Remembering RD

“The Reader’s Digest – Junior Treasury”

May 2024 was the last published issue of Reader’s Digest in print edition. They ceased publishing its print edition after 86 years. This sad announcement took my mind wandering back to that day when I had laid my hands on my first Readers Digest (simply RD to many book lovers). I do not recollect the month not even the year when I discovered this RD lying hidden beneath a pile of other books in our crammed apartment but vaguely remember it to be somewhere in the year 1980. It was the Socialist India with Vividh Bharathi (national radio channel), black and white TV, Vespa’s and Fiat cars. There was some printed stuff available, but the print and the color quality were not eye catching for the kids to really get hooked.

The particular RD I am referring to is the “The Readers Digest JUNIOR TREASURY” printed in the year 1960.

I am putting in snaps of some pages of the printed copy. For copyright reasons I have put in limited material here but enough to give a flavor of this particular copy. I doubt if in this age of AI generated images, we will ever get to see such beautiful illustrations by individual artists.

It was from this RD we were introduced to the magic of “ORIGAMI”. Me, my cousin and a friend of mine were on top of the world when we managed to fold this magnificent flying bird after spending couple of days with the intricate folds.

” The Flying Bird ” ORIGAMI

The story of the aborigines in the ” The Eyes Nothing Can Escape” with their incredible tracking skills left an indelible impression on me and my friends who read it huddled together. Some of the skilled trackers are sought by the police or other government agencies for solving crimes, tracking lost people or stray pets. Courtesy this story, curled up in our beds after dinner we dreamt of being ace detectives solving the most unsolvable mysteries and being the talk of the town!

” The Eyes Nothing Can Escape “

Another unforgettable story is of the ” Crash Pilot ” who led a life on the edge with danger at every turn, crashed forty-seven planes and lived to tell the tale. In this age it’s hard to imagine what it must have been like to fly in open cockpit planes at more than 150 Kmph. The closest ever we got to this hair-raising experience was to dash our bicycle down the slope in a hilly part of our neighborhood. It surely did plant a small desire in our hearts of piloting such flying machines some day.

” Crash Pilot “

The tale of the Great Apache was another great read. The reason behind the soft corner for him is not clearly comprehensible but guess his guerrilla warfare tactic which were similar to the strategy followed by the great Maratha warrior Shivaji who never allowed the invaders to eat a morsel in peace.

” COCHISE greatest of the Apache’s”

The mystery of rocky gorge was another story which piqued our curiosity no end. We did not put the book down till we knew how Dorothy the lost girl was found again.

These are but some of the articles in the digest. What RD did was to open the big unexplored world of literature, introduce new writers and inculcate the joy of reading, I am sure RD was the starting point of the reading journey of lot many of the readers today. I wish and hope that all the RD’s circulating all over the world or even the online content on the RD platform inspires and gives birth to new readers, book lovers and even writers.