The Greatest Story (stories) Ever Told -A

tribute to my mentor Dr. Uday Vasant

Dokras

Ms. Srishti Dokras, B.Arch, MS (Digital Design) Pratt

Institute, N.Y. USA
 The Greatest Story (stories) Ever Told -A tribute to my father
and Mentor Dr. Uday Vasant Dokras
by Srishti Dokras

A prominent quote from the 1965 film The Greatest Story Ever Told is Jesus'
farewell:
 "Go now, and teach all nations. Make it your
first care to love one another and to find the
kingdom of God, and all things shall be yours
without me asking. Do not fret then for
tomorrow; leave tomorrow to fret over its own
needs, for today... today's troubles are enough.
And lo, I am with you always, even onto the end
of the world...".

This line concludes the epic biblical film. What do you do when you have a 1000 stories
to read. When you have "1000 stories," the most logical interpretation is that you
have 1,000 books, or you're looking for a book with over 1,000 pages. You can read
books with more than 1,000 pages to challenge yourself, read books on topics you're
interested in to make the experience

"Teach all nations" is a reference to Jesus's command in the Bible (Matthew 28:19) to
His followers to spread His teachings to people around the world. This concept is also
the name of several Christian ministries that fulfill this mission by creating and
distributing religious materials, providing education, and conducting evangelism in
various countries.

 The phrase is a key part of the "Great Commission," where Jesus instructs His
disciples to "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". The goal is to share the
"Good News" of Christ and His teachings universally, beyond just the Jewish
community.

Several organizations use "Teach All Nations" (TAN) in their names, including Teach
All Nations Mission and Teach All Nations Ministries.These ministries are global
evangelical educational ministries focused on establishing a solid foundation for
national pastors and leaders by providing Christian teaching materials, scholarships,
and Bible school assistance.They aim to spread the teachings of the Bible and advance
the Kingdom of God through worldwide outreach and evangelism. To "teach all
nations" means to share knowledge with people of every ethnic group worldwide,
which involves learning their languages, understanding their cultures, and building
relationships to effectively communicate and make disciples. This is a concept
derived from the biblical "Great Commission," focusing on spreading a specific
teaching by first reaching individuals and then helping them grow in that knowledge
through various methods.

Clarify the Teaching: The message must be well-understood by the teacher to be

accurately conveyed. Commit to the Purpose: Teachers need to be committed to
the message and the goal of reaching all people. Go beyond physical and cultural
boundaries to understand and reach people from different ethnic groups. Use
personal connections, like those with coworkers, neighbors, or hairdressers, as
opportunities to share the message. Move beyond simple evangelism to helping
people become disciples by teaching them to apply all commands and principles,
fostering growth in God's ways.
Leverage Available Tools: Use language learning resources and community
connections to facilitate the process of teaching.
Incorporate Diverse Methods: Employ various strategies such as teaching,
baptizing, and training new converts to help them fully understand and grow in their
faith.
Recognize a "Nations" Concept: The term "nations" in this context refers to ethnic
groups or peoples, not just countries.

I asked my father once, what do you do when you have a 1000 stories to tell ? When
you have many stories to tell, he said, start by writing down every idea and thought as
it comes to you to avoid losing them, even if the ideas seem fragmented or imperfect
at first. Next, organize these raw ideas into a "library" of concepts, character sketches,
and scenes using a digital or physical notebook. Then, select one story that excites
you the most to flesh out into a complete narrative. Remember to tell your stories,
whether in short-form flash fiction or longer pieces, to create a body of work and to
develop your unique voice.
Best from the Rest
When the Rotary Club asked me to pen a tribute to my father, I was at a loss for
words. First time in my life, I had stammered and stuttered (pen wise) while talking
about him. Forgotten was my loquacious temperament and my garrulous nature.

I started reading at the age of 3, I’ve never stopped and I’m now- 31- which makes it 27.
52 years of reading.
During my school years I had an incredible amount of time to read and would frequently
read 2 books a day (we are talking literature, so not really that long or complex).
During school days I EASILY read over 5 hours a day. During weekends and holidays
that would shoot up to 10+. For my 12 years of schooling + 2 years of university I
estimate I read over 36,000 hours. As an adult, I estimate I read about 5 hours a day,
every day (work days and non-work days have different type of commitments, but they
end up with roughly the same no. of “me” hours) … I read EVERYWHERE. In a queue,
on the loo, while eating, while walking (yes, I do!) At work while waiting for meetings to
start, while commuting (for this reason I vastly prefer trains, even if they take me longer
than driving … you can’t read while driving!). I never watch TV and have no other
hobbies, so it might be more than 5 hours … but over 33 years that means I’ve added
another 60,000+ hours of reading for a grand total of AT LEAST 97,000 hours.

At an average reading speed of 450 words per minute (actually fluctuates between 350
and 700), I have read 1.3 billion words in my lifetime … which at 35,000 words per
standard novel is about 16,000 books.
Now that figure is vastly overrated, for 3 main reasons …
1.) I like thicker, more complex books, so my average book contains more words;
2.) I read a lot of non-Fiction, which not only is MUCH thicker, but it also is a lot
more complex, so my reading speed would be closer to the lower end of 350 wpm
for that;
3.) I enjoy rereading books, so the number of UNIQUE books I’ve read is a lot
less …

If you add all that reading up, I estimate I have read more than 5,000 unique books in my
life.
I’ve never been organised (or energetic) enough to keep a log, so have no way of proving
it … but ask any of my family, school-mates, or friends, and they will corroborate the
calculations above.
Secondly, what’s it like …

“That’s difficult for me to say … I’ve never been different, have never wanted to be
different, I am happy and fulfilled being a bookworm, so all I can really say is … it is my
ONLY hobby, and I love it.”
Thirdly, What impact has it had on my life?
To understand the answer to that, you really need to know more about me.
  First, I’m very unemotional, I do not experience life’s ups or downs the way
other people seem to. Secondly, I have little/low empathy. Reading has allowed
me to experience the full range of human life, the good, the bad, the ugly, the
beautiful. The despair and the ecstasy. Reading has allowed me to see the
world as other’s see it, it has allowed me to GRAFT empathy into myself. It is
still very much an intellectual exercise, nevertheless, most people perceive me
as caring … and that’s true. I do care … I just don't feel what other’s feel when
they care … but no-one I don't tell about it would ever guess. What impact has
reading had on me? It lifted me out of my limited potential as a human being
and made me SO much more.
 Secondly, I come from a middle class background, with a lot of struggle to
advance in life. I only have an average intellect, but reading has stuffed me
with facts, theories, observances … that I have thought about, pondered,
wrestled with from an extremely early age … adding all this together, and other
people perceive me as far more intelligent than I am. Reading has given me a
head start in my academic life that always allowed me to out-perform much
more intelligent class-mates and put me academically well above average.
Reading allowed me to become educated, self-educated, as no-one in my peer
group was (ALL the other “bright” kids at school came from privileged
backgrounds) … and I was counted as one of them, despite having holes in my
clothes.
… I could go on, but those are the biggest two.

How am I doing in life now?

I spend all my free time doing the one thing I enjoy most in this world … reading.
That might not be what some people regard as “success”, but I have everything I want out
of life. The ONLY thing I may have regrets about is that there are too few years left to
read all the wonderful books still awaiting me.

Reading has been such an important part of my life, I can’t imagine who I would be
without the companionship of the many, many authors whose lives are distilled into the
pages they wrote.
I grew up on a farm where hard work was valued. Geographically, I lived in an area flat
as a pancake with no trees and constant, hot dry wind. Irrigation alone made farming
worthwhile, and ranching and cattle were the backup occupation of every farmer in case
of a bad year when wheat didn’t take or hail or unseasonable storms flattened the crops….

… And I hated farm labor, though I did my share without (too much) grudging.
Luckily or unluckily, I was pretty bad at farm life. I didn’t enjoy the work, and I did not
have much mechanical aptitude. Rather than a green-thumb, I had the blackest of black-
thumbs, and I killed every plant I tried to nourish. Some people never developed a feel for
farm labor, the way my brother did—and I was one of those. I couldn’t weld straight or
plow straight. I couldn’t eyeball soil and tell you how long it been since it last had rain. I
couldn’t spot pinkeye in cattle at a 20-yard glance the way my father could.

So, books became my childhood and teenage retreat. I was a notorious daydreamer, and
books fuelled that escapism. I happily read trash to start with, but I did read, relentlessly.
In that pre-Internet era, interlibrary loan showered its blessings on me: months of reading
about dinosaurs and SETI and strange cults and geology and meteorology and life in
ancient Egypt or medieval Wales and Isaac Asimov’s nonfiction and fiction.

Those books eventually became my educational supplement. I developed an above-

average vocabulary and a lot of indirect learning through them. When it came time for
standardized tests like the PSAT or the ACT, I was as surprised as anyone to discover
how high my scores were—and I can’t credit that to brains, as I know many people who
are smarter than me but scored worse. Instead, I credit all that with reading, reading,
reading.
Reading those books got me the scores. The scores got me scholarships for college.
College changed the course of my life.

My life after age 18 would be completely different if it hadn’t been for the habit of
reading. I might never have left the Nagpur, Indian region. I would likely have never
lived out-of-state in New Jersey or Washington or Seattle. I probably would never had the
interest or opportunity to travel to Mexico, or Britain, or France, or Spain, or Greece, or
Holland. No outings in the imagination would have shown me the way to Narnia or
Middle Earth, Hyperborea or Olympus, Xibalba or Prester John’s kingdom, or
Coleridge’s Xanadu where Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decreed.
I wouldn’t have had those in-depth examinations of history books, which deeply altered
my understanding of politics. I wouldn’t have complicated my religious understanding by
exploring the Koran or the Tao te-Ching or the Book of Mormon in addition to the King
James. I would probably never have encountered the sunlight outside Plato’s cavern, but
kept staring at the simplicity of shadows and thinking it enough. I wouldn’t have had
those burning encounters with poetry in which Hugo’s tornado of djinn whirled their way
into my skull.
If I hadn’t read those books, I would have had a much more impoverished life, and I don’t
just mean in financial terms.

To "appreciate the best from 1,000 books," (if we talk about my father’s deeds)
you need a strategic approach, as a single book is not for everyone and "best" is
subjective. You can start by creating a reading plan or "checklist" for those books,
selecting them based on what you want to learn or experience, such as a mix of
classics, diverse genres, and books that offer self-exploration or insight into other
cultures. Then, read actively by taking notes, discussing books with others, and even
reflecting on how the books change your perspective or understanding of
yourself. Finally, consider the context of each book by understanding its historical
impact, the author's story, and why it's considered a classic to gain a deeper
appreciation beyond its contents.

Set a Strategy-

A "1,000 Books to Read Before You Die" list can serve as a great starting point for
selecting books. Define your goals and think about what you want to get out of
reading. Do you want to experience new lives, gain knowledge, understand history,
or explore different philosophies?

Prioritize and group: Don't feel pressured to read them in a particular order or all at
once. Group them by genre, author, or theme to make the task more
manageable. Look for books that resonate with you personally and provide insight
into other experiences and perspectives. Engage in conversations with others about
the books you're reading to gain different viewpoints and a deeper understanding of
the stories.
Keep a journal or take notes on your thoughts and feelings while reading. You might
even find that your own interpretations are more valuable than the author's original
intent. Connect to your own life and indeed sometimes, the most valuable thing a
book offers is self-exploration and understanding of your own thoughts and
feelings.

Understand the Context of Each Book is important and one needs to look beyond the
words-A book is more than just its text. Consider the author, the historical period it
was written in, and its impact on the world then and now. Understand why a
particular book is considered a classic or a masterpiece by looking at its lasting
impact and cultural significance. Recognize that a book might be "best" for you
because it spoke to a particular moment in your life or because you were able to
discuss it with someone else, providing a unique experience

Written Communication can be complex interaction between observation, background

knowledge of the writer, exposure to architecture, religion, dogma, beliefs and
historiography. It not only addresses topics at hand, such as heritage and how a
combination of discoveries in archaeology and its place in visually constructed
architecture and design work, but also iteratively and repetitively structure complex
identities through an amalgam of many intrinsic and extrinsic traits. A participatory
research approach carefully constructs the solution of unknown metaphors to address
issues of participant identities and inequalities of understanding by past explorers
within a broader social context of failure in attending to communication styles and
linguistic norms within that domain. Linguistic and etymological Interactions in a
variety of religious contexts allows all participants—researchers, readers and
stakeholders—to learn and share from one another. This allows groups with different
backgrounds, goals, and interests as well as imbalances of power to more effectively
pursue intersubjective understandings.

Books are one of the worlds you can easily slip into and stay there!! I used to be a person
who would run away from even the word book : but somewhere down the lane things
changed and I can't be without books today !!

How do books change you :

1. you can understand much more from a line or story than others , i.e you start to
comprehend more than just the superficial plot of a story !!
 2. You get a relatively higher amount of vocabulary without your concious
effort !!
3. You can easily tell the meaning of a word even if you don't know it , because
you might get a hint of the meaning when you just pronounce and think about
that word
4. You get many ideas to write on your own
5. You won't have time to tell the word “bored” when you have a book in hand
6. Your imagination part of the brain is triggered when you read books , beacuse
to enjoy a book , imagination is the key
7. Well , it's always a joy to have fictional friends and boyfriends too ;)
8. Books tell you more about feelings and emotions of every character , each
character of a book will have something to teach you which will come handy
anytime
 So just grab a book preferably of my fathet and start the journey , if you
haven't started ..it's not too late …just start ;)

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
000

"Aladdin and the Magic Lamp"

is a fairy tale from One
Thousand and One Nights
about a poor boy named
Aladdin who, with the help of a
magic lamp and its genie, uses
three wishes to become
wealthy and marry a
princess. The story, added to
the collection by Antoine
Galland, details Aladdin's
encounter with a sorcerer who
tricks him into a cave to
retrieve the lamp, and how he
eventually uses its power and
the lamp's contents to
overcome the sorcerer and gain
riches.

We all have grown up listening to the story of “Aladdin & Genie” where a poor boy
Aladdin finds a magical lamp and upon rubbing it, out comes a genie granting wishes.
Don’t you ever wish for a genie to appear? What will happen if the genie does appear?
Wouldn’t we all jump to get our wishes fulfilled? Well, I will do for sure.
So what will I ask a genie if I am granted three wishes? My first wish will be a how to
review the 1200 books written by my father in over 400,000 pages with 3 million
readers. Phew ! James Mustich's "1,000 Books to Read Before You Die" is a large
selection of books, that creates our own reading challenge by setting a daily or yearly
goal, such as reading just three books a day for a year to reach 1,000 books.

It is a prodigious task

Celebrate the pleasure of reading and the thrill of discovering new titles in an
extraordinary book that's as compulsively readable, entertaining, surprising and
enlightening as the 1,000-plus titles it recommends. Covering fiction, poetry,
science and science fiction, memoir, travel writing, biography, children's books,
history and more, 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die ranges across cultures
and through time to offer an eclectic collection of works that each deserve to
come with the recommendation, "you have to read this." But it's not a
proscriptive list of the "great works"--rather, it's a celebration of the glorious
mosaic that is our literary heritage. Flip it open to any page and be transfixed by
a fresh take on a very favorite book. Or come across a title you always meant to
read and never got around to. Or, like browsing in the best kind of bookshop,
stumble on a completely unknown author and work, and feel that tingle of
discovery. There are classics, of course, and unexpected treasures too. Lists to
help pick and choose, like Offbeat Escapes, or A Long Climb, but What a View.
And its alphabetical arrangement by author assures that surprises await on
almost every turn of the page, with Cormac McCarthy and The Road next to
Robert McCloskey and Make Way for Ducklings, Alice Walker next to Izaac
Walton. There are nuts and bolts, too"best editions to read, other books by the
author, "if you like this, you"ll like that" recommendations , and an interesting
endnote of adaptations where appropriate. Add it all up, and in fact there are
more than six thousand titles by nearly four thousand authors mentioned"a life-
changing list for a lifetime of reading.