By Lissy Maruthanakuzhy
Nagpur: The annul book fest in Nagpur opened on December 6 with a leading educationist in the central Indian city stressing the need for cultivating good reading habit.
A book spreads positivity because people usually consider the written word as the Gospel Truth, said Shanoork K Mirza, principal of J N Tata Parsi Girls’ Higher Secondary and Junior College.
The Pauline Book Fest is organized by the Daughters of St Paul, a Catholic religious order engaged in social communication.
Treethy D Patel, Trustee of Tata Parsi College in Nagpur opened the fest
The book fest aims to provide access to all people in the city to good reading at a reasonable rate for their family and for personal life, explained Sr Stella Pereira, animator of the Pauline Community in Nagpur. She said their congregation’s mission is to promote good reading.
Shanoork, who is also a writer, told the gathering comprising mostly young people that readers are leaders. She also said that she often tells her students to learn to discern and distinguish between books of reading and books for collection.
The educationist, who also writes for “Middle Space” in the local Hitvada newspaper, said, “The manners, etiquette, the disciplined forbearance and the firm convictions that I write about are all because of the fond memories and the training by my parents, teachers, the sisters and my mentors.”
A professor in English literature, Shanoork encourages her students not only to read but also to write. Many of them contribute poems and articles to the youth page of Hitvada.
Shanoork, a product of Sophia High School, Ajmer in Rajasthan, attributes her success in life to the Catholic nuns who mentored her. “If I write to the liking of my friends and can quote from experiences, it is only because of the sense of gratitude and the respect I have for my alma mater and those who influenced my thinking.”
She also said the formative years of her childhood and adulthood were spent among the nuns “who taught us the joy of giving and receiving, respect and ethics, the power of prayers and belief, all the simple qualities which are very neglected and seemingly old fashioned today.”
The Book Fair is organized by the Pauline Books and Media Centre, Nagpur with publishing headquarters in Mumbai.