The importance of starting early

Reading Habit

The seven-day festival of literature and ideas, ‘Meta 2012’, organised by the department of English, St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science, involves debating, discussing and deliberating on several issues revolving around the English language. 

The fest, which will be on till February 8, will be used as an opportunity to provide an insight into the existing pool of literature. The fest will also include a section on children’s literature. 

The fest is aimed at evoking an interest in reading and writing among young people. There will be 15 contests open to schools and colleges, that offer optional English as a subject, and to the public. 

Talking more about the fest, which is being organised for the first time, Namrata, a lecturer with the department of English, says, “We always encourage our students to go beyond textbooks. In fact, we don’t have a prescribed textbook. We pick from real, existing literature and talk about it. This will help the students think on a much broader level.” 

Namrata says that students are free to read from passages that have influenced them and talk about them. Among the events that are slated for the week is ‘Cosplay’, where the students will have to come dressed in their favourite character in literature and remain in the outfit for at least an hour. In ‘Video Poetry’, the students are expected to show a video and find elements of poetry in it. There will be a reading session, from all kinds of literature, including the works of Charles Dickens. Students could even take a video from YouTube and critique the video. In another event, ‘Funny Bone — Humourous Poetry’, the student can either pick a funny piece of poetry from the existing pool or one of his or her own.

 “We also have an event called ‘Rag Mag’, where the teams will be expected to compile the week’s events and present them in an interesting and light-hearted format,” adds Namrata. Artists and others involved in blending technology and literary texts will offer lecture-demonstrations of their works. Among those who will speak on different topics during the week are Anita Nair, Narendar Pani, Usha K R, Lawrence Liang, Dev Sukumar and Mounesh Badiger, to mention a few. 

The students have been working overtime to ensure that the fest is a huge success. Arjun, a second-year student of microbiology, feels fests like this widen the student’s perspective of literature. “The children’s section, ‘Trends and Taboos’, will talk about what is good reading and what is not, for children. I think children must read anything from serious stuff to trash,” he says. Tanya, a third- year student of physics, mathematics and computers, says, “The reading culture among children has changed but a lot needs to be done to popularise the habit of reading among the young.” 

Padma Baliga, a senior professor of the department of English. feels the fest encompasses all aspects of English literature. “I think parents have a big role in getting their children interested in reading. I often find parents asking for CDs or picking up colouring books for children, rather than a story book. Reading helps build critical analysis in young minds,” says Padma. The ‘Prof Barbra Naidu Prize’ for the personal essay will be given away on the concluding day.