BOOKS AND ME - PART 1

The word ‘BOOK’ spells magic in me.It was,is and will be the life line that links me to my outside and inside or in short music to my soul. The sensual rustling of the pages or the intimate smell of the new paperback or the haunting scent of the old worn out second hand books with its wornout edges,the deadly silence of the library with the wooden shelves,the bold titles captivating the eyes,the scenic pavements of the metros scattered with new and faded second hands sends a shot of adrenaline in me catapulting to another world where only’ Words’ rule,and I cry,laugh,contemplate,sympathise,empathise
despise or adore the characters,I relate more to them than in the real life.They claim it’s a hobby but for me it’s celebrating life.
This blog is dedicated to those who introduced ,sustained and elevated me to a different level and my hats off to them.My journey started when I was 3 to5 when meena chithy opened my mind to the world of stories or so called tales right from the hindu epics Ramayana and mahabharatha,indeed she is a born master in the art of story telling.Each scene and every character will take a 3d figure and dissolve in you.The one which captivated me most in those primitive years was the ‘Count Of Monte Cristoe- I just fell for Edwin Dantes,he was my hero.Rama and Krishna came a tad late. I still remember her with the exploits of Athos Pothos Aramis and D’artegnan in the Three Musketteers or cried on hearing the Tale Of Two Cities and shivered in my sleep after her narration of Horror Of Dracula.
My appa used to bring me presents of the tamil monthly Ambulimama from his shopping trips and he was the first to incite me to the written word and Vikramadithya,Thenali raman,Birbal and the heros of the epics drew their magic in me.It didn’t took too long to dive in to the Epics proper,Chakravarthy thirumaghan[Ramayana],Vyasar Virunthu[mahabharatha] both by Rajaji[c.rajagopalachari,the first governor general].The original Valmiki Ramayana,a treasure of my appa,succumbed to my craze.. There was an attic in my grandfathers bedroom full of old hardbound tamil novels that attracted the 7 year old’s curiosity and since climbing up and down was tedious I used to lay down there itself surrounded by books all around and attacked them like termites.the most remembrable? of the lot was Ponniyinselvan,Thillanamohanambal,Chithirapaavai,Thuppariyum sambu,sankarlal,washingtonil thirumanam etc etc.i never read any comics or cartoons and only lanuage that I knew was tamil and a little bit of Malayalam
From 5th standard onwards I started learning the queens language and chithy and appa waved me off to other frontiers. Now the abridged version pulled me to English literature and the usual Alice in wonderland,Robinson cruso,Shakesperian dramas,the works of Alexander dumas and charles dickens,the Arabian nights,the knights around King Arthur,Around the world in 80 days,Lorna doon, Silas marner,Adam bede,the Black beauty etc etc ruled the roast.The trap was set.The first real break was Sherlock Holmes and till today he remains one of my favourites . The next on course was another of my favourites Perrymason series with his secretary Della street,his detective Paul Drake,the police lieutenant lt.Tragg and attorney general Hamilton berger. I nearly read 20 to 30 novels from Raju mamas collection.As all of you can surmise the next step was James Hadley chase and I chased all his trash in my tenth standard..Agatha Christie with her bald headed Poirot and the old Miss Marple cannot be just ignored,but Mouse trap remains my favourite.. Now the college library at Maharajas college ernakulam was my next stop and the James bond series and Arthur maclean series of naval warfare-the Guns of Navarrone,
Hms Ulisses, Fear is the Key,Ice Station Zebra,the Bear Island,Caravan to Vaccaris,Force 10 from Navarone,Where the Eagles Dare were easy prey.By this time I could read My experiments with Truth by BAPPUCHI, Discovery of India by chachaji.,4 minutes a mile by Roger Bannister[nondetail in predegree.] Uncle Toms Cabin, and the last Will of nehruji,fine English!
Now I had to shift to Kottayam for my medical graduation and had begun the next level of fast fiction Arthur hailey who first introduced research in fiction and I was fascinated by his works like Airport, Hotel,Wheels, In High places,The Final Diagnosis,Strong medicine,Runway 08,Overload,Evening News of which I liked final diagnosis and airport. By this time Harold Robbins had become a hit and I turned to Carpet Baggers,No Stone For Dannyfischer, Never Love A Stranger. Dream Merchants, 79 Park Avenue. Betsy,Pirates for a tad of sex. The Frederich forsythe’s Day of the jackal is history and I continued him with Odessa file ,Dogs of war and Negotiator. Robert Ludlum could not be ignored and the spy saga continued with Borne Series, Gemini contenders,Ostermann week end,Matarese cicle Chancellor Manuscript.For godsake,I never purchased any of these books, the friends were great.
The entry of Pg.Woodhouse was accidental but I became a great fan of Jeeves the butler and his satire of the English lords. The stint at kottayam was followed by my translocation to calicut for my p.g.studies and those 2 yrs was my golden period, courtesy a classic librarian who introduced me to real reading and I owe a thousand thanks to him. It was a lending library with not much clients and when he asked me what books I read,I boasted of Arthur hailey Ludlum etc,he smiled ‘ choose what you like from the new and old collections and always noted what I took.I started with Leon Uris-Exodus,Mylai18, the Trinity etc and switched to Irwing Wallace-the Word the Man ,Prize Qb7 and on to Larry Collins and Lapierre series,all of them impressed me a lot-the Freedom at Midnight,Is Paris Burning,Oh Jerusalem,City of Joy
.the librarian intervened and suggested ‘why don’t you take up some serious stuff’.he pointed to a small book of 100 pages titled THE STRANGER,’please try this one,I won’t interfere anymore’ and smiled cunningly and I took the bait which was my downfall to the glory of the hell,the author was one Mr.Camus. To be frank towards the end of 4th yr at kottayam I had taken up grass and hooch seriously and this trait grew to magical proportion at calicut and Camus book with grass in my circulation elevated me to unwanted heights and book reading later was adding a different dimension to my life altogether.The Nausea and Plague followed and I became an antisocial animal atlast.Then I sought the librarian,s help and he suggested Sartre and Sigmond de Bouvre, ‘EXISTENCIALISM, became my mantra. It was one of those murky monsoon days of Malabar and the librarian asked me whether I liked short stories and promptly I said a vehement ‘no’ ‘.Doctor’ he cajoled me ‘ you will never like his style but you ought to give it a try,I won’t charge you if you don’t finish it’ and gave me ‘ the Metamorphosis and Other stories. I can never forget that night. It was history and KAFKA became my mentor,torturer,tormentor,destroyer,my ‘ alter ego ‘and what not. I don’t go deep in to his words or his philosophy but got lost in his mind. I wanted to learn German,that was all.