Mumbai: Students switch to books, keep their gadgets away

Who says reading is passe? College students from across the city are increasingly engaging in activities that centre around reading and are enjoying themselves thoroughly.

Who says reading is passe? College students from across the city are increasingly engaging in activities that centre around reading and are enjoying themselves thoroughly.

Not only this, they even make sure they limit the use of mobile phones and form circles to pursue their interests.
Students of St Xavier’s College have a popular book club ‘Page Turner’s Society’ where members exchange books, discuss them and get authors to speak about books.

Be it the bookworms or the curious — all benefit from the club as their hunger for reading is satiated.

“The idea of having a book club in college is great as you have an interesting mix of people. I don’t like e-books and stick to hard copies. The club has introduced me to like-minded people,” said Kshitij Jain, an economics student.

The concept of book collective is also becoming popular where students share their list of favourite books with 10 people via email, who then keep adding their favourites to the list and so on to form a collective.

“A book collective has introduced me to so many titles and authors I had never heard of before. Though I am a fan of fiction, I am exploring other genres too,” said Akanksha Rodge, a mass media student of Hinduja College, Charni Road.

And there are options for poetry lovers, like a weekly poetry reading session in Thane. Started by entrepreneur Anish Vyavahare, the sessions, called Poetry Tuesdays brings amateur, budding and expert poets together to share their works.

“Poetry Tuesdays is open to all and the weekly meetings have found many young takers from nearby colleges. In fact, youngsters compromise a large percentage of the audience,” Vyavahare said.

“These sessions inspire the youngsters to write. I find this the most rewarding aspect of my endeavour,” he added.

Academicians say such activities will go a long way in shaping up young minds.

“It is great to see students getting back to reading. This will help them focus better on academics. Voluntarily limiting phone usage will contribute to this. Nature clubs, book clubs, poetry readings and similar activities should be a part of every campus,” said Dinesh Panjwani, principal, RD National College, Bandra.