Hafiz's Reading Biography - Read and be humbled.

People read for various reasons and different stories appeal to different people. While a person may find a particular read rubbish, another might find it delightful. Who are we to judge? Frankly, I don’t like it when people criticize the kind of books or magazines or even the type of newspaper that someone reads. It does not really bother me what book a person reads (maybe I’ve yet to come across any).

To me, reading is a humbling experience. Through reading, we are able to explore the world and expand our horizon. We are exposed to different worlds, rich with the cultures, histories and traditions of others. From these stories, we reflect upon our own existence.

Imagine reading about the genocide that occurred to the Jewish community during the Nazi occupation in Germany or Gatsby’s swinging parties and wealth. Reading has the twin ability to make us incredibly envious of the monotony of our daily life, but also to put things in perspective, making us realize just how lucky we are to be born in conflict-free Singapore.

Beyond that, reading also has the remarkable gift of providing you a bridge through time and history. When we pick up and read books by Hemmingway or any other (famous) writers, we are picking up a work completed many years ago, enjoyed by millions before you and will continue to be enjoyed long after you. That is the astonishing history that comes with stories that withstand the test of time. A bonafide historical artifact! To be part of that legacy is, in my opinion, a great privilege.

So if you ask me what reading is, my answer to you is simple: humbling

One of my earliest memories of reading was the World Book’s encyclopedia series. Believe it or not, my favourite books as a child were encyclopedias. To be fair, the thing I loved most about encyclopedias were the pictures. Some of my earliest memories involved pestering my parents to read them to me as a bedtime story.

Once in primary school, the TV quickly became a better, easier and far more exciting companion, so my interest in reading slowly faded. To my parents consternation, instead of picking up “good” novels (as they would have hoped), all my reading then revolved around the comic, Calvin and Hobbes. My parents’ disapproval did not faze me very much. I developed an affinity to Calvin. Being the only child then, I found myself to have many similarities with Calvin, who was also an only child in the comic. To this day, reading Calvin and Hobbes still provides me a small sense of nostalgia and comfort.

Eventually though, I grew to love “real” novels, and especially enjoyed books by Roald Dahl. It started when I stumbled upon a copy of Matilda by Roald Dahl, which I read in the school library. From then on, I had a new obsession. I even recall dragging my parents to the bookstore to buy for me other Roald Dahl titles. My favourite books by Roald Dahl include Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Twits and The Witches.

In secondary school, more emphasis was placed on reading by my parents and teachers. During my teenage years, I started to cultivate the habit of reading newspapers.  As an avid soccer fan, I always read the sports section first, which meant going through the newspaper backwards to forwards. I still continue to do this today, regardless of the newspaper I’m reading, a habit that greatly puzzles people around me.  As with most kids growing up in the early 2000s, I loved the Harry Potter series, which sustained me through my secondary school days.

Secondary school also marked my first encounter with Mr William Shakespeare. My brilliant literature teacher had selected Julius Caesar as the first play of the school term, and I had been really excited at the prospect of reading it after hearing so much from my father who did the play for literature in school. “Et tu Brute? Then Fall Caesar!” became more like “Et tu Shakespeare? Then Fall Hafiz!”.  I struggled tremendously just trying to decipher what was going on in the play, and struggled even more to provide sound analysis and insight. Since then, I never liked Shakespeare very much.

In Junior College my dislike for Shakespeare continued in JC, as I had to read a wide range of his work, including Othello and his numerous sonnets. While I appreciated the plot development in his plays, the language continued to baffle me and I struggled.

Thankfully, JC also introduced me to War Literature, a genre I thought I’d hate, but ended up developing a passion for. Novels like The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brian, Regeneration by Pat Barker and The Empire of The Sun by J. G. Ballard brilliantly portrayed  the physical and psychological effects of soldiers and ordinary people going through war. They were deeply moving pieces of work, and the “young men coming of age” themes resonated strongly with me at the time. It influenced me so greatly that I remember being severely disappointed when I was posted to serve my National Service in the Singapore Police Force (SPF) instead of the Army.

Despite my initial disappointment, I had a great time serving my NS in the SPF. I only read a handful of novels, mostly “trendy” books of the time (Five People you Met in Heaven by Mitch Albom, Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon).  I did, however, start reading police textbooks that dealt with law and order. I was becoming a police officer! My romantic notions of being in a brotherhood of soldiers were quickly extinguished by the action-packed life of a policeman. Reading soon took the back seat… then moved to the bonnet altogether.

Then came NIE. For the first time, I was being exposed to local and regional South-East Asian literature which I found it incredible refreshing. For the first time, I was reading literary works that made reference to places, people and events that I actually knew. I continue to feel a strong sense of engagement and connectivity whenever I read local literature, something that was definitely not present in my earlier experiences in JC literature. Novels like City of Small Blessings by Simon Tay and short stories like The Corridor by Alfian Sa’at quickly became my favourite literary works, as they were stories written in reflection of my own community and country. How could I not feel what Mak felt when she had problems with her neighbour, having lived in a HDB flat all my life and encountering difficult neighbours myself? This experience sparked off my interest and love for reading again.

Where I am now? Currently, I am hoping to complete several books (for fun now, not mandated or prescribed reading) including Life of Pi and Lord of the Flies, before practicum starts in February. While I now find myself reading recommended award winning literature novels, I look back and realize how far I have come.

Yes, reading a large variety of books, novels, texts, comics and short stories have broadened my perspective of the world greatly. At the same time though, reading has been my anchor, a grounding and humbling experience that constantly reminds me of who I really am and my tiny place in a great big world.