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Lessons Larger Than Life
Srikant liked to read anything he could lay his hands on. Reading became a regular behaviour with him. He read books above his age, based on philosophy, scientific research, history, psychology, literature, arts, and biographies and the subject was no constraint. There was a reason for this aspect – the varied interest stemmed from the manner he procured the books. Besides, the other significant aspect was that he would ideally follow and practice anything that he found valuable in the books. For him, some of the lessons he learned had proved larger than life. ‘Speaking Tree, a small book that came to his hands by chance influenced him more than anything and he grew mad about reading. It contained an article on the reading habit of Swami Vivekananda and his amazing memory power. The article mentioned how Swami Vivekananda could memorize any book page by page. Srikant wondered and read the passage with great interest.
“Once when Swami Vivekananda was staying in Meerut with his disciples, he was accompanied by Swami Akhandananda. At Swamiji’s request, Swami Akhandananda used to get books from a local rolling library. A particular request was for works by Sir John Lubbock, which were spread across volumes. However, Swamiji completed one volume a day and Akhandananda would return the book to get the next volume. On seeing the speed at which books were returned, the Librarian commented that Swamiji was simply returning the books without reading. On hearing this comment, Swamiji visited the librarian and asked him to question him on the books and he would answer. However, the librarian was taken aback by the great monk and backed out of the challenge. Later on, Swamiji explained to Akhandananda that he managed to read one volume a day and memorize it as he never read the book word to word, but sentence by sentence. Even at times, paragraph by paragraph. This was like kaleidoscopic reading. A similar experience is recorded by Haripada Mitra, a sub-divisional forest officer in Belgaum. It is said that every literature scholar has managed to read Charles Dickens books once in their lifetime. But when Swamiji recited a large paragraph of the Pickwick Papers, he was shocked and more so, because Swamiji had read the book twice.”
Srikant was so inspired by Swami Vivekananda’s feat that he memorized the entire article that he recited during a school competition and won the first prize for it. This rewarding event encouraged him more toward reading.
What struck most in Srikant’s mind was Swami Vivekananda’s secret to living life – “Have one single idea to live your life by. Dream about it; eat, sleep, drink this idea.” Since that day, he had lived on the single idea to read, read and read. Besides, this also complimented the famous quote by Francis Bacon – “Reading makes a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact man.” Srikant understood that he was on the right path after being enlightened by all these secret revelations made by such great men.
Srikant was obsessed with books, but he was unable to buy any, owing to his poor family background. His father Suryakant hated the sight of books. He often reprimanded him for neglecting his school books and reading books that lay beyond his understanding. Suryakant was glad that he didn’t have to spend money on his son’s strange reading habits. Besides, he hardly had to spend any money on his son’s education, as everything came free – books, dress and stationery. Despite all these concessions, he was least interested to send his prodigious son to school. However, Suryakant had to admit him to school after much pressure from the government school teacher Vishwanath who lived in the neighbourhood. He taught English to Srikant who gained fluency with self-study and perseverance. He knew that Srikant was an extraordinary child.
The sight of books made Srikant mad, but there was no way he could buy them without money. However, he soon found an ingenious way to get hold of one or two books every other day. He began targeting the local junk dealers or kabadiwalas to fulfil his aspirations. He would chase their rickshaws that carried loads of books and newspapers. Over a period of time, he had an envious collection of his own, which consisted of Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton, Adventures of Sherlock Homes by Arthur Conan Doyle, Hard Times by Charles Dickens, and so many others. During one such random act, he managed to pull out from the heap, a small book while returning home from school. The junk dealers also didn’t object to Srikant’s activity that was confined only to books. They had become familiar with the boy’s behaviour. However, they were wary of the street urchins who made a lot of other useful, small household items loaded on their rickshaws.
Srikant eagerly looked to what he had grabbed on this occasion when the rickshaw pedalled out of sight. He felt disappointed initially after looking at the very thin and old book with the cover torn from all sides, which carried a beautiful portrait of Guru Nanak Dev. However, the title of the book A Brief History of Guru Nanak Dev delighted Srikant very much. He thought that there must be more wisdom in this book similar to Swami Vivekananda’s teaching. He started walking briskly to reach home early as he wanted to read the book.
When Srikant reached home, he saw a junk dealer sorting out books. He immediately recognized him and his rickshaw that was parked nearby. He thought that he had come to retrieve the books he whisked away from his rickshaw. He must’ve complained to his father about his activity. However, this particular junk dealer didn’t recognize Srikant and that saved much trouble. Only Srikant knew that most of the books were grabbed from his rickshaw...
“Once when Swami Vivekananda was staying in Meerut with his disciples, he was accompanied by Swami Akhandananda. At Swamiji’s request, Swami Akhandananda used to get books from a local rolling library. A particular request was for works by Sir John Lubbock, which were spread across volumes. However, Swamiji completed one volume a day and Akhandananda would return the book to get the next volume. On seeing the speed at which books were returned, the Librarian commented that Swamiji was simply returning the books without reading. On hearing this comment, Swamiji visited the librarian and asked him to question him on the books and he would answer. However, the librarian was taken aback by the great monk and backed out of the challenge. Later on, Swamiji explained to Akhandananda that he managed to read one volume a day and memorize it as he never read the book word to word, but sentence by sentence. Even at times, paragraph by paragraph. This was like kaleidoscopic reading. A similar experience is recorded by Haripada Mitra, a sub-divisional forest officer in Belgaum. It is said that every literature scholar has managed to read Charles Dickens books once in their lifetime. But when Swamiji recited a large paragraph of the Pickwick Papers, he was shocked and more so, because Swamiji had read the book twice.”
Srikant was so inspired by Swami Vivekananda’s feat that he memorized the entire article that he recited during a school competition and won the first prize for it. This rewarding event encouraged him more toward reading.
What struck most in Srikant’s mind was Swami Vivekananda’s secret to living life – “Have one single idea to live your life by. Dream about it; eat, sleep, drink this idea.” Since that day, he had lived on the single idea to read, read and read. Besides, this also complimented the famous quote by Francis Bacon – “Reading makes a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact man.” Srikant understood that he was on the right path after being enlightened by all these secret revelations made by such great men.
Srikant was obsessed with books, but he was unable to buy any, owing to his poor family background. His father Suryakant hated the sight of books. He often reprimanded him for neglecting his school books and reading books that lay beyond his understanding. Suryakant was glad that he didn’t have to spend money on his son’s strange reading habits. Besides, he hardly had to spend any money on his son’s education, as everything came free – books, dress and stationery. Despite all these concessions, he was least interested to send his prodigious son to school. However, Suryakant had to admit him to school after much pressure from the government school teacher Vishwanath who lived in the neighbourhood. He taught English to Srikant who gained fluency with self-study and perseverance. He knew that Srikant was an extraordinary child.
The sight of books made Srikant mad, but there was no way he could buy them without money. However, he soon found an ingenious way to get hold of one or two books every other day. He began targeting the local junk dealers or kabadiwalas to fulfil his aspirations. He would chase their rickshaws that carried loads of books and newspapers. Over a period of time, he had an envious collection of his own, which consisted of Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton, Adventures of Sherlock Homes by Arthur Conan Doyle, Hard Times by Charles Dickens, and so many others. During one such random act, he managed to pull out from the heap, a small book while returning home from school. The junk dealers also didn’t object to Srikant’s activity that was confined only to books. They had become familiar with the boy’s behaviour. However, they were wary of the street urchins who made a lot of other useful, small household items loaded on their rickshaws.
Srikant eagerly looked to what he had grabbed on this occasion when the rickshaw pedalled out of sight. He felt disappointed initially after looking at the very thin and old book with the cover torn from all sides, which carried a beautiful portrait of Guru Nanak Dev. However, the title of the book A Brief History of Guru Nanak Dev delighted Srikant very much. He thought that there must be more wisdom in this book similar to Swami Vivekananda’s teaching. He started walking briskly to reach home early as he wanted to read the book.
When Srikant reached home, he saw a junk dealer sorting out books. He immediately recognized him and his rickshaw that was parked nearby. He thought that he had come to retrieve the books he whisked away from his rickshaw. He must’ve complained to his father about his activity. However, this particular junk dealer didn’t recognize Srikant and that saved much trouble. Only Srikant knew that most of the books were grabbed from his rickshaw...
