Monday 9 December 2013

books

                                   


Books , books , books 
everywhere, alas time is short!
When I dissolve in the pages
time just flies away, know not where.

My love-affair with books started the day I wrote the first alphabet. There is no looking back .

I love to read books , books of all genres , except Hardy boys and Mills & Boons. The former , I felt were very boyish and the later very girlish. I loved mystery books and old classics.

I loved my Economics text book in college. No, I wasn't obsessed with the health or ill-health of our economy nor had I ever dreamt of following in the footsteps of Amartya Sen nor Keynes fascinated me. I loved the size of my Eco text-book for I could tuck my novel inside it and read , fooling my mother and giving her the impression of a studious girl.

                                            

During examination time ,  all books other than text-books were banned. Lord Keynes rescued me at this critical hour. I am greatly indebted to this economist for getting the quota of my daily fix.

                                      
I am a bookworm and can read in any position, sitting , standing , sleeping. I read at bus-stops, waiting for public transport, at airport ,  in hospital and dispensary.
                                         

                                           


A book with the right ingredients has the power to captivate, enthral and merge an individual with the characters of the books. The silent book becomes a companion for life. The characters of the book step out to step in your thoughts and reside permanently in your heart. The etched characters becomes real in an imaginary world and the imaginary world inches close to the real world. If you have not befriended a book , you know not the meaning of friendship, I would say.

The Amar Chitra Kathas in my childhood days with their illustrations and story made me visualize the action in 3-D frames. I felt I was one among the Gods who churned the Mount Mandara to extract the Ambrosia , the nectar of life.The stories in Chandamama and Champak were simple and thought-provoking.

Julius Ceaser , Mark Anthony , Portia , Hamlet , Robinson Crusoe , Beth , Meg and the Little Women walked out, at the turn of the pages to leave an everlasting imprint on my mind.

I consider myself fortunate to be born to parents who realized the importance of being literate and educated. Without you , mom and dad , I would have been poorer.

 Mahatma Gandhiji's ,'My experiments with Truth ' had a great impact on me. I was in awe of Daniel Defoe's Robinson_Crusoe , the protagonist who was a castaway on the island and met his Man Friday , for the adventurous streak.

In recent times, I have read Chetan Bhagat's novels ; 2 states, Revolution 2020 , 3 mistakes of my life, though they do not fall into the category which critics hail and rave about but nevertheless make light reading a wonderful journey.

                        

The smell of the freshly printed books or the musty smell of the old books is a pleasure to the olfactory nerves that only a bibliophile can vouch for. I love to go to the book store , browse , read the blurb and then select the book. But due to the advancement of technology , I have succumbed to the lure of the magic and now am comfortable with downloads of e-books. Did anyone even visualize this scenario some decades ago?




      

If I am asked to pick 5 favourite books , it would be very difficult or impossible.
                        

                          




Readers do tell me your preferences........................

                          FOR :  WRITE TRIBE FESTIVAL OF WORDS -II DAY 3


Day 1 -memories
Day 2 - food

29 comments:

  1. Ah, books are integral part of our lives. We just can't do without them! You've composed this post nicely!:)

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    1. I always gift books and chocolates to my friends. I prefer to give gift vouchers of book stores on b'days.

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  2. I love books, reading almost 8-10 novels per month ... trust me, there is no better high than an intoxicating read :-)

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    1. For a bibliophile , the intoxication of the books is a real high. and we are lucky to have a wide ranging choice of genres of books.

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  3. "I loved the size of my Eco text-book for I could tuck my novel inside it and read , fooling my mother and giving her the impression of a studious girl." I have done that too with my ABC of Physics and Lakhmir Singh and Manjit Kaur Biology books and have been caught by mom many times. ;-) :-D

    Very well written Kalpana ji! :-)

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    1. Isn't it funny that all kids try to fool their parents and get caught .So now , we as parents have to be more alert with our kids.

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  4. Loved your opening paragraph - that says it all

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    1. books are many but we have only 24 hrs in a day.

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  5. So good to note that all of us have been bookworms from quite a young age! So glad that we were introduced to this amazing world of books and that made us what we are today!

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    1. Shilpa, we are /were bookworms that's why we all on this platform. Birds of the same feather flock together.

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  6. Hahahahaha..the economic book scenario happened at this end too :P I remember sandwiched between two of my classmates with the economic textbook open( never liked this part of Social Sciences,otherwise I am passionate about history and Geography) and comics or Nancy Drew in-between the pages.And the moment the teacher took a U-Turn they used to pinch me :P Too many likes Kalpana :)

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    1. As one thinks of the past, wasn't it funny? but I will be angry if my son does that.

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  7. You have managed to sum up almost all my favourite books. Meluha is a current favourite as is the Twilight series. In fact I love so many books I cannot list them here.

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    1. I loved the Immortals of Meluha and read it twice.

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  8. My love affair with books is quite similar to yours, and continues till date. It's just that nowadays I prefer e books to regular ones as we have literally run out of storage space at home to store all the books, that my dad, my wife and me want to read. Lovely post. But truth be told, there's no way that I can pick only five books as my 'favorite' ones :)

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  9. It's like asking which sense organ is most useful to man? so its difficult to pick 5 fav books. E-books will rule the roost as it's very convenient.

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  10. Insightful post from a fellow bibliophile :) Books are simply intoxicating, no matter the shape or form!

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    1. Paperbacks or e-books , the content is more important.

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  11. Beautifully wirtten. Books are our eternal friends. They mend us in every way and transform us into better human beings.

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    1. If books can transform us into better human beings , the author's joy is divine.

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  12. I loved the size of my Eco text-book for I could tuck my novel inside it and read , fooling my mother and giving her the impression of a studious girl...... I have done that... When HP came... it was so difficult to hide it inside any texts.

    Beautifully written! :)

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  13. Books books books.... my first love so much that I want to be buried in them when I die :P

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  14. I have this lovely vision of you going through life with your nose happily in a book oblivious to those around you with such happiness radiating from you. ♥

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  15. Bookworm I m and I used to hate it when someone told me that but now I m proud of it because I know a great deal more than those who said that :D
    I too read anywhere and anyhow which infuriates my mom :P

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  16. If you have not befriended a book , you know not the meaning of friendship, I would say.--powerful lines and love this post:)

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  17. you listed most of my fav books, kalpana :)

    and yes, we are lucky to have parents who helped us continue with this bug ;)

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  18. You had me worried for a moment when you said you loved your Economics Text book, Kalpana! ;) Oh the sneaky things we all did to read - I would (and still do!) sneak off to the loo when everyone was asleep - so as not to disturb the rest of the family.

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  19. Love post kalpana :) the part about choosing favourite five...so true. Loved the shiva trilogy. Just brilliant.

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