I was born in a family where reading is only limited to either Holy Quran or daily newspaper. Since I am the eldest among my siblings, therefore I had no peer pressure of reading. My primary school didn’t have any library. Once my maternal aunt, who resides in New Jersey sent me Cinderella story book. That book was in the shape of Cinderella's carriage. The outlook of the book was so appealing that it made me read the whole story. That was the first time I ever read any fictional story. The concept of a beautiful, innocent, poor girl turning into princess by a magic wind fascinated me very much. From that point of time, I started digging for stories like Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Snow White and other fairytales.
My secondary school had an enormous library with books on literature and every fictional topic. I started with William Shakespeare's stories since one of his stories was mandatory in our curriculum. The school library had easy translations of Shakespeare's original prose. I swept off Shakespeare's section in couple of months. I read his every story from Macbeth to the tempest, from Romeo Juliet to King Lear. Every story captured my interest because I never read such social topics. Then I switched to Charles Dickens but I could only read his one literature, David Copperfield. Then I turned to children fiction starting from Famous Five and Secret Seven. These stories kept me engaged in reading because of their mysterious plot and friendship among characters. Plot was almost the same in both series. Later I started reading Sabrina the teenage witch and Princess Diaries.
As I done my matriculation, I heard the name of Sidney Sheldon getting famous in my friends' circle. Curiosity made me buy Sheldon's book. That was the first book that I bought. I bought it from Liberty Books for Rs. 450. I knew the cost was extravagant but I was so desperate to get hold on Sheldon's buzzer that I let go the cost element. It was The Stars Shine Down. Plot was based on suspense, revenge and mystery. That was the finest piece of writing I ever read. Since then I became hardcore fan of Sidney Sheldon. Being economical, I started buying second hand novels of Sidney Sheldon that hardly cost me Rs. 60. I completed reading all of his novels in two years. His novels opened a new world on me. I got to know lucid details about professions like Showbiz, Law, Medicine, Journalism, Politics, Architecture, Banking etc. Novels of Sidney Sheldon had everything; suspense, intrigue, passion. By that time I was a bookworm. I had to read to breathe. Reading became breathing for my mental life. If I had nothing to read I would look for anything on tea table be it newspaper, magazine, yellow pages. I became an avid reader.
Getting into University, opened a sea of books for me. University's library had everything. Keeping interest in fictional stories aside, I started exploring new topics. I switched from fiction to non-fiction. President Pervaiz Musharraf's autobiography In the Line of Fire was my first attempt. Then I read Benazir Bhutto's Daughter of the East. Both of these autobiographies reflected a new genre to me. I tried dwelling in Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler's Autobiography but I didn't find it much interesting. Moreover I read Tehmina Durrani's Blasphemy and My Feudal Lord, Men are from Mars Women are from Venus by John Gray, Princess by Jean P. Sasson, a real tale of Arabic customs and traditions narrated by anonymous Arab princess.
Finally one day while looking in Literature section in library, I came across a new name, Judith McNaught. I read the back cover and I found it an exceptional piece of romance written in Victoria England and Regency Era. One by one, I read her all novels and I found all very alluring, exhibiting passion, romance, and luxury.
No one author or book can get the title of Initiator in my reading life. All of them encouraged and attracted me towards reading. Now I read everything that comes in my hand; be it biography/autobiography, self-help, fiction, business related articles or research papers, romance etc.
The truth is that reading is not anymore just a hobby for me but now it has become an integral part of my daily routine.
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