With three of my books lying with the publishers, I decided to give myself a small holiday. Not a trip to the mountains or the beaches, but something even more thrilling, a journey through pages.

I decided to go back to an old love, one that has stayed faithful through years of deadlines and drafts. Reading.

Ah, the sheer joy of opening a book! That faint smell of paper, the rustle of pages, and then the magic begins. A paragraph in, and you are no longer in your chair. You could be walking down Baker Street with Sherlock Holmes, sailing on the Mississippi with Tom Sawyer, or standing with Gandhi at the Dandi March.

Words turn into worlds, and sentences into journeys.

I have often been asked what makes one a good writer. My answer has never changed; read. Read everything you can lay your hands on. Read good writing, bad writing, newspapers, biographies, and even poems that friends send to you.

Because every word you read builds your vocabulary, shapes your thinking, and adds colour to your imagination.

When you read, you also learn how to listen. You hear the author’s voice whispering in your ear, showing you how to build an argument, how to describe a sunset without sounding like a weather report, or how to make your reader laugh without cracking a joke.

Reading teaches rhythm, flow, and the music of language.

And if you want to speak well, read. Want to write with grace, read. Want to lead a team, build a company, or simply hold a conversation that makes people listen, read. Reading is not just for writers and dreamers. It is for thinkers, entrepreneurs, and anyone who wishes to see beyond the narrow limits of their daily grind.

Movies show you stories. Books let you live them. When you read, your imagination becomes the director, the cameraman, the actor, and the editor. No screen can ever match the pictures your mind paints.

A good book doesn’t end when you close it. It lingers in your thoughts, changes your mood, and sometimes, your life.

In today’s world of scrolling and swiping, we have forgotten the slow pleasure of reading. We consume information, but we rarely savour wisdom. We gather quotes without knowing the stories behind them. Reading reminds us that knowledge is not a headline. It is a journey, walked one page at a time.

So if you have not read in a while, pick up a book tonight. Let your mind travel. Let your imagination stretch its legs. As for me, I am taking another sip of my diet coke and opening a new book. Because there is no vacation quite like getting lost inside the pages of someone else’s imagination.

Read, my friend. Read and rediscover yourself…!

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