This and That aka Daily Musings

  The Selfish Gene (6/10/23) Gail Wynand, the powerful publisher in Ayn Rand’s ‘The Fountainhead’, was exposed to a variety of literature while growing up. Devoid of any method or guidance, a multitude of authors and subjects influenced the young man. Thus, Gail grew in a highly disorganised manner. I was like Gail Wynand in my younger days as my reading too was haphazard. I used to be engrossed in all kinds of non-academic books.  Growing up, me and my brother were members of a local library. This instilled the habit of reading in us. We had a voracious appetite for comic books (initially) which later progressed to novels from the likes of PG Wodehouse, Jeffrey Archer, Sidney Sheldon, Arthur Hailey, Tom Clancy, Frederick Forsyth, Alistair Maclean, and Michael Crichton. Harshad and I also read many Marathi books written by creative geniuses like PL Deshpande, VP Kale etc. Thrillers, sci-fi, war dramas, romance, and British understated humour kept us engaged. Reading widened our horizon