We've heard so much about the reading habit, and why it is dying our part of the globe today. But, is it really dying out? Did we have a great reading culture in the past? If it is declining, why and how is that happening?
First things first: Goa is not a region like Kerala (which has had campaigns to promote reading for decads). Even if this was the home of the first Gutenberg-style printing press in Asia, some 466 years ago, Goa has had a rather poor record as far as promoting the printed word goes.
Secondly, even a generation or so ago -- when people of our age were young -- the reading habit here was rather limited. It was a small section that read books and magazines then. The same is true of today.
It is hard to quantify whether the number of readers has actually gone done, and gone down sharply. But, the general perception is that this has indeed happened.
It might be possible that people have changed their reading habits. More hours spent on screens is a reality. This means a different kind of reading. Instead of books and magazines, we're surfing and browsing websites and the social media. So, the kind of material we read also changes. We might be true to say that we spend more time in flitting to whatever attracts our attention, and are doing less focussed reading.
But let us look at the ten truths that somehow block the reading habit today. More so in a Goan context. If asked to give a list, I would outline it as follows:
[1] Lack of awareness; There is a widespread lack of awareness of useful resources available today. While so many magazines, newspapers and books are easy to come by, often at reasonable prices, we simply don't know what exists. Young friends are not aware of general knowledge magazines that could give them a headstart in their interviews and competitive exams. Few are aware of the many specialist magazines (including technology ones) that are published from all over India. This means such resources are only ineffectively used.
[2] Lack of visibility: Along with this goes the reality that useful books and magazines are not very visible in today's Goa. There is a greater need for these to be discussed, both online and in the media. When new books are published, if given the oxygen of publicity, these could reach further. Ditto for new or useful magazines. For readers to become aware of the same, they need to be informed about the options available. A good example of this is the many children's magazines available across India. How many of our schools are tapping into it?
[3] Poor library network: We have two showpiece libraries at Pato and at Navelim. But, beyond that, there is a crying need for an effective, accessible network of libraries. Our school libraries are mostly not very efficiently run. Ideally, we should have a library within 3 kilometres of everyone's home.
[4] Shifting technology, options and sitractions: As noted above, we have a lot more distractions today, than ever in the past. Cyberspace is a mixed blessing. It gives us a library at our desktop (or via our smart phone). But it also kills our time and kees us busy with a hundred-and-one things. We start out by wanting to read one thing, and end up a thousand cybermiles away. We don't know how we spend, or waste, our hours. This is undeniably having an impact on reading. Can we find ways to harness this to build the reading habit? There are challenges, no doubt.
[5] The wrong price: Sometimes, there reading matter is there, and we are aware of it. But we can't access it at the right price. This effectively puts the text our of our hand. If we would like to access the latest research, for instance, giant databases like Jstor have it all. Or most of it. But one has to pay (quite a bit) to sign up? Even many libraries too cannot afford the costly, foreign, technical journals that have useful information. This is why the idea of Open Access is being promoted, to make research more accessible.
[6] Insufficient 'free' resources: Continuing from the above point, there is a crying need to make more free resources available, both online and off. We have seen the examples of newspapers which are shared for public reading via roadside stands in coastal, Konkan Maharashtra. Many e-boos are now available online at no charge [see archive.org], either if their copyright has expired, or if the publishers have agreed to share the same. Pratham and its StoryWeaver is a good initiative too. But much more is needed to be done.
[7] Diversity of themes, texts: Is publishing doing enough to promote the kind of reading material we need? What is needed to build up on this front? Do we cater to diverse ages, both genders and different interest? Recently, I came across an old issue of the magazine 'Science Today', then brought out by the Times of India group. It's sad that a magazine of this kind is no long available, easily and from the newsstands. India also lacks good magazines focussing on the Internet, football, chess, and so many other niche topics.
[8] In the right language: Texts should also be available in a multiplicity of languages and scripts. This is essential to cater to the diversity of our regions. In Goa, making use of the 'uniformity' argument, we have virtually delegitimised the Romi (Roman) script. Likewise, we are yet to acknowledge that Goa is a rather multilingual land, with multilingual needs.
[9] The need for mentorship: This is felt very strongly in the library space. We need good, nay great, librarians. Those who inspire us to read and read more. In our times, some such librarians really egged us on. Today, there seem to be fewer of this breed. Librarians have a great role to play in ecouraging reading. Their contribution needs to be sufficiently appreciated.
[10] Overall, let's not lose the forest for the trees: We need to see the field in its totality. If we see only parts of it, or think the one aspect can sort out the entire issue, we're going to be mistaken. Or, we might reach a situation like the one which tells us, "The operation was a success... but the patient died."
Let's hope we all can get our acts together on this. It's too critical a field to be lost by default.
