Books All the Way

Though a sheer coincidence, the kindly gesture of a few SFVians to throw open their collection of books for takeaway or to borrow, could not have come at a more opportune time than in the Lockdown days.

 

So, when Sana Khan household shared their collection for takeaway, I thought I would try O Henry’s short stories. But I wanted the younger generation to have the first choice. Thus I thought of writing to the donor that in the event it was not picked up in a week, I would drop in. But that was not to be.

 

It was then Ravi’s (3121) turn to share his collection. Aunty had read most of John Grisham and Robin Cook, but I spotted some that maybe she had not read. And Jeffrey Archer is the favourite of both. Also, I was keen to read Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist famous).

 

Prior to these two announcements I was to contact Shanthy Vaidya to borrow “Charlotte’s Web” from her collection. My eldest grandson (now ready to join College) had narrated the story to me when he was 8. Yes, in a reversal of the universal practice, he told me this as a bedtime story in three instalments - me in bed and he sitting by my side. Initially I thought I was doing him a favour by listening, but not after day one. He could keep the listener hang on his lips to hear more. I still recall the friendship of Charlotte, the barn spider, with Wilbur the pig, how the pig was in danger of being slaughtered by its farmer owner,  and how Charlottee wrote messages on its web praising Wilbur, hopefully to persuade the farmer to give up the idea…

 

Anyway, back to SFV, I asked Aunty if I could grab some of these books. “By all means,” she reassured me from the kitchen, “but not before you complete the top row of books in our own shelf that eagerly await human contact.” That was hitting me below the belt. Yes, our shelf has two rows. The bottom one is replete with religious books. The top row stands elegantly classified: “we shall do justice to these purchases one day.”

 

Luckily the purchase didn’t cost us a fortune. We picked these from a Library book sale in the US. Most of the cover pages carried the marketing inscription, “By the best selling author of…”, or “New York Times Best seller.” The latter inscription just meant that during that particular week, fortnight or month, the book registered the highest sale - nothing more, nothing less.

 

 “Why do you want to buy them when you can borrow them from Library, and return later?” asked my unsuspecting son. “No, no, I want to take these to India,” I asserted. “These second hand books?” he re-enquired to make sure.

 

“Look Shankar, anything that I have not read is first-hand,” I said in defence. He murmured something. Must have said, “Incorrigible”.

 

Undaunted, he made one final attempt, “Appa, you mean you will carry all these at the cost of something else Amma may wish to stuff the suitcase with, say, almonds, raisins, walnut?” he persisted. “For Heaven’s sake, Shankar, don’t give ideas to your Mom for a tug of war on a new turf.”

 

As I was trying to hammer out these lines, a flyer lands from my friend, Dr Panduranga Bhatta, of Oak 1151. He has just published two more books: “The Art of Leading in a Borderless World” in 338 pages, and “Introduction to Sanskrit Poetics”. I wish I were able to write at least a para, let alone a page, on these topics. Anyway, that adds two more feathers to his already crowded cap - a renowned Indologist; contributed immensely to Sanskrit Studies; taught Sanskrit to Ph.D and M. Phil students…