Week 22: A New Chapter with My Son

When I was a kid, I remember walking with my brother to a local library near our home. It was about a 25–30 minute walk, and we had to cross unguarded railway tracks to get there. I wasn’t a big reader back then, but I loved tagging along—just being in that quiet space, flipping through books, watching others read, somehow felt magical.

I didn’t really pick up the reading habit until my 12th-grade holidays. Initially, I was into novels and stories. But later, especially during my time in Bangalore, I started reading more self-help, finance, history, and other non-fiction. I fell in love with the quiet joy of reading, and now I want to pass that on to my son.

So I recently found a children's library near our home and took him there. We browsed through the shelves together. I picked up an Akbar-Birbal book, thinking I could entertain him with some fun stories. But he had his eyes set on a colorful peekaboo-style book—and there was no way changing his mind.

That's when it hit me: as a kid, I loved stories of Akbar-Birbal and Tenaliraman. But he’s a different person from a different generation. He has his own tastes and curiosity—and that’s perfectly okay. So we registered at the library, picked the book he liked and brought it home.

Later that night, while I was getting him ready for bed, he suddenly remembered the book and asked me to read it to him. I had completely forgotten about it, but he hadn’t. I read him the story and watched him drift off to sleep—and in that moment, I felt genuinely happy.

My plan is simple: borrow one new book every week, read together, and build memories over stories. Let’s see where this little journey takes us.