“I
didn't go to bookshops to buy. That's a little bourgeois. I went because they
were civilized places. It made me happy there were people who sat down and
wrote and wrote and wrote and there were other people who devoted their lives
to making those words into books. It was lovely. Like standing in the middle of
civilization.”
― Jerry Pinto, Em and The Big Hoom
A quaint little
bookstore, shelves stacked with a diverse range of books, the musty aroma of
the wooden lofts, and more books scaling till the roof. Paradise!
Surely, the storekeeper
was old, but he seemed to remember the names of the writers on his fingertips.
He was well versed
with what they wrote, and the ones that were good.
Conversations with
him were lucid, but strangely unusual. He spoke from the experience that came
along with the company of books and words. An experience any reader would lust
for!
Again, I felt like a
child. I knew this is exactly how I felt when I stepped into a library for the
first time ever.
Don't you feel like
an entirely different person altogether when you are in a bookstore? Or for
that matter, a library?
And let us not
forget those nostalgic second hand bookstores where you find books with dry
leaves and roses, feathers, notes written by a mother to her son etc.
After buying a bunch
of books and comics from the bookstore, my mother and I, we went home in glee.
I believe we cannot buy this glee on Amazon or Flipkart.
The whole emotion of
touching the books, reading their summary, and purchasing one right away with
the anticipation of unleashing its mystery after you go home is absolutely lost
each time you purchase a book online.
No, I am serious. I
have got nothing against the online stores. I practically live on Amazon.
However, let us
consider this scenario too. We go to a bookstore on a whim. (Yes, these days
buying books from an online store or going to a library has mostly turned into
a whim for 90% of us.) We walk from one shelf to another; we touch one book to
another waiting to find that one book that would turn into our favourite for
the next 5 years.
We look for that one
book that will end up being a major part of our memories.
In this process, we
also reunite with books that have made our childhoods lovely. We do not go home
with one book, but with three more books that the librarian or the storekeeper
suggests us.
We fall in love with
more writers and their words accidentally.
We explore. We
discover.
******
Come 2020, I am not
sure if people will still visit libraries and bookstores. Utterly sad, I know.
But I don't know. We are so dependent on the Internet. To top it all, rumours
like "No bright future for libraries
and print versions of books" because of tablets and ereaders is even
depressing.
As a child, I still
remember going to a library every evening with my mother. It was a ritual she
never missed. And I made sure I was a part of it. Even today, my mother purchases
books from the local stores instead of relying on the online stores. So does my
father. Taking the cue from them, I have firmly decided that I would
purchase books from bookstores only.
I am quite obstinate
about it.
Let me tell you
this. Libraries and bookstores are magical. You will never know what stories
they hold high up their chest unless you visit them. Walk up to your closest
bookstore or library, and fall in love with a world that will cast a spell on
you forever.
We cannot let
libraries and bookstores go extinct only because we refuse to visit them.
As long as human
race exists, stories and storytellers will thrive. While we are at it, we might
as well give our next generation of individuals a fine experience of being in a
library than learn about them on their iPad.
