I recently made a couple of visits to a bookstore on FC road. Situated in a basement, the bookstore-vale-kaka, and the stacked pile of books, reaching up to the ceiling of every edge and corner of the room have a different vibe. I had seen people posting photos and had already listed this place as my go to destination post boards. So, it was a coincidence that I, along with my two very enthu cutlet friends went in search of this “basement mein chipi hui kitabon ki dunia” (the stores name is book world) and God did it meet my expectations! Be it second hand or newly arrived books, the
bookstore kaka has read them all. He gives you suggestions based on your favourite author, the book you have selected and your reading frequency.
My friends and I began sifting through the pages, and stacking seven to eight books based on their content and their overall aesthetic. After hours (which was minutes) the time came to narrow down this jenga of books to a book or two. Let me tell you, this is a really difficult task and sometimes people end up buying none. I was the people that day. I remember telling one of my friends, aga mazhya calling cha pustak ch sapadat nahiye ga. The books were not appealing enough.
So was it the case that the book store didn’t have many books? No. Was it the case that I didn’t have enough money, well somewhat yes (but I did have my friends). The only thing which was not in place was my energy. By pulling an all-nighter the day before and not having slept for thirty-six hours, had dwindled my energy and my super ability to choose the right books and leave the rest in the camera section of my gallery was not working. My friend ended up buying a book or two but I guess it was not in my day’s contents to fill the missing gaps on my bookshelf 🙂
It need not be the case that you have the seize the day attitude daily! There are gonna be days when you feel like you are just existing rather than just living your way through the day. I would rather say, embrace this feeling as well. But instead of pondering and obsessing over it, try and acknowledge the feeling instead of neglecting the same. It does wonders when you accept your negatives with the same grace that you accept your positives. The day after is going to be super fun coz. Nothing is temporary and change is the only constant! (Thoda philosophical ho gaya na?)
Anyways, as I was saying…
I have been to that bookstore at least three times since and trust me every time since then I have bought two books out of the sheer indecisiveness and the fear that I would miss out on an important book or perhaps and important author or a genre waiting to be discovered. And every time along with the fact that my friends also took books along with me, I struggle to settle for the right books.
And when all the books are equally interesting (content wise) I go for their covers even when I know that we should not judge a book by its cover. But taking it by a literal sense, we have to Karan eka veles 7-8 books nahi gheta yet:)
