Mid-Day Anniversary: Shweta Tripathi reveals why she's leaving books for strangers across Mumbai

In a city where everyone is hustling and determined to write their own success story how about pausing and losing yourself in someone elsersquos story Thatrsquos Shweta Tripathirsquos advice for youOver the past few months the actor has been leaving books across Mumbai Tucked inside each book is a handwritten note asking the stranger who discovers it to read it enjoy it and then leave it behind for someone else A travelling book club if you willWhen midday sat down with Tripathi she said the idea was born from a simple thought mdash that people need to go back to reading in todayrsquos age of information overload The actor reflected ldquoWersquore constantly surrounded by other peoplersquos opinions mdash what theyrsquore thinking eating where theyrsquore travelling and so on Reading is one of the few experiences where itrsquos just you and the book It stretches your imagination makes you question whatrsquos right and wrong and builds empathy because it allows you to experience lives completely different from your ownrdquoThe actor with her books PicsBy Special ArrangementThe seed for her public booksharing initiative came after Tripathi read about actor Emma Watson leaving books around London as part of a reading movement ldquoI thought why not adapt it Whenever I travel in an Uber I leave a book behind If Irsquom at a cafeacute an office or an airport Irsquoll leave one there with a handwritten note asking the person who finds it to enjoy the book and then leave it somewhere else for another stranger I love the thought of books travelling from one person to another carrying not just stories but moments of human connectionrdquo she smiledIronically books werenrsquot always her first love Growing up she would be almost irritated by the reading culture at home Finally in her teens a curious Tripathi picked up a book almost reluctantly And then something happened ldquoIt felt like I had discovered another universerdquo she said laughingSoon Nancy Drew books became an obsession Then came The Da Vinci Code followed by the Harry Potter series that she discovered when four books had already been released She recalled ldquoI still remember finishing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the fourth book in the series Until then there was always another Harry Potter waiting Suddenly there wasnrsquot I felt like my world had collapsed I kept thinking lsquoWhere are Harry Hermione Fred and Georgersquo Thatrsquos what books do They become your friendsrdquoToday her reading habit is almost ritualistic She is usually reading two or three books at a time ldquoWhen Irsquom reading I absorb the emotional world of the book When I was reading Shoe Dog I felt so charged While filming Mirzapur I was reading The Forest of Enchantments and Sitarsquos strength stayed with me throughout the shootrdquoShe has her family to thank for inculcating the habit of reading Even now her fatherrsquos voice echoes in her head ldquoPapa always asked me two questions lsquoDid you exercise todayrsquo and lsquoWhich book are you readingrsquo Back then I found it annoying Today I realise those are probably the two most important questions you can ask someone you loverdquo she smiledBooks Shweta Tripathi has left for Mumbai to discover lsquoCockrsquo lsquoKim Jiyoung Born 1982rsquo lsquoWomen who Read are Dangerousrsquo lsquoIndependencersquoThe actorrsquos book recommendations lsquoInvisible Womenrsquo by Caroline Criado Perez lsquoWonderrsquo by RJ Palacio lsquoMy Friendsrsquo by Fredrik Backman lsquoPowerfulrsquo by Nirupama Subramanian lsquoScripting Bollywoodrsquo by Anubha Yadav lsquoThe Palace of Illusionsrsquo by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni