The Act of Reading
It all starts with looking deeply on the arbitrary marks and lines drawn in black against white (or opposite if it’s a slate). This one deep look fires millions of neurons in different parts of the brain, bringing in front of us a world distinctly born from our imagination. Despite the 22nd century of exponential technology, something of the sort that happens in our brain when we read is still waiting to be invented. In other words, the very experience of reading a novel which our brains conjure for us quite effectively is yet to find its replica in the material world. But where lies the wonder of reading? And most importantly, what understanding do we come to when we look more closely at the mechanisms of comprehensibility, imagination, fluency, cognition, and motivation? The 5th December report of Livemint stated that a staggering 287 million people in India are completely outside the purview of reading and writing. 12 million children do...