A long and lovely journey

Dear friends, I am down with a bad cold and fever. Sulking in bed I was, when Amit called to ask for a good book or two he could buy for leisure time reading. I hope he enjoys his Alchemist and Bro Code…:) Suggesting books to him brought memories of how I got started with reading. Someday I will list down all the books that I have read and the ones that still need to be bucketed. The list is long and I hope it keeps growing.

Reading has always brought me eternal joy. Even as a kid, I think I preferred books to anything else. I started reading novels when I joined Convent of Jesus and Mary, (CJM) Dehradun.  It’s a girls’ college with an amazing library among other things. They used to stock up everything from teen magazines to encyclopedias in that two hall library.

My Dad had been transferred to a new city and I had aced the entrance tests to get an admission at CJM.  It is one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in Dehradum. It still holds, to this date, an excellent academic record. I remember the first day I walked into the library. It was towards the end of my first day at this new school. As I stepped into the double doors, there was a clerk’s desk on one side of the door and the librarian’s desk and card case towards the other side of the door. I was a little ill at ease at first. Felt a little lost amongst so many books and children of so many different age groups. Some girls giggling together in a group in one corner looked younger to me, others reading quietly at the table could have been from senior year. Librarian was in an animated discussion with one of the senior gals when she saw my confusion and assisted me with what I was looking for.

As you know, it was my fist day at the new school and as I had joined the term late, was running behind with many assignments. I remember I had to finish assignments in English, History and Geography and there was this library rule of issuing only 3 or 5 books on one card (don't remember the exact number). But I told the librarian my plight and she lent me 9 books.

This was the start of a fascinating journey, yes, right then, on the very first day of school. The librarian, Mrs. Gupta was a lady of few words but good natured, always encouraged reading and often suggested authors and good books. An avid reader herself, she even used to review the books herself along with some help from senior class and distribute them according to her judgment amongst the various grades.  I soon became at home at the library and librarian and I soon became good friends. By the time I finished 9th grade, I was already reviewing the books she gave me and suggesting more.

I felt at home at the library and amazed at seeing so many books, amazed that there was so much that these books contained between their covers, so much knowledge, so many insights.  My school library was a well lit hall lined with wooden cupboards with glass door on all sides of the room. Then there were open multi-shelf racks covering almost half the room, arranged in parallel rows, towards the back of the room, laden with books. The side shelves on one said of the room contained books related to course curriculum. There were books on history, geography, computer science, physics, chemistry, biology, economics, etc.  Shelves on the other side had various encyclopedia series, autobiographies and famous nonfiction, books on religion, photography, painting, cooking, knitting and many other hobbies. The open racks that I mentioned earlier, were arranged four in a line, in around eight rows. Each row had novels and story books for a particular class/grade. I think it was from standards 5th to 12th. And you could get novels and story books issued, only from the racks assigned to you.  Apart from this there were several book and magazine stands towards the front end of the room. These had various magazines, newspapers, newsletters and Chicken Soup for Souls’.

There were around 5 or 6 long wooden tables laid out in a T sort of arrangement, from the center of the room to the back end. It was a very comfortable setting for reading/ studying.  After I had been at CJM for a couple of months I realized that in addition to this hall, the library also contained a small copy room and a store room. It was much later when the library was expanded. I was in 11th standard when a second hall was assigned to the library, much to the delight of the librarian.  This new hall too soon filled with book shelves lining the walls and huge benches and tables in the center for reading.

Thus began my reading journey. I traveled the world and though various ages while sitting in that room. One day I was travelling from New York to London to Paris in with a deadly assassin in pursuit as Sidney Sheldon led me on in one of his books.  Another day, I was lost in ancient roman, trying to imagine the age of Jupiter, Venus and Minerva. One day I was growing up and surviving in Poland during the war with Russia with Abel Rosnovski. Another day I was on a ship, exploring mystic seas.  I was an English governess falling in love with her master one day and an American heiress, resolving to do anything to never go hungry the other day. I was a doctor one day with Robin Cook leading the mystery as it unfolds. Another day, I was a struggling to run a hotel with Arthur Hailey. I traveled in time, transverse this earth, walked through a desert, went to space, spent time with Gods, lived in a Malibu Mansion and a French Château.  I lived a thousand lives in that dear library of mine. Dear friends and reader, I wish you can relive some of those moments with me by reading this nostalgic discourse.

After school, I moved to college, again in a new city. The library here too was rich, but mostly in curriculum related books. I graduated in Science and during those three years spent ample time in the Science Department Library and the Central University Library. It was in college when I got introduced to the world of classics. My uncle had a personal library full of Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, Wilkie Collins, Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë,  Robert Louis Stevenson, Daphne du Maurier and others.  I developed a taste and appreciation for classics here. This love has stayed with me and every now and then I read an unabridged classic and relish its many joys.

Later I went to a different colleges to peruse higher studies. In this journey encompassing different cities and different collages, with an increase in the regular course load at every level, the reading dropped a little. But even at Law school with all its course work, I always found time to read. IIT life also introduced me to the world of TV series and movies, but I’ll talk about that some other time.  Now a days, I read a mixture of contemporary writers and old ‘n’ famous ones. I read on diverse topics like life, philosophy, entrepreneurship, leadership, relationships, strategy, office politics :), romance :) :) , classics, and suspense thrillers :) :) :) . I do realize that work comes before hobbies and try to keep it that way. But, some days I can’t help myself and just sit for hours at a stretch to finish a book that I like.  Reading is like living and breathing to me.  It makes me get more out of life somehow.  I can live in the shoes of a doctor, an explorer, a business man and a teacher, all in this single lifetime. Books help me understand courage, leadership, friendship and life itself. Reading helps me discover myself.  And just like the first day at the CJM library, I still feel amazed at the world hidden inside books; so much knowledge, so much wisdom and so much to learn (and so much General Knowledge irrespective of what you read!!!)

So, this was my journey with books. I have several favorites in authors and books. I will write about them in a later post. How do you feel about reading? Who are your favorite authors? What are your favorite books? Do you like books better than movies?

Tell me all about your journey with book and what you feel about mine. Share in the comments section below or write to me at deeptiamitsrivastava@gmail.com