Drop Everything And Read

DEAR - Drop Everything And Read

‘My alma mater was books, a good library...I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.’ - Malcolm X

Imagine an hour where you curl up with your favorite book in peace with no distractions to irritate you, no worries to plague you, no one to stop you from reading to your heart's content, no raised brows for squealing fangirls or when one dozes while reading as the days of toil catch up with them, no guilt in putting off work, no issues if you want to read a comic or a poem or a children's picture book, no... well, from the dreamy sighs I'm hearing, you get the idea that it would be a slice of heaven for readers everywhere around the globe.

DEAR is a simple way to make time for reading in your hectic daily schedule. As you plan your day, you put aside an hour or however much time you can, for the pure pleasure of reading. Whether you read to gain information, solidify a concept, ponder an idea, satiate your curiosity or relax by losing yourself in an interesting story, you take away life lessons that you carry with you forever. Taking the time to read when you could have worked on a task has a profound impact on our lifestyle and way of thinking.

At the core of DEAR is our innate realisation that reading is as much an essential part of life as, say, healthcare because reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. It increases your focus and memory, widening your perspective as you step into others’ shoes and process how great minds think. If we think of our brain as a muscle that needs to be exercised, naturally, memory becomes sharper the more we read; long term retention of facts and thinking on your feet when challenges come your way is inculcated slowly but surely as you turn page after page.

It is never too early or too late to start reading. Children’s curiosity knows no bounds and reading is a way of fun-filled learning for them. As they progress into their teens and adulthood they read a wider variety of books; stories and novels unveil their vision, their naive outlook transforms into worldly wisdom as they walk the path of life. Being betrayed by those they thought of as friends, coping with the pressure of juggling jobs and school, dealing with sudden changes, are burdens too heavy for young shoulders; DEAR introduces them to books, the friends that have no complaints and no demands.
‘If there are no young readers and writers, there will shortly be no older ones.’ - Margaret Atwood

As with everything else under the sun, DEAR has its own fair share of tragic comedies. The classic tipping of the shelves, or the age old tripping over your feet with your nose in a book, or holding a book upside down as someone special walks down the aisle (not that aisle, you wish). Meeting fellow readers, forming new bonds and reading together, we settle into our place in the world like the links in a chain. Although sometimes...

‘From the moment I picked up your book until I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend to read it.’ - Groucho Marx