Dedicated to all book lovers..

As I return from another trip to the bookstore, I wonder why I turned out to be such a bookworm. My friend has visited me from another city and my roommate asks me all excited, “where are you guys going?” And, I reply, even more thrilled, “to buy books!” She looks at me a little puzzled and starts laughing. Welcome to my world. Where most can’t imagine spending a day in a bookstore, looking at covers, shuffling through its pages, smelling the antique books, trying to hold as many books as possible in your arms, looking at the book’s Goodreads ratings to finally settle on enough books that’ll satisfy your heart, just making to your budget limitations and enough to be able to carry home, with a broken back if it may be so. But those few who can, you will completely agree with wobbling heads.  

Okay, imagine this. Your friend promises you a treat. What would you ask for? A grand lunch/ dinner party or a movie? Well, if so, you are in the majority. I’m in that minority (as per my experience) who can ask for a book instead (not that I don’t enjoy a good meal or movie). A lunch costs the same, if not more, these days and lasts for a few hours but a book keeps you on my good side for a really long time. How many people get books in their sister’s wedding as Shagun from the sister’s in-laws? (I loved that idea of theirs; it makes it so much personal; like they are giving it because they wanted to, not because of some rule). I read books in my pyjamas, with a coffee mug in one hand, cosy in my bed – falling in love along with the characters, plotting all their schemes with them, facing their experiences with them, feeling their emotions, laughing through the oops moments, crying through the sadness – my brain cells actively devouring the lines.

Let me describe this: I have a huge cupboard filled with books in my room. I hope to one day turn that cupboard into a library, filled with dear characters, lovable stories and beautiful memories. Some books are so close to me, though I have already finished reading them, I can’t imagine letting them go. I panic when I think of such a situation. I freak out when I think of moving somewhere. It’ll cost me all my energy and money to shift all my books. (This is exactly why I take some books every time I go home). In IIT, every year when students graduate, there is a courier service that offers discounts to send your belongings to your home town. Take a wild guess, what did I use it for? Well, it wouldn’t be in this article if it wasn’t for books. I couriered 20 KGs of books from IIT and left the rest in IIT so that I can carry them with me (easily another 20 KGs).

I’m also glad to say I have always managed to find friends wherever I went who loved books as much as I did. Some of the best conversations have been about books, the ones you loved, the ones you hated, the character you fell in love with, the fictional one you wish you could marry, and so on. The first thing that pulls me like a magnet in anybody’s house are their bookshelves. I may cut you off midsentence and wander to a nearby bookshelf to see what books you read. Let me tell you this, random people can become very good friends with this common factor – their mutual love for reading. Hours seem to pass by, while you discuss your favourite author’s latest book or the book that released just now that has everyone raving.

These days, you don’t even have to go to a library to read. No longer do you have to borrow from a friend or look for a nearby bookstore and hope it has the book you wanted. You can buy and download to your Kindle device without moving an inch. We can get the reviews and even post our own reviews on sites such as Goodreads to help other like-minded people. We can order a book online on all major e-commerce sites, such as Amazon or Flipkart. You can even pre-order a book. You are in-the-know long before the book releases. You can tweet your appreciation for a book directly to the author and if you are lucky enough, you even get a reply from your favourite author acknowledging the same. (I have been lucky in this aspect quite a few times; oh that feeling is equivalent to being on cloud 9).  

Okay, am blabbering now. So, getting back to my original question. What made me a bookworm? Many say, upbringing, schooling, parents, and so on. But I can’t do anything but disagree on that a little though not entirely. Yes, my Dad reads with the same zeal, my school encouraged reading (we had a library period as part of our curriculum where we had to borrow books), but my sister who has the same background, and the same schooling, somehow is poles apart on this one (I have wonderful conversations with her on other things, though).

So, how?

Well, I think that many a factor have come together to produce a synergy that I seem to have no control over. But I love it, whatsoever might be the reason. These energies took over me and drowned me in castles made of books, pages filled with magic, dear characters though faceless, pulling me up just long enough to breathe a normal life with people, work, music and movies.

Hurray! Here’s to more reading! Cheers!