For a while now I have known that Von's has a used book section down in the basement. Somehow I've never prodded myself to go down there. I know that most likely sounds odd. Why ever not, one may ask....I am not really sure whether I want to share the reasons (batty as they are). Today I did go over to Von's. And I did go down into the book-filled human-empty basement. I ended up buying four books. And as I went in and out of the aisles looking and fingering and leafing through the old books (some older than others) - I wondered (among very many other things) how people can find reading books on a kindle half as satisfying. Some comparisons come to mind - but let me desist. I did feel wistful all the while down in the basement and some book titles made me gulp loudly.
On my way in and on my way out I saw one occupant - an elderly gentleman at the far end of one of the aisles who was quite comfortably sprawled out on the floor with his head resting in one of his palms reading a book, completely oblivious to the world. He could have been reading at home - he looked so comfy. I didn't travel up and down that aisle because I would have felt like an intruder.
2 comments:
I have always lamented that there are so few bookstores just like that here in India (though there are still some), and in a happier world I would have liked nothing better than to own and run a bookstore-cum-cafe, from where genuine and hard-up booklovers could every now and then take home books they really, badly wanted to for free - provided only that they returned the books in mint condition. Also, real regulars could have long fireside chats over the books that they loved.
And I know exactly what you mean about feeling like an intruder, invading that sacred space around the elderly gentleman, lost in his own world with a book, sprawled on the ground. Back in this country, very few elderly people would want to visit a bookshop, let alone act with such (utterly non-harmful!) abandon...
How odd. I still say and insist (and have been for many years) that I'm going to own and run a bookshop-cum-cafe somewhere someday. And it's the same idea: People getting together to read, borrow and talk about books and have their coffee (and smoke too). Some people could borrow books for free as well...I had a little nook in mind too - apart from all the 'book nooks' , large and small - one nook where there can be some easels, sheets, paints and charcoal bits for adults, adolescents and children who want to paint or sketch. Entrance and admittance to the bookshop would be monitored and restricted. No silly people would be allowed in. And yes, it would have to be in the mountains/hills somewhere with forests visible through the big windows. I should probably stop here because I can go on for a bit about this bookshop that I can quite clearly see and have been seeing for awhile now…
The moment I saw the old gentleman I had almost thought of leaving quietly but he didn’t even turn his head for all the time that I was there.
I remember a couple of bookshops that I frequented during my college years…I still remember how they smelt.
Thank you for commenting Suvro da.
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