Like in Nagesh Kukunoor’s ‘3 Deewarein’ three independent incidences took place with me in the recent past, which were meant to be linked by the end. That’s the only part in common with 3 Deewarein; the plot and the story in my case were completely different.

• I gifted one of my favorite books to a friend in the office, because I knew she loved reading and I also knew she wrote equally great. I just attempted to encourage her to start writing book reviews because she read a lot of books and she could write much better than what I attempt here on this blog. (Not mentioning my selfish intentions; they’re out of the scope of this article.)

• My cousins and less-brother-in-law-more-a-friend happened to visit Pune for a weekend, later some time. One of the most fun-filled weekend, I didn’t know there were so many hours in a day and there was always so much we could do. Anyway. We had fun. I realized both of my cousins were little too much into reading, however, just-like-how-I-used-to-be, my brother-in-law found it tough reading more than a couple of pages of any book. I recommended him one of the  most interesting books (Indian fiction) I’ve ever read, with very strong recommendation to give it a try. The last I know, he had read much more than  two pages in that book. No rush, but I really hope he completes the novel someday – it’s really interesting.

• Earlier this month, during one of the greatest vacations of my life, I was at home sitting with my father on an early monsoon morning, sipping some great tea. I happened to come across a title  (‘Vanche Gujarat’) in a Gujarati daily, and it turned out to be a much bigger deal than I thought.  My father explained how Government of Gujarat had taken up this ‘movement’ of motivating people to read more, and how there were different programs proposed to make people of Gujarat grow this habit of reading. Some of these included, buying, gifting and passing books to others!

Apparently, these silent incidences in my life happen to be a coincidental reflection of a full-fledged program by Government of Gujarat – Vanche Gujarat. Making it a part of ‘Swarnim Gujarat Mahotsav’ (Golden Jubilee Celebrations), Government has just not contributed, they’ve also been involved and interested. The mission (as the Chief Minister likes to call it) is to reach out to people, to educate them that the books are the ultimate way out from this unfortunate stature of robotic lifestyle. With ‘Information’ rapidly replacing ‘Knowledge’, only knowledge can lead us to light!

Explore the Vanche Gujarat official website for more if you feel like – the message is simple: Read books. It’s a good thing.

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