Among the 10 classics that have influenced me, my style, my love for reading, my life at large, 3 Men in a Boat, certainly occupies a definite place. This book has taught me how to accept life as a comedy, fun, a source of endless interest. The Jerome magic pervades the book through and through and this magic can be seen in the freshness and spontaneity that make the book an all-time classic. Jerome's eye could see the potential humour of little incidents and his pen was able to show them to the world at large. When I read 3 Men in a Boat I just wish if only I could emulate his uncanny skill in producing even the small details of life with so much interest. The 3 friends enjoy life to the fullest - for them "yesterday was a fine day, today is a fine day and tomorrow will be a fine day". In a world we live in there is always a contention that makes life so unbearable sometimes. For all cares, anxieties, uncertainties, stress and strain of life I feel Jerome K. Jerome's 3 Men in a Boat, is a wonderful panacea.
The fifteenth chapter and more particularly the old boatman rowing in the river is an example for all those who think life is but a race. There is something so beautifully calm and restful about this man. He is free from fretful haste, vehement striving which I consider a bane of twenty first century life. This boatman does not strain himself to pass all the other boats. If another boat overtakes him and passes him, it does not annoy him. This may trouble and irritate some people. But, what I admire most in him is his sublime equanimity amidst all ordeals. This simple character has taught me a beautiful lesson about life - How to be content and not to contend. My ENDLESS ENDEAVOR is to quest happiness in small, ordinary, quotidian facts and events of life. Let no one misinterpret my approach as a pretension.
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