News, Periodicals, Books and Personalities.

July10^th, 2007.

The news in the daily newspapers, when not read on the same day, becomes stale news, as many want us to believe. They say you are not up to the latest news, and you are lagging behind. This is not true. Periodicals that come weekly, fortnightly and monthly cover this news with the writer's comments, which is a nice way of keeping up with those issues.

It is my habit to preserve interesting articles that come in print, save those that are online, and keep hard copies of some old magazines- The Economist, Time, Newsweek, Outlook, Reader's Digest, The National Geography, etc for reference and reading at a later date.

Books are an inseparable part of our lives. Some of them we buy, at times as a habit, and at times borrow from the library. Again, we go at great lengths to procure few of them wherever they are- to derive that pleasure of reading them couple of times, and to see them on the bookshelves as part of your personal library.

In course of our lives, we come across personalities whom we meet, some we hear, some we see on TV, and about some we read.

And yes, there are some amongst your relatives, your friends and peers, whose physical presence and association have a bearing on your own personality.

All the above influence us to develop an attitude and outlook to life that shape our character. This is, besides our own upbringing.

As is my habit, I keep rummaging the old issues more often than not to pick up the jewels out of them, not only to reminisce, but also to place them in the present context to find out their relevance and accuracy.

Well, during such exercise, here is one gem:

A tribute written by Clyde Haberman on David Halberstam, Journalist and author who died on Monday April 23^rd 2007 in a car accident south of San Francisco, appeared in the obituary column of The NY times on April 24^th 2007 that was reproduced in the HINDU the following day. Another article – Halberstam On Journalism- by Eleanor Randolph published on April 25^th, 2007 in The NY times brings out the inner qualities of this journalist.

This is the first time I am hearing about this Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, who seem to have written “Books on topics as varied as America’s military failings in Vietnam, the death of Fire-fighters at the world Trade Center, and the high-pressure world of professional basketball” as per the write up. For many young reporters, he had been a role model, and always had some piece of advice for them. According to him, Journalism was a noble mission. Reading those reports, the best quotes of his I liked, were “Never let them intimidate you. Never. If someone tries, do me a favor and just work a little harder on your story.” And while addressing journalists at Columbia University, he said, “Journalism is not about the fame, the more famous you are, the less of a journalist you are”.

Now, that piece is a great motivator, which makes you a little more determined in your endeavours.

Coming to books, each one of us is inspired by the books we read that are to our liking. During my graduation, when I was in my early twenty’s, we had John Ruskin’s “Sesame and Lilies”, which consisted of two essays he wrote and delivered as Public lectures at Manchester in 1864. The two lectures were “ Of Kings’ Treasuries” and “Of Queens’ Gardens”. Readers may access these lectures at the website link http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/literarystudies/SesameandLilies/Chap0.html . The central theme of the first lecture- Of Kings’ treasuries- is BOOKS-How and What to read, and for the second lecture, he chose the theme- the education of Women. Both were classic subjects, and I often refer them.

However, those essays were of a high quality written and presumably spoken in the style of 19^th Century English, which was not easily understandable to us-youngsters-and put us into somnolence in the class then (!!). In my later years, these essays when read were a guide to me in choosing and reading books.

My Father, who is no more, was a voracious reader, not confining himself to one subject. Books brought from libraries, and some bought were always available for us for initial browsing and reading. The autobiographies, books on World wars, Fiction, literature, and History were there within easy reach. It gives me satisfaction to maintain his tradition.

Of them, Paul Einzig’s Autobiography-In The Centre Of Things-; The Fall and Rise of Alfried von Bohlen Und Halbach Krupp; Lord Chesterfield’s Letters to his Son; Death be not Proud By John Gunther, and his Inside books on South America, and Europe; are all very vivid in my memory and adorn my bookshelves.

These and books on spiritualism shaped my outlook and my own philosophy of life. I do wonder whether they were responsible for my occasional disillusionment with events that are happening these days the world over, for a thinking of Idealism has crept in.

Parents, Siblings, Family members, School Teachers, Friends, Relatives, Colleagues with whom we are associated inspire us in fine-tuning our mannerisms in our day-to-day lives. A few among them shape your personality with their constant advice, and with whom you share your views, happiness and sorrows.

My father has been my inspiration in shaping my outlook to life. My mother in influencing to maintain family traditions, and all others giving me that support which one needs. All help us to develop value systems.

Yes, the others whom we do not meet, but know about them through books, TV, Cinema do inspire us by their actions, writings and speeches. They raise your curiosity.

We are all a part of the society and the surroundings, in which we live.

And that brings us to the type of governance we are all subjected to by the polity. We invariably hear from our elders that the period they grew up was better, as we all say “In those good olden days…”

Yes, they are right to the point. The present day world has certainly developed in terms of technology, but at the cost of degradation in simple value systems.

We are in the swirling waters of Power, Intolerance and Greed. We can swim out by thinking and obeying God’s basic principles.