Atanu Dey On India's Development

Fast food, Fast reading

January 29, 2010 by Atanu Dey | 4 Comments

You know that old piece of wisdom, “Good, fast, cheap: choose two.”

Fast food is fast and cheap, and not good. Good food is either not fast or not cheap. Reading too is subject to that choose at most 2 out of 3 rule. If you are reading for comprehension, you have to choose. These days, in keeping with the fast food culture, too many people choose fast and cheap when it comes to reading. Fast and cheap reading has the problem of people hanging on dearly to their preconceived notions and thus reading things that are not there in the text. Good reading is not cheap in terms of time and effort.

Stop. Read. Think. Consider. Read. Slowly. Enough. To. Comprehend. What. is. Being Said.

  • Ruchika

    Hi Atanu,

    Have been following your blog since long but never got down to leaving a comment. This post made me think & smile. Reading, i think, is the one activity which almost everybody would cite as their hobby. What & how of it is thought rarely by people.

  • http://none anonymous

    There was this impatient person who wanted everything in a jiffy. Like instant coffee , instant sambar , he wanted instant knowledge.

    Accordingly , he was importuning a truly enlightened Guru ( pity I am constrained to qualify so redundantly) to give him instant knowledge of Bhagavad Geetha in a few words.

    The Guru pointed out ” Ma Sucha-ha” meaning “do not worry”.

    Knowing very well he would be led to read the entire Geetha to know why & how not to worry !

  • http://akshar100.wordpress.com Akshar

    It applies to me perfectly. Too many books around make me read fast and in haste often ignoring what I ought to have read. :(

  • http://none anonymous

    Reading & books invariably are associated with one’s education.

    Reposting my comments in another forum when the discussion veered towards us Indians.

    ——-

    No , the fault does not lie with Indians so to speak. Basically we are resourceful , hardworking , resilient & good. It is lack of good ethical leaders & mentors to inspire the masses.

    It is the outrageously corrupt establishment that has legitimised corruption at all levels that is guilty. Instead of being bombarded with intellect disabling movies , cricket , tv soaps , smutty compositions called songs & dessicated distorted old history as the only STIMULI , if only all of us are fed Srimad Bhagavatham , Thirukkural , Raamayanam , Upanishads right from our impressionable childhood we would not be in such a pathetically dwarfed state.

    The policymakers & politicians would never allow as they are of dubious credentials. How can a country survive & sustain itself if wealth generation is exclusively through bollykollywood industry & cricket ?

    That way I have unalloyed admiration for what Sri.Omkarananda (Theni) has been doing.

    Instead of buying books & reading ourselves , it is immensely worthwhile to learn from someone like Swami Omkarananda.

    Dissipation of one’s energy & time gets avoided. After finishing the courses offered , a student cannot but conduct himself/herself with adroit sang froid in the mainstream society.

    Swami Dayananda also has similar schools & colleges in Manjakkudi village in Tamil Nadu. Swamiji is violently against separating children from their mothers and herding them in hostels. As that paves the way for all kinds of abuses.