With academic pressure, social media and digital distractions in the form of readily available audio-visual content at our fingertips, those of us who have left behind our student days may conclude that today’s generation of college students has abandoned the habit of reading for pleasure.

“To be very honest, with all the deadlines and dissertations, I haven’t been able to read anything other than academic papers in the last few months,” said Sruti Basu, a final-year Master’s student of political science at Presidency University. A second-year M.S. student, Avigyan Samanta, said that his schedule permits him to read only two or three times a week.

However, despite many obstacles, it appears that college and university students in India are still fighting to make space for books in their lives, exhibiting a wide range of reading preferences, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama.

Anurag Chandra, a second-year student in the comparative literature department at Jadavpur University, avidly reads approximately one new book per month. Anurag’s preference lies in science fiction, with favourite authors from young-adult and contemporary fiction including J.K. Rowling, Ruskin Bond, Dan Brown and Amitav Ghosh, whose novel The Hungry Tide he is presently reading.

Sohini Kundu, a third-year B.A. student at Jadavpur University, regrets that her time spent reading has decreased in the last few years, but she still tries to read outside the texts prescribed in her syllabus as much as possible. “Being a student of English literature, I enjoy a wide variety of genres. Although I mostly read novels, historical fiction, and women authors, sometimes reading poetry also brings me joy,” Sohini said. “The last book I read was Jhumpa Lahiri’s Whereabouts. I am currently reading My Story by Kamala Das.”

Apprupa Mandal, a third-year student at Presidency University, chooses her reading material based purely on personal inclination. A student of political science, she enjoys dystopian fiction such as Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and more contemporary fiction such as Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, while also appreciating literary classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. “I am presently engrossed reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Apprupa said. “I keep reading out of curiosity to find out what happens next!”

Works by literary stalwarts such as Shakespeare also remain ever-loved. “His tragedies in particular allow me to explore something new each time I read them,” said a third-year MSc. Tech student, Arghya Dey. The diverse reading preferences of these students also include non-fiction genres, encompassing geopolitics, psychology, autobiographies, histories and sociological works.

Arghya, a student in the department of applied geophysics at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, prefers non-fiction books, as real issues are portrayed in them. “Recently, I have been going through the writings of several Indian journalists like S. Hussain Zaidi, Ravish Kumar, and Rana Ayyub. The real events that they describe are thrilling to read and also give me greater insights into the power and corruption that go into politics in India,” he said. “Jigna Vora’s Behind Bars in Byculla: My Days in Prison was hard to digest because of its depiction of life inside India’s prison system.”

IIT Kharagpur student Avigyan too gravitates towards writing on geopolitics. “I enjoy the works of Noam Chomsky, especially his work on economics. As someone who doesn’t have a humanities background, I enjoy how the use of jargon is minimal, or the jargon that is used is the kind that I can understand even with my STEM background,” he said. Experiences from real life, too, create a hunger for and interest in certain kinds of non-fiction. Avigyan is currently reading Shifting Lands, Moving People: Livelihood, Migration, Climate Change, and Natural Disasters in the Indian Sundarbans by Samantak Das, Gautam Gupta, and Sugata Hazra. “As someone who has been to that region and been involved with people affected by climate change by volunteering there post-cyclone Amphan, I feel that this book is a good opportunity to gain an academic perspective on the situation,” he said.

Jadavpur University Sociology student Unmil Chattopadhyay also prefers reading books about topics within his coursework. He believes that delving into academic materials outside of the classroom enhances his understanding of complex social issues.

Fiction and poetry in various Indian languages also occupy a special place in the hearts of today’s students. Sruti’s last read was Ismat Chughtai’s novel Tedhi Lakeer in her mother tongue, Hindi, while Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s Bengali novel Pather Panchali has been a favourite since childhood for Sohini, who also enjoys the works of Rabindranath Tagore, Ashapurna Devi and Mahasweta Devi.

The students’ reading habits showcase a broad spectrum of interests and a keen appreciation for embracing diverse genres and authors with an open-minded approach. For them, literature serves as a source of solace, inspiration, and intellectual stimulation, offering insights into varied human experiences and a better understanding of the world and their role in it. Contrary to stereotypes of a digitally immersed generation, students nowadays show a commitment to intellectual curiosity and cultural enrichment through reading. Their engagement with literature shows that reading is more than just a fun hobby or leisure activity for them. Rather, it helps with personal development and serves as an avenue to understand the world better, amidst the complexities of academics and other challenges. Their collective journey through the world of reading shows us how literature stands the test of time as an enduring influence in shaping minds and nurturing souls.

The writer is a freelance writer, editor and translator.