Have
you ever wanted something badly? So badly that you were ready to genuflect in
front every god mankind worships? And deep down you knew even if you did
genuflect in front of every God, Man, animal and aliens of this universe, your
progenitors would frown upon your dire need and squish it with the distinctive
negation nod of their worldly wise heads. So here I am, racing to the 30-35
checkbox at breakneck speed and mildly bothered about it, with many a dream
squished, squashed and pickled. Most of my “I-so-want-to-have-it-!-dramatic
pause-NOW!!” dreams did not follow me even to my early teens. But some
dreams stayed back with me to become realities of my present. Some dreams I
promised myself, silently, without making much ado about it and some I swore on
God, my tiny plump fists pointed to sky, (yours truly has always been a drama
queen) “I will have it. If not today, someday!”
My
mother-in-law says the happiest place on earth according to me would be a book
shop.Oh!!I simply love them. I truly think they are my heaven on earth. I run
from corner to corner, browsing and re-browsing the shelves. Both my mom’s have
a tough time luring me out of a book shop. It’s like trying to get a kid out of
a patisserie.
As
a kid, I used to wait for the annual day function. It was the day the class
toppers are awarded gift vouchers from PAICO.
This was an incentive to study. More A1’s you get bigger the voucher amount
would be. Then would be the well-planned trip to PAICO.I would ask my dad a million times
about a free evening. We pick a day, usually a weekday to make the trip. I
would come back home, bouncing all the way from the bus stop. I take out of my
shoes and keep them on the shoe rack instead of throwing them in air. The bag
would find its place on my study table and in less than 15 minutes of entering
the house, I would be at the dining table waiting for my tea all washed and
spruced up. There is no fuss about the evening snack. I would never do anything
to jeopardize my trip to PAICO. Amma adds, sarcastically, “If someone sees my
daughter today they would definitely think you are the best daughter anyone
could have. Little do they know.”
I
would ignore the barbs and flash a smile at Amma which I know would melt her. I
would wear my best dress and go over to bring new books home. Some years I
saved my Vishu kaineetam* money to add to the voucher amount so that I
can buy more books. Even then there were too many books I wanted and too little
money. If I am not wrong, those days, most of the books I wanted were by
foreign publishers. I don’t know how many of you remember the Nancy Drew
3-in-1 series for Rs100.I do. I thought it was the “bestest” deal on earth.Anyways
a trip to PAICO meant that Acha has to shell out some money from his pocket to
pay for my excess shopping (Yeah,I started quite young!).At times Amma
complained how Acha has to pay almost the same amount as my prize money and in
some years even more on my yearly book-shopping binge. In college there were no
prizes to be won and hence no books could be bought. I still browsed book shops
in Trichur even when I had only just enough money for the bus fare back to
hostel. I would open a book, read the covers, slide my fingers over the edges,
and sometimes inhale the smell of paper. That’s the fourth best smell on earth
after the smell of hot piping coffee, of wet earth and of a baby.
 |
| That is my cozy corner !** |
I
think it was on one of those soulful sad evening of penury that I promised
myself, that I would never ever go to a book shop and come out without a book.
I would always have a spare book in my bag to read. I will never ever run out
of books to read. Even if I run of spare chaddi’s, I’ll live. But I will never
ever ever be without a book.
After
I got my job, I allocated a monthly budget to buy books. Every time I travel to
a new city
Over
the last few years I have managed to build my own book collection.
It
has fairy tale from 1980’s by Dreamland publication to Calvin and Hobbes, Tintin,
LOR, Poirot, Miss Marple, Mr. Holmes and many more. I am happy about my book
collection and very passionate about my dream of having a personal library.
Some
day I will have a home. It will be a Colonial bungalow look alike with red
terracotta tiles, cool white walls and blue windows. There will be billowing
curtains in pastels with sunlight streaming through them; washing the rooms in
a soft golden hue. There will be trees around the house and the garden will be
alive with bright blooming pink and white bougainvilleas. And in that bungalow
will be a room with high ceiling and red chettinad floor tiles. It will have
wall to wall book shelves in deep brown polished wood (anti-termite ones).And
in these shelves would reside my lifetime collection of books. Each carefully
picked over from multitude countries over the years. The room will have a plush
seats to curl in and coffee tables to rest the coffees. There will be large
windows overlooking the garden. I will watch the sunset, I will watch it rain
and I will read my books while sipping my cup of coffee.
And
someday as I am leafing through a thriller, it will drizzle. I will put the
book down and take a sip of my coffee. Just then, at that exact moment, sun
will peep out of the dark clouds. The rain would seize and a beautiful rainbow
would crown the sky. In that golden yellow light, dragonflies would fly over
the green grass of my lawn. I will close my eyes, smile, and exclaim,” This is
my heaven on earth!”
P:
S: Paradise is a library with free flow of drinks,
chocolate fountain and pani poor stall and only Sundays ~ Blue Lotus
*Vishu kaineetam: Vishu is a Hindu
festival celebrated in Kerala marking the New Year in accordance with the
Malayalam calendar. On the day of the festival (usually on April 14), elders of
the family gift money to children.
** That is my cozy corner: This photo won the “BOOKSHELF
Contest” conducted by Youth Express. I won a signed copy of Durjoy Datta's
Latest Book and CCD's Coffee Mug!!
