An Evening with Booksters
Today I had the pleasant privilege of visiting a cousin of ours, in Tambaram.
After she gave me my customary ‘default’ magic potion – my cuppa coffee – she and her hubby then proceeded to open up their delightful stack of books arrayed neatly in an equally enthralling book cabinet that’s been designed exclusively for the purpose!
I was really in awe of such a huge collection of books, that Sampath and Anisea were giving me a delightful peek into!
The last past time I had such a lovely darshan of delightful books stacked up so beautifully was at Lakshmi & Abdul’s house in Trichy – and that must have been two years ago, I guess!
Anisea then showed us her favourite Cinderella book that she had won as a prize way back in the year 1992 as a kid in school! Sampath has also preserved his school books – especially the ones he’d won in competitions!
Even while I was dazing and gazing away at these cartload of books, Sampath pulled up one particular book, and asked me, if I had read the book!
When I said, ‘No’, then - with all excitement on him - Sampath proceeded to open up the book, and flipping through the pages his eyes rested on a particular page, and then, pointing to a quote, he said, ‘Rufus, just read this na!’
I took the book in my hands, as gently as he had held it, and reclining regally on the settee, I then proceeded to read the lines!
After reading the lines, I looked up towards Anisea and Sampath, and said,
‘Sampath and Anisea, my eyes are real moist. Words really fail me. Such awesome lines these are. Shall I take a snapshot of it for my status update?’ I asked him.
He said, ‘You may gladly take the book with you, Rufus!’
Felt so happy dear reader!
But wait-o-wait!
Let me give you a glimpse into that particular awe-inspiring quote, dear reader –
Take some time to reflect on it please!
Here goes the snapshot –
Then we had a discussion on how the reading habit has quite dwindled over the years in today’s Gen Z kids!
Sampath said, ‘My grandpa was an avid reader. He used to have a five-foot pile of Reader’s Digest stacked up in his room, which was a real feast for all of us!’
When asked how he got into the habit of reading books, he said, ‘As kids, none of our families – including our cousins’ families – had Television sets in our homes. So eventually we used to retreat into the world of books for hours and hours together. There were days when I had read even 300 pages a day, and felt like I wanted to read even more!’
‘But today’s kids do not have the patience to read books. Even while watching something on YouTube, they pace through the video as quickly as possible, for want of some added patience on them’, he remarked.
He seems to be a great fan of C. S. Lewis, and added that, reading C. S. Lewis requires a lot of patience. It was added delight to see him sport the huge Chronicles of Narnia in his book stack!
By the way, Anisea and Sampath ain’t any way into literature, dear reader!
They are into medicine, and products of Christian Medical College, Vellore!
May your tribe increase, Anisea & Sampath!
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