When was it it that you last visited a bookstore?The phenomenal prices of the books probably deter you from doing so, quite often.Do you go to a public library regulary? What kind of books do you borrow? Do you find time to read? Do your children read at all? Most likely they do not. Ever since the advent of the television and the internet,the practice of reading is gradually taking a backseat.The generation X in particular is not too favourably inclined towards reading. As a consequence thereof, reading is becoming more and more confined to an esoteric group of people-- the academicians and the intelligentsia.The masses in general read only with some objective or other in view --a remunerative job, a promotion, successfully passing a public / competitive exam and so forth.... Thus what once was a pleasurable pursuit has now been transformed into a necessary evil.

What the reading tastes of the general public in India ?

For one, nobody reads the English and European classics (in translation) anymore.Volumes of Dickens, JaneAusten, Henry James, Maxim Gorky, Chekov, Tolstoy, Zola, Flaubert Bronte Sisters, Fielding, Walter Scott and similar writers languish on the shelves of chic bookstores in the hearts of metropolises. They are meant only for students of literature.Their place has now been taken by authors of pulp fiction---Danielle Steele, Jeffrey Archer, Ian Fleming ,Arthur Hailey and others like them.The soft-porn works of Denise Robins, Harold Robins, James Hadley Chase are rather popular too.Romantic fiction by Barbara Cartland,Victoria Holt and the numerous authors publishing under the umbrella of Mills& Boon sell like hot cakes.

If you are looking for crime thrillers there are dozens of books by Agatha Christie, Alfred Hitchcock, Erle Stanley Gardener,Robert Ludlum to pick and choose from. Sadly enough, the masters of crime and mystery,Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Alan Poe appear to have been sidelined. Among the children, Enid Blyton ,Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene and Hitchcock's three investigators are popular.

Then you have science fiction by Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan and the likes.

A new genre of literature namely works of regional(Indian) writers, translated into English is gaining prominence.To this category belong names like Premchand,Sarat Chandra Chatterjee,Tagore and Ghalib.

Indian writers in English like Aurobindo Ghosh, G.V.Desani , R.K Narayanan, Raja Rao Kamala Das, Dom Moraes, Khushwant Singh, Anita Desai, Nayantara Sehgal are more or less widely read.

The most popular subjects for books nowadays include beauty,cosmetics,art, film-making, fashions,cookery, gardening, astrology, interior decoration, needlecraft, furnishings, parenting, babycare, general health, fitness including aerobics,yoga etc.

The magnum opus on erotica namely Kama Sutra, along with other books on sex- related topics are still much sought after.

There is a section of the public which reads poetry but alas not the English or classical.They have a distinct penchant for modern established and upcoming poets from Nissim Ezekiel to Dom Moraes to Vikram Seth.

There is more yet.With the basic lifestyles having undergone major changes,stress and strain and tension at work as well as in interpersonal relationships,come to the fore.To cope with it all, sociologists and psychologists have come up with several informative books for providing guidelines to the laymen,e.g.. maintaining good relations with your boss,colleagues and subordinates, in- laws, spouse, friends and yes even children! Several others teach you how to buiild your confidence ,boost your self-esteem,how to be a goodsales man, a good teacher,PR person,manager and so forth...Worth mentioning in this category are How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie .. and Men are from Mars, women are fromVenus etc

The youth make a beeline for books on general knowledge, scientific facts, quiz etc besides encyclopaedias.Sports is again a favourite of the masses.

The 90's have witnessed the rise of a band of Indian men and women, who imbued with the objective of elevating Indian life and cultural heritage to international standards,have brought forth an entirely new category of semi-auto biographical fiction,which has caught popular imagination.Prominent among these writers are Arundhati Roy, Manju KapoorDalmia, ManjulaPadmanabhan, Gita Harharan, Shama FatehAly, Upamanyu Chatterji,Vikram Seth, Amitava Ghosh, Namita Gokhale, Kiran Desai, Rajkamal Jha, Amit Chaudhuri and ShobhaDe.

A good number of members of Indian Diaspora in various parts of the globe, have produced remarkably brilliant works of fiction at par with the famous names abroad. Among them figure Salman Rushdie,V.S. Naipaul, Bharati Mukherji, Chitra Bannerji -Divakaruni, Shashi Tharoor, Shauna Singh Baldwin.The latest to join this bandwagon is Jhumpa Lahiri who bagged the Pulitzer award for her collection of short stories Interpreter of maladies.

Despite the high cost of books, reading still remains one of the most favourite pastimes of millions of people. There is nothing to beat the contentment of going to bed with a book.!!!!

A list of some of the current best sellers

Non -Fiction

1.Note From A Diplomat-An Afghan Diary---Zaheer Shah
2. To Taliban---J.N Dixit
3.Discovery Of God ---Rafiq Zakaria.
4.The Other Mrs.Gandhi-Kasturba A Life.---Arun Gandhi
5 A Walk In The Woods ---M.Krishnan

Fiction

1.Complete Feluda-Volume1---Satyajit Ray
2.Globetrotters's Nama ---Picoh Iyer
3.Getting There----Manjula Padmanabhan
4.Night River Poems ---K.N Daruwalla
5.Love In A Dead Language ----Lee Siegel

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