Opinion The Third edit: The loss of the Book Post service

Information at fingertips is the order of the smartphone era. Scroll, pause, scroll, and pause. Repeat until complex issues are simplified into small bites. There is no need for extensive reading. Information is the protagonist; knowledge the casualty. At a time when people’s attention spans have come down to around eight seconds, books seem to be a thing of the past. Still, some people search for new arrivals. They look for fresh thoughts, crave the smell of fresh pages, and send books to their loved ones. They celebrate access to knowledge, not merely information.

The Indian Post office, however, does not seem to be willing to uphold and cultivate the reading culture. It has discontinued its longstanding “Book post service” which let people send 5 kg of books for only Rs 80. The motivation behind the Book Post was to promote reading and develop a literary tradition. The shift from Book Post to the “Registered Parcel”, through which books are supposed to be sent from now onwards, will result in people being charged at least three times the earlier cost. Knowledge should at least fly faster than rumours. The domination of the WhatsApp university in shaping the knowledge system needs serious intervention. And for this purpose, the books should fly at nominal costs.

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Studies suggest that even in the age of new media, Indians, on average, read one hour more than their international counterparts. It should be seen as their strength and tapped into for developing a knowledge base that can contain the overwhelming spread of (mis)information. In the words of Stephen King, “Books are a uniquely portable magic”. It’s better not to charge its portability — the magic might be lost.