About a month ago, Shri Gopal Krishna Gandhi, former governor of West Bengal wrote an article in a leading newspaper published from Kolkata. In the lucid write-up, he lamented the loss of valuable books from his collection. Quite a few of them had the signature and notes of his illustrious grandfather. He even mentioned of a book signed by George Bernard Shaw presented to the Mahatma, which went missing one fine morning.
One anecdote narrated by him was particularly intriguing. He was gifted a freshly launched book signed by the author himself along with a huge bouquet of flowers. An elegantly dressed lady, who appeared to be one of the organisers of the event, graciously offered to carry the gifts to his car. Later, after reaching home he found the bouquet but not the book. The lady could not be traced.
I was sad initially but felt, oddly, rather elated to have found myself in illustrious company. I have many such sordid tales in my kitty too. During my younger days, funds were a constrain and I depended on pavement vendors selling old books, often badly soiled. However, I valued them immensely and was quite proud of my humble collection.
An aunt on a visit to Kolkata spent a few days with us and on her return to Delhi borrowed one of my prized possessions, - “A Short History of the World by H.G. wells”. She would read the book in the train and promised to send it back with her son, who was scheduled for a business visit to the city a week later. The son did arrive but had no clue of what I was talking about. His mom did not mention anything of a book whatsoever. I was devastated. Many months later, I met my aunt once again in the city at a family wedding and she seemed to be under a serious bout of amnesia. That was that.
A friend, who happened to be son of a senior manager of a company where I started my career as a trainee, was on a visit to his parents and dropped in at my humble abode for old time’s sake. He apparently was thoroughly bored at his parents’ sprawling bungalow and borrowed my “Complete Sherlock Holmes” to while away his spare time. He walked into his father’s official car and that was the last time I saw the book. We met a few months later during my holiday and he swore that he left the book behind with his mother to be returned to me. I did not pursue of course as I did not want to rub a senior manager’s wife on the wrong side (no pun intended) during my probationary period.
On another occasion, I found a two-inch wide gap in one corner of my packed book shelf after a close relative left following a few days holiday at my humble residence. My guests are encouraged to pick a book from my shelves for bed time reading. However, at this instance, the book or books were probably packed inadvertently with personal baggage.
There are number of similar apparently unintended misdeeds that I prefer to forget and forgive. Sadly, the latest inventory check revealed at least 20% of my collection is missing. Out of sheer frustration, I made a New Year resolution in the early hours of 2018, not to lend my books to anyone, - friends, foes or family, - much to the chagrin of my well-wishers.
Well friends, I ran out of all other options.
Let me end with another story I read a long time ago. A friend visited a highly respected celebrity and found hundreds of books stacked on the floor. When the friend queried why he did not get book shelves, the celebrity sheepish replied, - no one will lend me one!
Happy reading.
Kolkata
24 January 2018
One anecdote narrated by him was particularly intriguing. He was gifted a freshly launched book signed by the author himself along with a huge bouquet of flowers. An elegantly dressed lady, who appeared to be one of the organisers of the event, graciously offered to carry the gifts to his car. Later, after reaching home he found the bouquet but not the book. The lady could not be traced.
I was sad initially but felt, oddly, rather elated to have found myself in illustrious company. I have many such sordid tales in my kitty too. During my younger days, funds were a constrain and I depended on pavement vendors selling old books, often badly soiled. However, I valued them immensely and was quite proud of my humble collection.
An aunt on a visit to Kolkata spent a few days with us and on her return to Delhi borrowed one of my prized possessions, - “A Short History of the World by H.G. wells”. She would read the book in the train and promised to send it back with her son, who was scheduled for a business visit to the city a week later. The son did arrive but had no clue of what I was talking about. His mom did not mention anything of a book whatsoever. I was devastated. Many months later, I met my aunt once again in the city at a family wedding and she seemed to be under a serious bout of amnesia. That was that.
A friend, who happened to be son of a senior manager of a company where I started my career as a trainee, was on a visit to his parents and dropped in at my humble abode for old time’s sake. He apparently was thoroughly bored at his parents’ sprawling bungalow and borrowed my “Complete Sherlock Holmes” to while away his spare time. He walked into his father’s official car and that was the last time I saw the book. We met a few months later during my holiday and he swore that he left the book behind with his mother to be returned to me. I did not pursue of course as I did not want to rub a senior manager’s wife on the wrong side (no pun intended) during my probationary period.
On another occasion, I found a two-inch wide gap in one corner of my packed book shelf after a close relative left following a few days holiday at my humble residence. My guests are encouraged to pick a book from my shelves for bed time reading. However, at this instance, the book or books were probably packed inadvertently with personal baggage.
There are number of similar apparently unintended misdeeds that I prefer to forget and forgive. Sadly, the latest inventory check revealed at least 20% of my collection is missing. Out of sheer frustration, I made a New Year resolution in the early hours of 2018, not to lend my books to anyone, - friends, foes or family, - much to the chagrin of my well-wishers.
Well friends, I ran out of all other options.
Let me end with another story I read a long time ago. A friend visited a highly respected celebrity and found hundreds of books stacked on the floor. When the friend queried why he did not get book shelves, the celebrity sheepish replied, - no one will lend me one!
Happy reading.
Kolkata
24 January 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment