For A Change, Read This………..

Most of the books that influenced my mind, life and attitudes, were read by me very early. As early as 1950s. I was an avid reader of history and novels. Among the early books that influenced me were Count of Monte Cristo (By Alexander Dumas Senior) and Napoleon Bonaparte (by Abbot). These books were recommended to me by my uncle Nasim Hijazi whose novels, it goes without saying, I had read in my school days. I developed interest in history because of him.
When I look back, I am surprised to realise that I have read hardly six novels since I walked out of Sind University in 1961. I had read all of Hardy, all of Dickens, all of Zola, all of Dumas, all of Balzac and all of Maupassant by then. I have lost count of the novels I had read while I was a student.
Those that I recall with fondness are not many. But the few I can recall are ingrained in my mind. Their characters and their names. Heathcliffe and Catherine of Wuthering Heights, Jane and Rochester of Jane Eyre, Edmund Dantes of Count of Monte Cristo, Gabriel Oak and Bathsheba Everdene of “Far From The Madding Crowd” and Rastinac of Father Goriot. These and some more names never slipped out of mind. Infact these characters have lived with me all along.
That is what is meant by INFLUENCE.
This piece will be incomplete if I leave out Hitler’s ‘My Struggles’ (Mein Kampf), and Shirer’s The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich.
It is what you read in early life that makes you what you are. Subsequently whatever you read is information and reference.
Let me quote Napoleon from Abbot’s book: “I can afford to lose battles, but I can’t afford to lose time”.
“Generals I am the Little Corporal you were making fun of. My name is Napoleon Bonaparte, and history will be incomplete without my name. Now stand up and salute me. I am you commander.”
Let me quote from Churchill’s account of the Great War.
“Whatever were his faults and frailties, the bitter fact remains that Hitler killed five allies for each German killed.”
And let me quotes from Emile Bronte:
” I am Heathcliffe,” said Catherine before her breathing stopped.