Scholarship

That was the tenth word of the book I opened and it seemed apt for the prompt Bookworm. You will never find a scholar who is not a bookworm. But not all bookworms win scholarship. The truth is those with a focus and who are not just plain bookworms but with a purpose only they win scholarship. They read books which are very much in line with their line of their studies and do not deviate to stupid novels or unrelated subjects which may be good for all round learning. This does not mean that they do not have all round knowledge but there are certain things they know and there are specialized subjects which they know in-depth.

However there are second kind of bookworms who do read all the time or most of the time but they read all unconnected wide variety of subjects and surely they do not win Scholarship in the right sense of the word or as per the Dictionary meaning (A grant or payment made to support a student’s education, awarded on the basis of academic or other achievement.) But that does not mean they gain less in real life. There are this third kind like me. I was never lacking in reading books of all variety. But naturally I read mostly fiction, sci-fiction and fantasy. Mostly hiding from the prying eyes of my parents, who just had this singular aim of looking that studies did not suffer. I found the text books always so boring and so predictive that I read them with all the dread that they would take my precious time of reading my novels. To add to this I was never very good in outdoor sports which invariably used to be Cricket and Football. So most of the times I was made the twelfth man. This meant I was at side lines or picking up loose balls and throwing to the ground. Books gave me an escape to my fantasy whether with Nancy drew or Hardy Boys. As I grew up Sherlock Holmes came to my rescue from those boring books which almost always had the aim of putting me off.

When I grew up and joined the grad school the name of the authors changed different languages came in, non fiction came in , literature came in but course material never ever pulled in the same fashion. Though Physics remained my love but astronomy was more interesting to me then sound, electricity or magnetism. Perhaps examination and evaluation of the memorized topics was more important then knowing. Maybe that was my excuse for reading my kind of books. Perhaps it is sounding  as if I was more of a literature guy stuck with Science. That  is not true because all this time along with literature I was into Developmental Economics, Indian History and Spiritual studies. However I never was without my best friend ‘BOOKS’. Well that does not make me bookworm because I also love travelling, taking pictures but I do carry my books along with me.

However if take a look into the dictionary we will find that there two kinds of bookworms { (a) A person devoted to reading. (b) The larva of a wood-boring beetle that feeds on the paper and glue in books.} It is this second kind that is considered most dangerous because they do not just finish your most precious collections but all our memorabilia. And when they come no one thinks of Scholarship but of ways to exterminate these bookworms.

Therefore one can come to sure conclusion that bookworms are either to be considered good or extremely bad. Ask any body who loves reading whether he or she is a bookworm and you will find that they vehemently opposing and like me uttering that ‘no I also love travelling / trekking/ playing so and so game etc.’ It is like calling somebody who is hard working as workaholic as if it is a class of alcoholic. Actually all those who love reading books should be and surely be called book lover and not bookworm because we all dislike worms and try out several ways of killing or keeping worms away from our day to day lives.

And all book lovers or in old word bookworms of the first kind do get scholarship either as a grant or as recognition for their knowledge.

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