Book-‘पढ़ना, ज़रा सोचना’ , Writer- कृष्ण कुमार, Book Review- Ankita Gour

 Book-‘पढ़ना, ज़रा सोचना’
Writer- कृष्ण कुमार
Book Review- Ankita Gour
 

The book “पढ़ना, ज़रा सोचना” is the book through which we can comprehend and understand that actually why we are reading anything? It tells us the meaning of reading any kind of text. This book helps us to understand our motive to read any text. Also puts the question mark in front of the readers, that we generally use the term illiterate for the people who cannot read,   what about the remaining ones? Are they really literate ones? Should we call them literate? If yes, then it will be tough to decide which kind of literate persons they are and how many books they read till now. If people are literate then what are the reasons that they are not involving themselves in such activities of reading and writing. 

                                                                  This book helps us to understand what is the perception of society about reading and what reading actually means.  Whilst reading the book we can judge our thinking that why even we are reading anything. This book clears the attitude towards reading. Also tells us that the role of reading such literature plays an important part in self-concept. This book also tells us the types of readings and readers. It tells us the actual meaning of reading.

 

Author-

Krishna Kumar is an Indian intellectual and academician, noted for his writings in the sociology and history of education. His academic part has drawn on multiple sources, including the school curriculum as a means of social inquiry. His work is also notable for its critical engagement with modernity in a colonized society. His writings explore the patterns of conflict and interaction between forces of the vernacular and the state. As a teacher and bilingual writer, he has developed an aesthetic of pedagogy and knowledge that aspires to mitigate aggression and violence. In addition to his academic work, he writes essays and short stories in Hindi, and has also written for children. He has taught at the Central Institute of Education, University of Delhi, from 1981 to 2016. He was also the Dean and Head of the institution. From 2004 to 2010, he was Director of the (NCERT), an apex organization for curricular reforms in India. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the President of India in 2011.

 

Summary-

The book ‘पढ़ना, ज़रा सोचना’ help us to understand that, “why we read anything?”

The author “Krishna Kumar” put his views on reading, he said “the person who cannot read, we call them illiterate, through this we do not leave any words for the literates, who can read but do not read. More than such readers who can read but do not read, there are readers who read but do not understand. This book consists of two troubles, first is lack of reading habits and second one is reading without comprehending. The writer did a comparison of the types of roots to the readings. He discussed different readers of this book. There are 7 chapters in the book. When we read any book or article, surely someone would suggest it to us, we are attracted by the title, we have a compulsion to read or many more reasons would be there.

 

In the beginning of the chapter the author  discussed the objective of reading. He said that it's not easy for many people to give the answer of their reading objective. He asked, what is the objective of teaching?'' In this Krishan Kumar Ji also asked the readers of the same book, what is the objective behind your reading? What did you get from this reading? Answers would be different for different persons, for instance,  I read this paragraph because someone asked me to read it, some children say my  “mother asked me to  read it then only she will give me food. He said that if someone won't suggest you read this book, then most probably you were not reading the book. Then he said the title of any book decides the number of readers, let us suppose instead of this title, another title such as “three big conspiracies”, the people attracted towards the book and curious to know what is the content of the book. In the next question, he asked the readers what did you comprehend from the last paragraph. For answering this, many readers will read the paragraph again. 

 

After understanding the first paragraph, readers can give it various titles such as, “Secret of reading”. This title is more attractive than the original one. 

So, there are certain words which attract the readers. Through reading any text we can come to know the mindset of the writer at that time. Author says reading is like a closed window, we can open it through our efforts. Suppose we read any old letter written by our grandparents, many points would not be clear to us. We used to estimate their thoughts, what they actually wanted to say. For this we used to have a conversation with our parents about the letter? While reading such letters we are a little more curious about meaning making. Comprehending the text is the main thing. 

 

Third  thing is that we draw the meaning and comprehend the text in our own context. So, for various readers there can be the different meanings of the same text, based on their past experiences and perceptions. Reading is a personal process.

 

Reading in students’ context-

If we will avail the literature for the student to read which is  written by keeping the children in mind. Also called children’s literature. 

 

In chapter second- “पढ़ना ओर पढ़ाई” Krishna Kumar ji shared one of the incidents. Once one rich businessman came to him for advice regarding the reading habits of his son. He was worried about his son’s reading habits, especially interest in reading English. He wanted his son to read great novels in English. The author asked him “Is there any novel available at their home? “he said till now No novels are there at home but if my son will show any kind of interest in reading, I will surely bring him a few novels. He asked the author a few names of the famous authors of English Novels. The author Krishna Kumar ji suggested a few names of English novelists to him. He wrote them in one diary. After four-five months again when Krishna Kumar ji met him, He asked that man “Did you bring any novel for your son?” He said yes, One of the Novels of “Charles Dickens” but my son did not read it and was not showing any interest in reading. Krishna Kumar asked him “Did you bring any other novels?” He said No, because he is not reading that novel, I bought for him. Once he finishes that then only, I will bring more novels for him, if that novel is kept without reading, then “why bring more novels unnecessarily?”

 

There was another incident discussed by Krishna Kumar ji, once he was taking the interviews of Hindi students, all of them were Higher secondary passed students. Among 60 students, they have to select only 15 students. When Krishna Kumar ji asked the question “Did they like reading literature?” All the students answered yes, we do. Each of them gave the same answer/title of literature, that is we read “निर्मला.” This happened because it was part of the Hindi syllabus at that time. Other than this, again they gave the same answer when it was asked to them that “Did they read any other literature by Premchand, they answered “ ईदगाह” and “दो बैलो की कथा”. These answers were there because they were part of the syllabus, all of them read it as a part of the syllabus and they read it to give answers to a few specific questions. They did study the literature and not read them. Both are different in meaning. We need to differentiate between these two things. So, while reading the literature which is part of our syllabus, we usually put our efforts into learning it, to give the answers to a few specific questions given at the end of the chapter. 

 

The stories which are part of the syllabus, students do not read them, they do study those stories just for the examinations.  So, निर्मला, दो बैलो की कथा and ईदगाह all read for the examinations as a part of the syllabus. Krishna Kumar ji also wrote that while reading such literatures, the readers did not feel to read more literatures of Premchand, because these were the part of the syllabus and they study it by doing the hard work and hard work never gives any sense of joy, so the work which is not joyful, no one wants to do that.

 

Another thing the author Krishna Kumar Ji discussed is all about the perception of our society towards books and reading habits. He said that usually this is the common custom followed by the society, that they do not buy any other book other than the syllabus of the school. Society has the perception that “पढ़ाई” means to study the syllabus books just to get the good marks in examinations. 

 

There is a belief in our society that if we invest money in buying the books, they create a compulsion to read it, else they feel that they wasted the money. In order to do this, buying books and not reading them comes under unnecessary expenses. 

 

The author discussed two other incidents that happened with him, first is once the guest arrived at his home where he had two rooms, and one of which was full of books, which looked like a library, the guest asked him the question “Did you read all books?” The author said “No, not all.” 

            Second incident was of the renowned central institution. Once the finance officers went for a general check there, somehow, they found that there were many books in the library which were not read a single time. So, they wrote the report and recommended to the board not allot funds to buy more books to this institution.

With these realistic instances, we noticed that our society is always looking for the benefit which we get from study. According to society, reading books is a waste of time and money. Reading books for any benefit, such as to give any academic exam, to get any information or for a job is good but other than that is a waste of time.  

 

In chapter three “वाचन और पाठ” The Author discussed the different types of readings, like loud reading and silent reading, reading text in rhythm(poem). Many times, in schools, teachers ask children to read the text, so children are very curious to study the lesson one after the other. They read the lesson loudly without comprehending the text. So, for them reading means  reading loudly. Similarly, when children read the poems in school they read them in rhythm, and for the children reading poems means to read the text in rhythm. So, people have a different meaning for reading.

 

In chapter four “पढ़ना, सोचना और डिजिटल ज़माना” The Author Krishna Kumar Ji discussed that, when we learn  to read, we start reading fast. In schools when children learn reading, they develop a mindset that if they read fast, they think they are good readers. So, generally people measure the criteria of good reading through fast reading. No one develops the mindset that reading any text means to understand its context. The author compared this with the incident that when a child learns to ride a bicycle, he/she rides faster and faster, similarly when a child learns to read, he/she reads faster, but does not try to understand the context of text.

 

Everything can apply to education. The author raised one question that, “to think is missing in reading.” As if a child was riding a bicycle, he will fall himself and hurt or damage the bicycle or hurt someone on the road. It is very important for people to understand or comprehend the text correctly. 

Then the author said in this era of digitalization, reading is creating its own different meaning in this digital world. 

 

In chapter Five, “पढ़ने का माहौल”, The Author Krishna Kumar ji discussed many things in the previous chapters, hence, concluded the difference between the types of reading. In general, the purpose of reading and studying is to crack any exam, to get a job, or to get good marks. People are taking coaching for preparation of different exams. They set the purpose of their reading or studying, that is to crack an exam and to get a job only. Our society needs an atmosphere of reading habits, a comprehensive reading. Generally, we used to see Stories in our culture with specific morals. We developed a mindset that each story has its own moral, so it is very specific. We have a few objectives of reading, and this habit makes reading stories or novels a waste of time. Such people think that reading story books or novels is a waste of time, as it is less objective, and not beneficial. So, generally they set one belief that reading for any exams or for schooling purposes is beneficial.

 

In chapter Six, “अर्थ कहां से अता है”, The author discussed the different meanings of the word “आना”, there are different meanings of the same word, with different contexts. In different situations the meaning of the word is different. When we start understanding the context of the story or any book by putting our own experiences ahead, understanding by visualizing and imagining the story whilst reading. Krishna Kumar Ji also shared one instance of watching the movies, so the moment when we start watching the movie, as once we understand the context, we start getting the interest in that. So, the same happened with the stories, books and novels, as once we start comprehending the story by reading it, we start attaining the interest in that. So, it is very important to understand & comprehend the story. Therefore, reading means to understand the text, not only reading. 

 

In chapter Seven, “अचछा बाल साहित्य किसे माने?” The author  says that in India, the maximum number of children used to read books of their school syllabus. There is a need to provide them with “child literature.” But the question arises here is “ which child literature?” In our society there are many schools, some are private and some are Government schools, they also have their sub categories. So, they have different kinds of child literature available there.  At home there is the significance of parents. The culture is developing by giving English books for reading to their children in middle class families.

 

The author also discussed about “Gulliver’s travels”, he discussed about the two stories of Gulliver’s travels. There are many literary works similar to Gulliver’s travels, which comes under child literatures.

 

In our society we usually have the two opinions about the books or the child literature that either they should teach any moral or should be entertaining. But people should understand that there is also literature consisting of stories  other than morals and entertainment. 

 

Other than all this the author discussed the picturization or illustrations of poems and stories of the books. They created a huge impact on the readers and helped them to imagine and visualize the story.

 

Reflections-

·       The author tried to convey the message that our society created the false opinion about reading but reading actually means to comprehend and understand the text in proper context.

·       This book draws our attention towards the exact meaning of reading/studying. 

·       This book shows the reality of our society about the false belief regarding reading, i.e., they think that to read something is just for any purpose like exams or job.

·       This book focuses our attention towards making the meaning of the content through reading.

·       The author Krishna Kumar Ji put the real attitude of society towards reading.

 

Takeaways-

• We can approach the teachers and people of our society to make them understand the actual meaning of reading.

• We can motivate the teachers and our society to provide a print rich environment for children.
• While co-teaching with teachers in schools, we can focus on the comprehension of  the text.
• We can motivate the children to read the stories and can relate them with their own experiences, hence comprehend it in their own context.
• We can also motivate teachers to read the books.
• We can break the misbelief of our society towards reading.