Saturday, January 28, 2012

Confessions of a compulsive reader



There’s something about new crisp pages ( or old musty ones ) that ALWAYS makes me go weak in the knees .
Be it in the mess , in bus , in the loo or between classes ! I’ve finally decided to write about the roamnce of my life  :D



Actually ,the longest love affair of my life  , With dear old books .
 ( According to reliable sources ) , I had made so many people read out  “panchantantra” to me .. that when my ‘mausi ji’ actually tried to make up some lines ( instead of reading the book word by word ) , I actually pounced on her and gave her a piece of my mind ( and then some ) .


It started with ‘champak’ ( Sadly ,Shin Chan has taken over nowadays ).
It went on to ‘amar chitra katha’  , ‘phantom’ comics ( Oh …still the sexiest man I’ve ever known ) and of’course Chacha Chaudhari ( Jab Saboo ko gussa aata hai … ) :D


I still remember the day in class 6th when Mrs.Bhardwaj threw a book at me ( oh , the joys of coaxing her to lend me a rare book out of the library … God bless the lady ! )
Turned out , it was some weird book called “Secret Seven” . And that’s how Mrs.Blyton entered my life .

From “Famous Five” to “Malory Towers” and the “Five find outers” . I went on cycle trips ,roamed around on moors in caravans .And ( not to forget ) fell in love with ginger breads and scones :D 


Then there was Satyjit Ray ( for those of you who might not be aware … the man could’ve been our Indian Doyle )
. Going on adventure trips with Feluda or Mr.Holmes was a delight in itself …

And who can forget  Mr.Ruskin Bond ? Oh , the way he can make you fall in love with Dehra and his Musoorie ..no one can !

Or R.K. Narayanan … my first glimpse of South India in Malgudi .
And no matter how many philosophies and “heavy” books one reads … Sidney Sheldon was , is and shall always be the best “story-teller” you can come across .
Khalid Husseini , the one book ‘kite-running’ genius ! 

J.K.Rowling , for gifting me my childhood . The sheer presence of Harry Potter has been such a strong force in making me who I am today .
The strong willed , independent protagnists of Shivani .

Or the equally independent ( and yet coy and docile )women of Subhadra Chauhan .
There were biographies which struck a note . Mother Teresa , Navin Chawala … Indira Gandi by Katherine Frank . Mata Hari’s by Yannick Murphy . Madhubala’s by Kahtija Akbar .
 And of’course , Umrao Jaan Ada :D
“The phantom of the opera” .Picked it up randomly , turned out to be the most romantic book I’ve ever come across .


Jhumpa Lahiri and Kiran Desai’s MAGIC of those frozen streets abroad . And the lonely protagnist , weaving in and out of her dreams …
Thomas Harris’ trip to the depths of human mind and it’s darkness ..
Those nasty ( yet devilishly engrossing ) words of Shobha De ..
The historical and spiritual journeys with Mr.Dalrymple ..
And of’course , going bak to my epics with Ashok banker .. 


There are SO MANY of them . A tiny book that made you lie awake all night .
A book you cuddled with , on a lazy winter morning …
A book you couldn’t tolerate , and had to be kept aside ..


They’ll always wait for you ,standing still .They’ll envelope you ,take you afar into whatever land you might want to visit .
They’ll teach you , guide you ,strengthen you. And never ask anythign back .
The best soulmate one can have :)
( I still wish I could write about the hundreds I am sure I have missed out on .. maybe some other time . After all , what’s the hurry ? )

9 comments:

  1. LOVE this post! I share a similar bond with books. Books are the best friends no one can replace! :)

    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  2. (Sorry I don't generally do that "!!" but books!!!! get me all excited :D)

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  3. Hahahhaah ... tell me about it :D :D

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  5. omigod!! bahut sare same books yaar!! ayn rand and lee iacoca auto biography, do read these books!

    And how about sidney sheldon and jeffery archer?
    you know it was phase wise:
    Noddy, tinkle, champak, chacha chaudry
    then ; Famous five, secret seven and enid byton
    and then sidney sheldon and jeffery archer :-)

    and sabu ko jab gussa ata hain to jupiter mein volcano erupt hota hain :-))
    and supandi from tinkle!!!
    and darell rivers and gwen!!

    Uff too much nostalgia!! Great post yaar!!!

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  6. A Kindred Spirit :) :)

    When I decided to move to India, the hardest thing to do (apart from saying bye to my family) was deciding which books i would have to leave behind :(

    It was very heart breaking :(

    :) loved this post

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  7. @jenny - We have some connection :D :D

    @kruti - Lol ! sameeeeeee .I go through it everytime I come back to hostel :D

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  8. nice post..i too just love books..i cant imagine my life without books...the books i own are like my babies...I cant tolerate people who mistreat them..in a way i am too much possesive about books :)

    I agree they are the best soulmate you can have..they display all emotions and can take you to far far land

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