AN EXTENDED conversation with those 5-6 young men and women -- appearing for national-level civil services examinations -- was a truly uplifting experience. None of them was sure if he/she would really crack the prestigious exam. But each of them was sure that those preparations, those months of hard work, would stand them in good stead in meeting life’s challenges. And in those preparations, book -- physical book on paper -- was a critical component. “Books made us whatever we are”, all of them said in unison. There could be nothing more heartening than to hear that comforting assertion. Of course, everybody knows the importance of books. In every academic programme, the importance of books is highlighted time and again. And to be sure, most great personalities who have achieved high personal success also do not miss the chance of reading books as an intellectual and spiritual pursuit. Despite all this, books’ popularity is on the wane -- as many of you would insist upon. Book-sellers complain of declining popularity of books, and academics would also join them stating that.

 

Yet, the loud-thinker also knows literally hundreds of people personally with a keen connect with physical book-on-paper. These are the people engaged in different pursuits of life, making a living with different capabilities. Many of them are people with no academic interests as part of their career-paths. Yet, they keep reading books all along. They keep purchasing books whenever it is possible for them to do so. Many of them buy books whose money-value is far beyond the normal reach of common people. Yet, this community of people -- across the world -- is often engaged with books in a fascinating manner. Each of these people has a deep and inseparable connect with books. Each reads book with unique approach to reading, and each of them insists that minus books, his/her life would have been a “Zero”. The loud-thinker, too, shares a similar feeling and experience spanning all the living years. It is not possible to imagine life without no books - new and old.

 

Each book that comes into the house gets a welcome only dear and close friends happen to get. There is an eagerness to open the book and sit down with it in a chosen corner with legs stretched and head drooping over the pages. When the new book comes into the house, one keeps thinking of that moment when the book is held in the hands and the pages are opening -- beyond covers. When there is still time to get immersed into the book’s pages, there is a quiet unease in the mind, an invisible quiver of anxiety, a slight displeasure, too, with oneself. The moment, one settles down with a book, all anxieties just vanish. There is a quiet pleasure that descends on the room and the world appears to be a happy place. This is how one gets transported into a world of one’s own -- thanks to the book.