What better way to generate interest in reading than narrating an interesting tale and leaving the listeners to scout around for the end?

This is exactly what Dr Ashwin Desai, head of the department of Comparative Literature, South Gujarat University, did at a public meeting organised as part of `Aavo, Vachiye, Vichariye' (Let's read and think) campaign a couple of days ago.

The audience -- comprising students, parents and `readers' -- at the Jivan Bharati Rang Bhavan hall listened in rapt attention as Desai reeled off engrossing tales only to stop just as it was beginning to catch its collective breath. As a saving grace, he let them into the names of the books and their authors, so that the members of the audience could satiate their curiosity.

The novel idea was a hit with the audience that had waited for more than 50 minutes for the programme to start (because the earlier programme was late in finishing). A brainchild of head of the Department of Education Shashikant Shah -- the mastermind of the `No Television Week' -- the campaign, it seemed from the enthusiastic response, has caught the fancy of many Surtis.

As many as 3,000 students of the Xth, XIth and XIIth standards from schools in Surat city, Surat district and Bharuch are taking part in the project, which takes off on January 1. Over the next six months, the participants will scan newspapers, magazines and periodicals in search of articles that will help them imbibe the highest values of life.

They will be also required to read one book and submit about 50 articles to their respective schools in the first phase of the project. The schools will select the five best entries, which will qualify for a final. The finalists will have to appear for a short interview to test their general knowledge and whether the reading has helped develop their thinking process.

``We will have to teach them to love books'', Shah told the meeting. ``People have stopped thinking, which has led to a host of problems''. Desai, too, suggested ways to inculcate an interest in reading.

Noted litterateur and journalist Bhagawati Kumar Sharma, while presiding over the programme, began on a lighter vein telling the audience how horror stories helped a barber cut hair easily. ``You have heard of Rajat Tula, Suvarna Tula, but have you heard of Granth Tula?'', he asked the audience telling it to gift only books at weddings.

He said it would be "criminal to ask people to shun watching the television" but exhorted the audience to use the medium rationally and find a perfect balance.