On Reader's Digest

 The recent announcement about the Reader's Digest UK coming to an end has been gut wrenching. Ever since I remember Reader's Digest was the one constant each month. Every new month, for some afternoons, I would eagerly await the arrival of the postman, as he would bring the month's Reader's Digest. And the day it arrived, for the next few hours I would be devouring as much as I could so I was up to speed with the contents for any discussion that might happen. 



The  articles, the adventure stories, the book section, the interesting columns - All in a day's work, humour in uniform, quotable quotes - all collectively opened new worlds to be explored. Not to mention amassing Word Power through the vocabulary quiz.

Having read the magazine, the next task would be re-read some things that were interesting- sometimes it was an article about exercise, sometimes about an acting legend, sometimes about a sports personality or an artist, sometimes the wonderful anecdotes and sometimes uneasiness that set in having read a crime story. Once having read through, the next task was to meticulously note down any interesting quotes in my diary. Then I would feel all set for the forthcoming discussions at our dining table or with friends at school.

At college, I found a library nearby that had books compiled from Reader's Digest book section. Later for a bit, when I was expecting, there were restrictions on being active for health reasons and I dug into the old issues of Reader's Digest that we stored in the big iron trunk on the loft. Noting pieces and lines of interest as I read, the re-reading kept my mind abuzz and made me rethink much of what I my younger self had read through the late 70s and early 80s. 

The summer  we moved to Chennai, I read the Summer of Bears to my daughter and she was hooked - from  then on there was another generation of the Reader's Digest reader. One adapts as one will to the changing scenario and hopefully the online treasure of Reader's Digest articles and columns will provide many more hours of worthwhile reading.


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