The Book That Made Me

I was never fond of reading as a child. My mother bought loads of books- with illustrations, without illustrations, cartoon series- but to no avail. My sister finally handed me a Noddy when I was in 7th std, she said it was high time I start reading something. Noddy is made for KG students requirements. It has around 20 pages, half a page is full of pictures. I came from a Marathi medium school, so I could be excused for reading this book- my sis re assured me. I wasn’t enjoying reading this book- but at least I was reading all the pages and finishing the book.

In the holiday’s of 7th std, I saw a fat book on my father’s table- Sidney Sheldon “Tell Me Your Dreams” . I’ve been very fascinated with dreams, and I thought this might be something dealing with that. So I picked it up. My sis came around, she giggled, “see the size 1st. see the size!” I banged the book on the table and went out to play.



That night, I secretly got that book and opened to read the 1st page. In comparison to Noddy, the font was extremely small, and since I was hiding and reading it- it made things even more difficult for me. But the 1st page itself was so interesting, I read on.

Pages turned into chapters and minutes turned into hours- the plot moved damn fast and it wasn’t like I was reading a book, it was as if I was watching a film. My mom and sis did tell me books are more interesting than films but I never paid attention to them. My imagination, coupled with the words of the author was better than any film I had watched!

It was late, somewhere around 3 am, I could hardly sleep, and I was already through half the book.

Next morning, my sister was surprised to see me sleeping with a book in my hands. When she woke me up, I hurriedly brushed and got back to reading. Within a few hours I had read that fat book- and was left completely awestruck!

That year, I read all his books.


Sidney Sheldon has had such an impact on me- I always thought I loved his books, until recently when I realize a lot of my thought process is a result of his books and plots. His protagonist always is a woman, and a woman who is hurt by someone- and she hits back with vengeance!

Today, when I am hurt- the 1st reaction is to take revenge! Tit for tat! An eye for an eye!

My values have been always to learn to forget and to forgive- but I find myself in a confusing state of mind. Life really works the way Sidney says in his books. There have been incidences when I was back stabbed by my closest pals, people I trusted so much! Nobody talks about it- but Revenge- everyone takes! It simply feels good!

But now I want to rise higher, get out of this Sidney effect and learn to live life in a peaceful manner- I am sure it has to be a book again which will teach me a new way of life. And I am in search of it!