Why i love to read, imagine, and write.

Statuary warning- this is neither funny, nor witty, nor in any way interesting... proceed at your own risk... this is only a self analysis, something i wanted to look into, the workings of my own brain... and, its a simple discourse on why i love to read, imagine, and write, even though i'm probably not a very good writer. if you're still interested, please go ahead and read it. otherwise, u might want to skip this .... that said, i shall continue.

Before i began writing, i began reading. i was somewhere around three or something i guess. at that time, of course my range of reading was limited to things like NODDY. eventually, i grew up a bit, and began reading all sorts of stories in english text-books, or comic books. then, as an eight year old, i was introduced to the world of Enid Blyton, and the famous five, and the secret seven. with them, began my love for adventure stories. by the time i was twelve, i had finished with Enid Blyton, and moved on to the Hardy Boys, which introduced me to detective fiction along with adventure.
then, i read English translations of the great Indian epics, the Mahabharata, and the Ramayana. these great epics introduced me to the concepts of good, evil, righteousness, justice, heroism, victory, defeat, and to a great extent, War. i began to lose my childish ideas of right and wrong, to discover necessity. i realized that the world wasnt black and white, but varying shades of grey. and i discovered that even the Gods were not always the best people to be around (as demonstrated by Krishna, in the Mahabharata).
i also read the Harry Potter series, and well need i say anything about it?
and then, on the Christmas after i turned fourteen, i was gifted three books, 'TheAlchemist'-Paolo Coelho, ' The Hunchback of Notre Dame'-victor hugo, and the greatest epic so far, 'The Lord of the Rings'-J.R.R.Tolkien.
The Alchemist, of course was something that instantly appealed to me, as an adventure story. and i wasnt left wanting for anything after i'd read it. Through the writing of Mr. Coelho, i experienced the struggles of Santiago, and i could feel myself going through those struggles. i could feel the wind on my face, when Santiago converted himself into the wind for the arab war camp. it was truly a great book, one i have read plenty of times again, and one i shall read another time, as and when the opportunity arises.
The hunchback of Notre Dame, was the first time that i read a book, with an average story, but powerful writing, and excellent dramatization. i dont recall either the story, or the concept, but i recall two scenes, one where Quasimodo stands on the top of the Notre Dame, and screams -'Sanctuary. Sanctuary', and another, the ending, where he dies, wrapped around the body of esmeralde. this was the first time, i saw writing skills making something worth my while.
and then there was 'The Lord of the Rings.' for three months, i was scared to even touch this gigantic monster of a book. eventually though, i plucked up the courage, and began reading, and there began a life long love with the fantasy genre. once i had started, i couldnt put it down. the story had connected a million ideas, and together combined them to make a story that has defined half my love life ever since. it had the story of the brave under-dog, who keeps fighting despite terrible odds. it had the story of the ancient hero, who was born to fight the darkness. it had the story of the good wizard, who was a warrior for the light. and it had a story of two beings from rival clans (Gimli and Legolas) thrown in together to find that they'd rather be friends anyway. there was a story of friendship, bravery, loyalty, nobility, love, heroism, war, peace, and a lot more things, that i cant even begin to go into, for lack of time. when i finally put down the book after three days of solid reading, i knew that i needed more of such writings.
then i read Paolini (Eragon). he continued on the virtues thrown by Mr Tolkien, and he took them to further reaches, in his own distinct style. i devoured his books, like a man dying of hunger would tear at bread.
after him came Stroud (the Bartimaeus trilogy). here i came across cheekiness, and humor, and sarcasm, and wit, not to mention charm. and carefully hidden satire. old bartimaeus challenged my faith in the hero who would give up his life for justice (at the end of the day the hero is still dead right). i understood a new side of writing, a side that involves humor, used to throw into sharp relief the other problems in life.
and then came the second greatest fictional epic i have ever read, The Wheel of Time series. this was a more standard epic feature with the smart hero, and the dark lord stereotype. and this had something fresh. the scheming, manipulating magicians, doing what they believe to be the best, irrespective of what others think.
this introduced me also, to the more standard fantasy fodder. through this series, i came across the master of the Fantasy genre, Brandon Sanderson, who has written, and keeps writing the most awesome books ever, including, the Mistborn series, Elantris, Warbreaker, The Way of Kings, and many more to come.
through all these books, i have come to understand such concepts as Heroism, good virtues, bad virtues, the things that a man may do out of necessity, the things that men keep doing out of greed, and well millions of other concepts.
and the sad part is that there just arent enough of these books, to fuel my voracious appetite.
and hence, in all these years, when i havent been reading,i've let my imagination run wild, with what could happen. i've asked myself, what if at this point, aragorn lost the battle? what if Rand did indeed go mad? what if Vin, after receiving the power, became just as idiotic as the lord Ruler before her. initially, i speculated upon the works of others.
eventually, i came up with stories of my own, that i intend to publish someday. and i came up with characters of my own, figments of my not so small imagination. i came up with strong characters, weak characters, bullies, hero's, and every other kind of character possible. and the best part, is that i control the lives of these characters. they live because i give them life. and i experience a part of my life, that i may never experience otherwise, vicariously through them. i shall never myself know the thrill of breaking into a castle to look at a princess, nor the fear of staring at a sword, at the certainty of death. but these characters that live through me, give me back these experiences. and that is why i love them, i love imagining their lives, and i love doing to their lives, what i cant to my own. and that is why i love to read about them, and i love to imagine about them, and i love to write about them. for i can live a million lives apart from my own through them.
perhaps i'm a deluded, idiotic fool, who doesnt want to live in the real world. its quite likely, that that is the case, but i know that as long as i can live in my own little world, with my stories, and my books, and my writing, i shall be happy. and with this knowledge, i can lie safe knowing that i shall experience, not only my own life, but through the lives of these others, the possibilities of a million other lives. if this makes me a crazy loon, so be it. at least i have satisfaction, something that is extremely rare in this world today...