The Charm of Old Books

Disclaimer: With this post, I'm going slightly off-track. This is not a book review but as it concerns books, I decided to post it here nonetheless. Hope you guys like it!

      I am old school in many respects. So it comes as no surprise to me that I prefer physical books over electronic versions. Most of all, however, I love old books!

      I would say that as a kid a large chunk of my reading was grâce à old books that I borrowed from my mom’s library or from my grandparent’s collection when I went to Nagpur. these visits involved opening cupboards full of books, going through them, smelling them. Some of the books were close to a hundred years old! As a teenager, I frequented Flora Fountain in Mumbai- an area full of vendors of second-hand books. The sidewalks would have towers of books of all sorts. When I asked for a particular title, the vendor would then extricate it from the tower with considerable skill. There I could buy all kinds of books (mostly fiction) by the dozen without the purchase being too heavy on my pockets. Even today I buy a lot of second-hand books.

       I prefer second-hand books over new ones. This is not just because they are cheaper. Although brand new books, with their brightly coloured and glossy covers are quite attractive; old books have a charm of their own. First of all, as soon as you open an old book, a delightful fragrance hits you and this is very different from that of a new book. I also feel like those yellowing pages hold a story of their own. Whenever I get a second-hand book, I can’t help wonder what the story of the book itself is. Who had bought it first? How many hands had it passed through before me? How many were touched by its contents? Was it a favourite of the previous owner? In some cases I get a glimpse of these people on the front page of the book. In some books the name of the owner would be written with the date when the acquired. Some books would be a gift with messages scribbled on them. These would make the book even more special, it’s as if a part of the previous reader is imprinted onto its pages for as long as the book exists.

       And so, in addition to the enlightening words printed in the book, I come to know of other people with the book as our connecting thread. I am sure that there many more who have been connected through books like these, possibly across countries and continents. So the next you happen to come across a stall with second-hand books, do take the time to look through pages. Maybe you'll come to know of an interesting tale too!