In a land far far away, there
lived a boy. He was born in a library (Don’t ask me how!) and since birth all
he had seen were books. Very often when his mother came to sing a lullaby, she
would find him already away in a land of dragons and heroes with a book under
his pillow. He loved books and often dreamt of working in a bookstore. When I
asked him if he would rather work in a library, he often seemed lost as if
faced with Hobson’s choice. For how could he leave one for another? Then when I
would force him, he would slowly pick his bookstore. To the young kid, if he
owned a bookstore, it would mean never ever having to share his books and
having them all to himself, just for himself.
He was lucky as he grew up. His
teachers patronized him. His friends loved to share their books with him for he
would complete an entire Hardy Boys Mystery overnight, starting at 14:00 hours
as soon as the school broke. The librarian was his friend and while others
would descend on the Games Room at recess, he would slowly pack his bag and
walk towards the library.
As he grew older, his friends
started to have interest in other aspects of life. The first razor and the
excitement of the first shave; the induction into manhood, the first Axe Deo
and believe it or not the first Cherry Blossom Wax Shoe Polish! These had
become part of their boyhood and yet he persisted with his books. Being able to
quote from Paradise Lost seemed to be a far higher calling than having the ‘Axe
Effect.’
And so the years went by and like most
other dreamers, the young boy was awakened into a world where he was told, it’s
not enough to own a bookstore, but perhaps it’s more important to earn enough
to have all the books he would ever want. From the Far East he had travelled
West. He had learnt of money and what money could buy. Every month he would go
and buy books by the dozens and when money would run out he would search for
books in the alleyways of the city, always believing that he had made a
bargain.
The day he left the country, he had
a suitcase of clothes and two book cases full of books. The day he came back,
he still had the same suitcase full of the same clothes and a whole new set of
books.
And that’s when he realized the
world had changed. Books no longer were in vogue. What mattered was what you
wore. It was like school all over again with shiny new toys being the talk of
the day and not the dusty old books from the library. He passed every Strand Sale
reminding himself to “wear the old coat but buy the new book!” But it became
harder. For now, in the changed world, clothes had begun to make the man!
