WE FIND OURSELVES IN BOOKS

“We lose ourselves in books.

We find ourselves in books.”

-         Anonymous

One of the most delightful sights, for me, is watching little children sitting in one corner, of a book store, and reading some books. The child in me, instantly, comes alive and yearns to join them!

Taking your favourite book and sitting in your own corner, in your own way and just get soaked in it, get transported to another land… Wow! What an empowering feeling… What a liberating one!

On this Independence Day, our son booked for me and my wife tickets for the movie, ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’. I am very fond of the lead cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pritt and even Al Pacino. Son gave us a brief about the passionate director Quentin Tarantino. (Remember ‘Reservoir Dogs’ and ‘Pulp Fiction’?)  “He only wants to make 10 movies in his career… This one is his ninth,” son said, “You will certainly love the movie.”

Did we?

Well, yes, we did. But, I being so used to the linear story-telling, had some difficulty connecting all the threads. But, yes, it was a good movie.

But, you may laugh at my ignorance and innocence when I say this to you: Of all the scenes in the movie, the scene I loved the most was, watching 10-year-old Julia Butters with a large-sized book and reading in a quiet space in between her shoots… Sitting on a high chair, placing her feet on a barrel (A Western movie setting)… she is immersed in the book till Leonardo comes with his book in hand and asks her if it’s okay to settle next to her and read.

Once upon a time, actors and actresses, in between their shoots, sat in  quiet corners and read their favourite books! Well, I said to myself this: “Once upon a time, people read books!”

Do you read books?

Do your children read books?

Do you know why bookstores are shutting down?

Do you know how it feels when you have a book next to your pillow?

Do you know where your mind travels as you keep reading a few pages, whether as you go to sleep or whether as you travel in a train, plane or bus?

Do you know how the pages of a book smell?

“These days, children don’t read,” this is the routine complaint from the parents. I ask them, “Do you read these days?”

If yes, then, there is a greater possibility of your children taking a book to read… They still learn by example, you see!

Tomorrow will be Sudha Murty’s 69^th birthday. A week ago, my wife and I went to pick some books at the Landmark book store in a mall. Sad to see this: the book section hardly occupied about ten percent of the store in that mall! Yet, it was heart-warming to watch some little ones, young ones and elderly sitting in quiet corners and reading. I picked two books that day: Sudha Murty’s ‘Here, There and Everywhere’. And Jawaharlal Nehru’s “Letters from a Father to his Daughter’.

Indira Gandhi was around eight or nine years of age when her father penned those letters from the jail…The year was 1929!


Once upon a time!

Why some of us read and why some of us don’t – yes, it’s still a mystery to me!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pics.:1.  www.shutterstock.com 2. people.com