Amidst books!

A book is a gift you can open again and again ~ Garrison Keiller

Being surrounded by books is one of those dreams I never want to wake up from. Libraries are as revered as places of worship to book-lovers (me included). When I was a kid, I remember frequenting 2-3 libraries with my mom. We always found something in every one of them. The first thing I did once I moved continents was get myself a library membership. Even before finding a house. Got two in fact in quick succession. Immediately after that, I inquired whether they needed volunteers (as I haven't started working full-time again). Turns out one of them did! I have been enjoying the last month in one of the best libraries I have ever seen. I am not a librarian. Maybe a pseudo-lib.This library doesn't even have a librarian and never ever did either. Yet they have books by the truckloads. It is an institute and apart from the library, even classrooms have shelves lined with books. Only the books in the library are cataloged. Here is where I enter the picture. I am supposed to catalog the rest (first in the computer), then affix the books with their tags and stamp the institute's seal. Later I put them where they belong in the library. It is not the most challenging of jobs I have done till date. But this library receives donations (books I mean) by the crate. I could really do this full-time and still be busy for a whole year. I am always tempted to request them to pay me a wage in the form of 25 books per month or maybe, 50 if I do an excellent job. I really love opening a book, reading through the summary before I decide which category it belongs to and then mentally making a note to myself in case it sounds like a must-read. Sometimes I read more what is required of course. Another fun part is I get to decide an approximate cost of the book. This is because most of these books are old and used so they are not always as expensive as a new edition. However if members borrow the books and fail to return them / lose them, they are required to reimburse the cost decided by yours truly. Ha! It totally thrills me and at times when I am soft-hearted, I go easy on the amount.

 

I also meet a lot of interesting people and everyone wants to know 'fun trivia' about India. I tell you, I need to seriously start making up stuff henceforth. Tell them there is a traffic jam from Bangalore to Mumbai these days maybe. One student I met asked me about Yoga and Ayurvedic medicine. Reason being she wanted to study Ayurveda. Whoa, she completely took me by surprise and I told all and sundry about our talk. I was totally impressed when I met her today and she revealed that she has enrolled in a course and she is soon on her way to realising her dream of becoming an Ayurvedic practitioner. I am not ignorant and I know the Western world is taking their Yoga very seriously these days. However an encounter simply sealed the fact. 

I don't know whether its the smell of books, the precious memories they hold, the almost life-like characters or merely the power of words.It weaves a spell and right now, I am only too happy to be trapped in it !!