Ramblings...

It was in third standard when i first entered that room- and it was clear. Very very clear. That I was in love.

The smell, the sights, the touch of those wizened pages- I never thought a library could be that enchanting. I remember the first question I asked- Can I take it home? And was very sweetly told- "Not till the Sixth standard" From that day on, till the first day of Sixth Standard, it was about biding time and most of that time was spent in the library- devouring books. Don't get me wrong- I was by no means a geek- I mean, I wasn't reading Encyclopedias, or some such thing- It were the stories. So many of them.

My love affair started with Agatha Christies (yes, in third standard!), moved on to Hardy Boys, then Enid Blydons, Sydney Sheldons- It was crazy! I'd read anything that caught my fancy, issue 3 books at a time (maximum allowed), and return them in 2 days flat, only to issue more. I was enthralled by the mysteries, the thrillers, yet soon moved beyond them to the world of grown ups. The books were my friends, my teachers- who taught me all I needed to know about life, relationships, laughter, humour, suspicions, greed, lust and I began to revere authors who could phrase my feelings better than I ever could. Doesn't that feel good? When you don't know how to describe a feeling and then you pick up a book and there it is- written as plainly as possible, in words you could never have thought of?

And then there are these new worlds- for the life of me I could never have thought them up- but thank God for blessed authors! Oh what would I give to meet Tolkien and discuss the middle earth with him, or Alan Moore to know his psyche while inventing Rorschach. It's a blessing to be able to read and comprehend what these great minds have to say- Bulle Shah with his poetry and Vikram Seth with his prose. People don't understand why I'd read a book again- and I do- all of them. For there's a book for every mood and season and every time you read it- any book- again- you'd find something you missed the first time around. Lord knows how many times I have read the tiny "The Little Prince" and every time I've come away with a very very different understanding of life, as seen through the eyes of le petit prince who lives on a tiny planet with two suns.

I heard it quoted in an ad the other day- A book is nothing but a machine for time travel- and so it is.

And so it shall be. For times to come. Amen.