After I was Born

“Who what am I? My answer: I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I’ve gone which would not have happened if I had not come. Nor am I particularly exceptional in this matter; each ‘I’, every one of the now-six-hundred-million-plus of us, contains a similar multitude. I repeat for the last time: to understand me, you’ll have to swallow the world.”
― Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children

There are two things that define me; reading and travelling.

When I was a little, I had a book before I could read. That’s because when I was 4 years old, I asked my parents to buy me a book though I still couldn’t read. The book itself was without any pictures and contained over 300 pages, about the history of religion and god. In fact, I finished it when I was nine.

Since then books have made me everything I am. They are my mentors, teachers, parents, siblings, motivators, storytellers, entertainers, and good friends. They have influenced, changed, and improved my idea and my life every single day. They correct me when I make mistakes, they guide me through difficult paths, they inspire me to dream and then help me achieve those dreams. Books asked me to cry with my beloved characters and to laugh with them, to feel their pain and to be with them in hard times; to find myself wandering in the wonderful yet dangerous journeys, to visit an unknown place and to be lost on the desired destination; to feel the terror of raining bombs and to feel the horror of a totalitarian regime; to clear my vision and liberate my mission; to satisfy and increase my curiosity, to help me know “whys” and “hows” of everything; to help me feel the world around me, to develop a sense of belonging to people around me; to provide spiritual experience and emotional strength; to accept the truth even when it’s hard and painful, to challenge me with a hard idea and difficult concept; to recognise the beauty of isolation, loneliness and solitude. Anything. Everything.

Today, my yearly target is to read 200 books. I am an omnireader. I read almost every genre of books. I read novels, poems, philosophy, graphic novels, manga, religion, politics, science, conspiracy, classics, biography, horror, memoir, textbook, economy, history, self-help, journals, science-fiction, fantasy, etc. They help me to broaden my horizon—the way I look at the world. I regularly visit bookstores, join book clubs, attend book discussions, and anything else which is correlated with literary activities.

While reading keeps my brain working and feeding, travelling makes me alive. Every new place delivers new experiences, never be the same. Every time I stand on the peak of a mountain, I feel my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery; air, mountains, sky, fog, grass, breeze, trees, clouds, stones, rain, people. I think this is what it is to be happy. My concept of happiness is very simple; walking on the grass, laying on the sand, swimming in the stream, reading nice books, watching great films, listening to good music, gazing at night skies, talking and walking with someone on the peak of a mountain, or just being alone.

And this blog is dedicated to all book lovers and nature admirers.