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Acquired taste

Once upon a time I used read a lot. I still read, but not about 600 pages in a day as I used to earlier. Then, many of my friends tried to emulate me by trying to read books. Some bought the book  whose outer cover they fancied, kept the book in a shelf for months to gather dust and then in one fine moment of guilt, started reading. None of them went beyond the first chapter. They came to me for help. But how could I help except suggesting to read the topics that interest them? 
Now I realise that reading is an acquired taste. And there is one more in that list -- education. Yesterday when I was standing in the bus stop engrossed in an Isaac Asimov short story, a lady near me was pouring out her woes to another lady, that her son dropped out of college in degree first year saying that he had no desire to study and was bored. She said his peers who finished studies got some or the other job but he stayed without any. She sighed saying that she wished he would complete at least a degree. I then realised that education may be an imperative to work but one cannot get accustomed to it or like it just because it is necessary. Education too is an acquired taste for most of us and its taste never appeals to some.

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