What was the first book I read?
It was a translated book that helped me discover the joy of reading.
The first book that I could remember reading was a small book called Hsuan Tsang’s Journey to India. It was published by the National Book Trust of India and was translated to Assamese from English.
Although I have been reading Twinkle and Chandamama magazines, it was the first book that I read. It was full of illustrations and chronicled the journey of the famous Chinese pilgrim Huen Tsang who travelled across India to learn Buddhism.
The writer wrote/translated the journey in such a way that I could imagine a young Chinese man walking across deserts, narrow mountain passes, battling for life amidst natural calamities and human intervention.
I could feel the joy when Tsang reached Nalanda and studied there...
In fact, it was the book that made me irrecoverably fall in love with books.
This book showed me the joy of discovering other worlds through words and opened my mind to the world. I am so glad that I got the book as a prize in a competition in the school.
I treasured it but after leaving home for higher studies, somebody borrowed the book and never returned.
I searched the book for years without any results. I wanted my son to read it, I wanted him to discover the joy of reading. And finally, I managed to get the book at Guwahati Book Fair in 2019.
So, what’s the first book you read?
