1/20/10

oh the guilt

smell.what do you like to smell? fresh coffee beans? filter kaapi? chocolate?strawberry? rathna cafe sambhar? dead frog?

or maybe freshly mowed grass?? manvaasanai?(first drop of rain on a dry dusty sand land..)..old books?? new book?? maybe books are the only thing that smell good-old or new..

as a kid i used to read decently.even before the potter movie and mania came to be,i was reading them.tinkle,champak and a bit of rd were regular reads.and every amar chitra katha that came out.and can i nominate uncle pai for nobel prize for lit..anyways i progressed to archer,sheldon and all during 9th , 10th stndrd and all.better authors followed.and then i made a mistake maybe.i asked my appa for a book suggestion.for the next half year i sat with that book,dint understand it and lost interest with reading.then i started too many movies.metal.

and this time i was coming home for pongal. the raipur temperature being 8 degree(thats like -2343432 when youre from chennai)..i get up 20 mins before train departure time.going in a bike at 40 kmph speed felt like ice diving.numb.train late by 5 hours.problem is i had my connecting train in 5 hours.thankfully that train to chennai was late by justu 13 hours.so as it has become the norm these days i was struck in nagpur yet again.for about six hours.thankfully room mate for company.we hit the usual civil lines,haldirams chat ,more food.with nothing else to do we decided to go crossword for dvds.the next three hours were pleasureably spent browsing book.ah the smell.new books.the whole joy came back.

damn i have wasted the last four years without proper reading.i have never read all this high level books.that try to tell you how to live.philosophy.or of stories that try to tell you something all the time.i like simple stories.which are just told.so yesterday i went to spencers and without eating at all(athisayam) i went landmark and browsed through. decided i going to try out new indian writers.debut ones.and i picked up "madras on rainy days" by samina ali.then one more . searched for chennai based stories.dint get that many.there was this one-no onion,no garlic.but i dint have enough money.and somehow the spencers landmark doesnt have enough books.so today i went to the nugambakkam exclusive one.nice four hours.bah i have missed all this for four years.

one more book-cloud nine minus one,is also added on my shortlist.i will buy them both tomorrow .hopefully.and i am confused by this whole feminism thing.so i am looking for such books.by female authors.indian ones.in my opinion only a male author can fashion a really strong female character.

and tanja tzarvosk.whatey talent. and too many people seem to be going gaga over the jaipur festival.let me see what happens.i guess those festivals are not just meant for people like me.so i want to attend it.hopefully next year.could have gone this year.but financial crunch.and susheela raman is performing there it seems.i like her a lot.hopefully next year i get to attend. it would like a nude pauper going to the city of gold.just to see how much gold those people actually have.

and a small suggestion-just dont start indian philosophical books during your 11th.and dont try to learn sanskrit just before your boards so that you could understand the verses in the book.you will never understand the book.and you will flunk your 12th.

free

ps-hate e books.dont care about trees or abhishak bachan shaped ents.i love paperbacks.lying down and reading-thani sugam..

10 comments:

nishi said...

even i love the smell of books... its kinda intoxicating. one of the things i miss about pune is the times in the BCL, n the random bookhunting sprees.. tho goa claims to hava a high literacy rate, bookstores n libraries are a rare sight! (people actually call think a bookstore is nt difft frm a stationery shop)

Naarya said...

long time since i came here. need to catch up.
me also guilty of same crime. somehow when i was in blore or chennai i was reading good number of books...during the bus journey to work. but here in US i dont read at all.. i feel bad everytime i see the "currently reading" section in anybody's blog or when ppl put reviews.
nice to see another e-book hater.
and do tell us how the books were. might just get my ass up to catch up.

Insignia said...

I dont ever read books online...I love to feel the pages, the smell of them...mark any new words and all that...

Just picked up a couple of books yesterday :-) Start reading...not too late

Mystique said...

Ebooks should DIE.


Go to Landmark...Sit, browse. Read. Enjoy.

Srishti said...

I like to smell everything! New clothes, books, the rain smell (mmm), fog smell, the smell of pine tree, car fresheners and hair of little babies :D
You think 8 degree is cold? Come in Delhi and THEN you'll know. Its freezing here :(
And hey, if you wanna read some Indian female authors, you HAVE to check out The Zoya Factor by Anuja Chauhan. Her writing style is SO refreshing. And you could try Almost Single, though I didn't like that much.
And Piece of Cake. But these are primarily girly, chick-lits so I don't know if you'd like them much.
I wanted to go to the Jaipur Lit. Fest but couldn't. :(
E-Books SUCK. Kindle SUCKS.
The feeling you get when you turn the crisp pages of a book, you can never get it on the Kindle.

Soin said...

@nishi..whatever maybe the case. goa..you just cant complain..anyways literacy is different nah.free

@naarya..welcome back.when done will put a line about the books..free

@insignia..for subjects if i cant find ppt have to go e book..coz booksu kudathu kaasu saptruven..if you come acriss good inidan book put it up in your blog..free

@mystique..but they have no soul.and no body.free

@srishti.. i studied in delhi.so i know.and going out in a bike without protection at 8 is really cold.try it.thanks for all the reco.when the purse is heacy and the change is low i would get them..free

HaRy!! said...

antha guilty peeling enkum iruku bro... ooo antha natkal i used to luv the scent of books infact:)!!padi padi...namaku yena thatha vayasa aachi :D

Soin said...

bah yenakum vayasu agara feeling saar..free

Vishnu said...

enakku sambamdamae illadha topic..
i'll rather die without the e-books for engineering..

Soin said...

leave engg da.but story books itself we not reading..free