So there, I have said it…

When I was…ahmm…younger, the only material possession I swore by were my precious books. I read like there’s no tomorrow. Every visit to a bookshop was as agonizing as it was exciting- from a pile of books (all of which you wanted or rather needed) you had to select a few. I remember standing outside bookstores and promising myself to save enough money to buy the book in the display. And unlike all other possessions I have (except a camera, the loss of which I regret to this day), I love my collection of books, always possessive.

But that’s not all; I have over the years shared my books (almost a part of me) with people – sometimes for sheer joy I hoped that the book might bring them and sometimes for safekeeping. Actually not shared but lent, which means they were supposed to be returned. Some of those books are not even available now, given the fact that almost all noteworthy bookstores have shut down and there is no way you can get those eclectic books online – I mean, come on, there’s no way you will get  biography of Sartre or Simone de Beauvoir on the net – they don’t exactly sell by the dozen. I know technically you are not supposed to be possessive about material things but come on – I don’t want the dresses or shoes or movies or even my camera which I don’t have now – all I want back from people are my books. So there, I have said it…