There is a famous saying that a room without books is like a body without a soul. Books have always been considered the powerhouse of knowledge. Although, we cannot aver that all the knowledge is contained only in the books. But all the pure knowledge is directly or indirectly connected with the books. Nature and even our inner self itself can provide us with a lot of knowledge. However, we are often unable to discover and tap that knowledge which can be derived outside books if we do not read the proper books wittingly. The young students particularly, must know the importance of book reading. In this age, we must not be aware only of book reading but also of the selection of the proper books at the proper time.
However, the main issue nowadays is that our young generations seem ignorant about the importance of book reading. Our young ones in this so-called modern age prefer smartphones in spite of books which is an alarming trend. Smartphones even if used in a proper manner can never replace book reading. It is an extremely unfortunate situation that our young generations search for shortcut methods even for their studies and education nowadays. Even our adult generation seems indifferent towards this growing threat in our society. Our parents and teachers are unable to inspire the young ones to adopt book reading habit which is an age-old and trusted methodology for gaining real knowledge. It is a proven fact that those nations have succeeded and excelled more than the others which consisted of the youth who were habitual of reading the great books of literature and sciences. Books have always guided great souls and inspired the legends who have altered the course of history in this world.
However, in our society, the book-reading trend is declining day by day. The resourceful habit of book reading is decreasing even among our teachers let alone the students. It is unfortunate that many teachers feel that they can teach even without continuously reading themselves. If the teachers themselves are indifferent to book reading how can they convince their students to adopt and embrace this holy habit? We know that it is hardly possible for any nation to achieve the zenith without knowledge and the attainment of proper knowledge is hardly possible without reading great and beneficial books. A day which is lived without reading any great book is a complete waste. It is shameful that we do not consider it important even to read our holy scriptures now. People have learned to hate others in the name of religion. But they do not have the time to read the holy books like Quran, Bible and Geeta, etc. so that they would have been able to gather the proper knowledge and understanding about their religions properly. We have to understand that for our real progress and prosperity and for the betterment of this world book reading has to remain our inalienable habit.
The author is a teacher in the Education Department. He can be reached at [email protected]

Hilal Bukhari