Deepa Prasad classifies herself as a lover of books. She enjoys reading so much so that she believes if she ever stopped reading, her mind would deflate. Her memory of how she learned to read is a bit vague, but she recalls the soft voices of her parents and sisters reading stories to her, their fingers pointing to the bright pictures on the pages. She remembers book backpacks in preschool, filled with not only a storybook, but also crayons, toys, and other things that would make learning how to read fun for a four-year-old. Deepa believes that most people learn to read this way: through listening to others read to them. It's the most effective way develop a lifelong love of books, in her opinion. In Deepa's opinion, there are three main reasons why people read. For some, reading is a chore, something they have to do in order to get a good grade for class and for others, reading is entertainment, a way to pass the time pleasantly. But Deepa believes the base reason for reading is something much deeper than either of the previous explanations. Humans read in order to better understand themselves and the universe. Books serve as a mirror, reflecting back the way of the world in a new perspective. Humans read in order to engage in a conversation, perhaps the conversation, with other humans, humans who are alive or dead, who have experiences that are vastly different. In order to participate in this conversation effectively, in order to be a good reader, a person must have not only the patience to get through a book, but also an open mind and the ability to recognize the thoughts of the book while bringing their own to the conversation. Reading is easy for Deepa when the ideas that the book is presenting are easily relatable; she can engage with text deeply if that occurs. The hardest part about reading is when Deepa is unable to get past the language of the text to see the ideas it presents; although she wants to understand the book, the writing itself gets in the way. But after wrangling with the words, Deepa knows she will come out with a better appreciation for the novel's ideas. Deepa tries to diversify her reading by choosing books not only based on the book blurb, but also on the cover, the title, the first sentence, the first letter of the title, or whatever one she points to first. For her, good books are the ones that make her question the very nature of the universe; they call on her to examine the world around her and ask her to challenge her own beliefs. Deepa reads constantly at home, so much so that her parents hide her books to get her to pay attention. Deepa feels that reading is an essential part of humanity and should be enjoyable for everyone.
Deepa Prasad also classifies herself as a lover of writing; she actually remembers how she learned to write as well. For her a love of the pen developed after long hours of practicing letters in those little workbooks and writing stories about her pets in the first grade. Deepa feels that most people generally learn to write like this: first painstakingly making individual letters, then moving on to words , sentences, and finally, piecing together stories from their experiences and imagination. Like reading, writing is done because of one of three reasons: as an assignment, as fun, or, most importantly, as an entrance into the great conversation of humans. People write in order to express their ideas and to communicate with others, crossing the boundaries of space and also time. In order to write well, a person just needs to know how to convey their thoughts well, which is easier said than done. Structure, order, even grammar (although important) can be disregarded as long as readers can get a clear idea of what the writer is trying to convey or what point the writer is trying to prove. Deepa enjoys writing papers in which she has to argue ideas, but she also likes writing fiction and memoir-based pieces. Lately, she has gotten into a stream-of-consciousness style of writing. Her ideas for writing come from some place deep within her mind that somehow takes in the universe around her, adds a splash of imagination, and tells her fingers to go. Often times she has no idea of what she's going to write about; it starts out as a whisper of a sentence in her brain and then she builds upon it until it formulates into something coherent. Deepa knows that the best kind of response she can get to her writing is constructive criticism; as a writer, she knows her work is not remotely perfect and she wants suggestions on how to improve it. She tries to write at home every day, but really only writes about once a week. There are very few times when Deepa actually feels proud about her writing. What's on the paper is often not exactly what was in her head and this frustrates her immensely. But on the rare occasion where word and thought align perfectly, it is a joy like no other. |