouldn’t know of. The books are read in coffee shops, with girls in little fabric distracting the reader’s attention or in boring lectures. It takes a lot in the book to keep the reader’s attention riveted in spite of all the distractions. It takes loads of porn, junk, expletives and poor grammar to make a reader of that guy, for whom reading ended at text books. Facebook definitely does not qualify for reading activity. Our lives are the data mines for the aspiring author. The surroundings are a melting point of ideas and our conversations are scripted in books with little editing. So while all we think of is satisfying our needs in bed, in luxury, in career, it is all being written about. We belong to the era of sex, weed, relationships, couches, fixing, aids, Osho, LV and the works. We are the characters in each book we read. Else, you wouldn't bother reading that book. Keep Reading, Its all about You!!