THE PARADISE WILL BE A KIND OF LIBRARY
“I have always
imagined,
that Paradise will
be a kind of library.”
Jorge Luis Borges
On
last Sunday, my friend (once, my dear student) Shankar and his wife Swetha had
invited some of us to their house located in a plush society. They have two
beautiful, talented daughters – Anvesha, 13 and Avyakta, 9. I had carried two
books – a novel for Anvesha, another book of Japanese Folktales for little Avyakta. While
the novel was a new one, the book of Japanese Folktales was an old one which I
had at home for quite some time.
Did I hesitate before
gifting this book to the little girl?
Not at all...
It’s what the
book contained inside, and not how new or how nicely it’s packaged – yes, I firmly
believed in this. The little girl, I am sure, will appreciate the amazing
folktales from the land of Japan... and, once she is done with it, I am sure, she
will pass on the book to another deserving kid...
Books are meant
to be circulated...
While we were at
Shankar’s place, he proudly took us inside his study... and, how I loved that
little room more than any other corner of his large house! I remembered what
Neil Gaiman said:
“I lived in books more than
I lived anywhere else.”
There is a stark
difference between ‘living with books’ and ‘living in books’, I hope you have
noticed, that difference.
I
have been regularly sending to my friends, all over the country, some of our
own publications. Of course, with no strings attached... only hoping, that
those books would be read by someone, somewhere, sometime. It doesn’t sound
like a good business; but, I know, it, definitely, sounds like a good
thought...
So, I choose to
plant the thought, and leave it at that... What goes around comes around,
right?
So, a few weeks
ago, I had sent some of our books to my friend Girish, who I was connecting
after a very long time. And books are the best way to connect with, I thought.
Girish, being a great booklover, was extremely delighted. Last afternoon, he
sent through his driver these books for me:
I checked with Girish’s
driver about his (driver’s) children. He had two teenaged children, and I,
immediately, packed two of our books for these kids. “Encourage your kids to
read these books,” I said, “They will find these books very useful.”
Girish’s driver was
so happy and thankful!
Who knows who is
destined to read those books... Just as they say, ‘Daane daane pe likha hai
khane wale ka naam.”
Can we relate?
I
look back at my struggling days in this city, some 45 years ago... I was
jobless and hungry; but, I was constantly dreaming and searching - how to find
my way in this vast, new city I had arrived in. It was during these days, I had
found, on the streets near the Churchgate station, an old, torn copy of Napoleon Hill’s classic –
‘Think and Grow Rich’. I paid some ten rupees for this book; but, on the front cover
of this book was written: ‘This book could be worth a million dollars for you’...
Trust me, it’s
was much more than that!
Think of this
mystery: Napoleon Hill had published this book in 1937, and he died in America
in 1970. And, years later, here on the streets of this faraway land in India, I
was picking up an overused copy of his book and letting it cause a revolution
in my life!
Daane daane pe
likha hai ji, khane wale ka naam!
Books are like grains
... They do reach, somehow, the deserving hands!
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic. 1. Pixabay
Video: TEDx Talks
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