Reading during lockdown

How are people spending their time during the lockdown? It is a fact that most people have engaged themselves in various kinds of household work like cleaning, cooking, gardening, reading and watching films and other programmes on television and other digital media. But then, there has been no noticeable systematic study or survey carried out so far to find out how people in India have been spending their lockdown time. Going by posts people have been making on various social media platforms, one can also see that a lot of people are also trying various kinds of recipes, while some are practising singing and playing various kinds of musical instruments. A study conducted by an organization called The Reading Survey in the United Kingdom has revealed that nearly one in three people in the UK are turning to books to help them through lockdown. The survey result, released last week has also suggested that 31% of the people are reading more since the lockdown restrictions were imposed in the UK, and that most people covered by the survey are reading fiction, with classics and crime novels proving popular. What is more significant is that almost half (45%) of the young people - aged between 18 and 24 - said they were reading more than they had been before. Moreover, many of the 2,100-plus people surveyed also cited reading as a form of release, escapism or distraction during these troubled times, and that having more time was the key to reading more. In Assam, as the lockdown began, there was a surge in the uploading of Assamese books, in the pdf format though, on various social media platforms including in various Whatsapp groups. These included some all-time masterpieces written by authors like Mamoni Raisom Goswami, Birendra Kumar Bhattacharyya, Saurabh Kumar Chaliha, Syed Abdul Malik and so on. Some people were also found to have dug out other authors from their personal collections, like Lakshminath Bezbaroa, Benudhar Sarma, the Dashyu Bhaskar and Pa-Phu series of thrillers, and so on. But then, as this newspaper reported on Sunday, with the third phase of the nationwide lockdown drawing to a close, the latest data, as released by an agency suggested there has been a significant change in people's reading patterns. There is a surge in readership around subjects like automotive, home loans, security of video conferencing applications, and remote learning for students stuck at home. But then, that is about people who can afford to read. What about thousands of people who have been struggling against all odds to make both ends meet? A big question indeed.