Poonam Singh, Educator, Noida
Books are the treasure trove of knowledge – we all know per se. Books bring us information from different human work spheres and his playful vistas. Be it our geographical boundaries or historical past, from mathematical hypothesis to literary anecdotes, books serve you knowledge from far and beyond. As a matter of fact, we don’t wonder how we might so organically distinguish ourselves from the prehistoric man. We know that the difference lay somewhere in the mastery of subjects by the modern human as compared to the early wanderer or gatherer. Today, our knowledge is so vast that we’re setting new benchmarks by training machines with ‘artificial intelligence’. One of the contemporary authors like Yuval Noah Harari talks in his book Homo Deus about the re-engineering of human body, making him survive for about 150 years by the year 2100 or surely by 2200 using technology. So, no one can deny the mountain of knowledge imparted through books.
Books play a sacrosanct role in orienting human brain towards one great attribute that is the desire to learn. With this proposition in mind, I recollect from my early years of life, an incident when I was the mother of two school going sons. We had recently shifted to a new city and we were struggling hard for our sons’ admissions in school. Luckily, the elder one got an acceptance from one of the famous schools of the city, but the younger one had to still look for his chance. He was required to sit for an entrance exam for admission in another school. A syllabus for the same was handed over to us. My elder one had started going to the school with his books and school bag, but the younger one who was so enthusiastic about going to school yearned for his new set of books. He very desirously looked at his big bro’s books. It was several days before the admission test was lined up. I didn’t have to push my younger son to prepare for the test. On the contrary, whenever I hurled a set of questions on him to solve, he began solving them with the greatest interest and zeal. I could literally see the gleam in his eyes when he set to answer the questionnaire. Every day, he would come to me and brag for more assignments. Such was his craving to learn and study, and to get his own set of books. He was reverse counting the day when he would go to school.
Such is the power of books which are natural and innate. Books are the ones that drive every child to embrace education in true spirit.
(Poonam Singh has spent many golden years of her life working as a Science and English teacher, together with holding the responsibility of a coordinator in a private school. Born and brought up in Delhi and graduated from Miranda House, she resides in Noida. She is the author of two Self-help books, Transforming Life’s Blues into Bliss and NICHE – A Book To Reshape Your Career)
