Reading

Here is an amusing take on Reading by the executive editor of The Indian Express, Raj Kamal Jha, while being interviewed by The Hindu correspondent on his latest novel Fireproof (based on the Gujarat riots). On being quizzed "At a book discussion once, you said it was unrealistic to expect many people to read. Why?"

He replies, "See, the few people who are damaged enough to love reading are essentially those who are comfortable with solitude. Also, reading forces you to have both imagination and empathy - two troubling things - so you see a bit of yourself in anything you read. And to expect all of us to be like that is ridiculous."