Book fair 2014 and some nostalgia

Book fair has lost it's charm for me. I came here for some work but then my friends were late so I entered and walked around to see if I could get back my years and years of stored up nostalgia. I didn't. I didn't feel anything. I don't feel excitement at seeing so many stalls; I don't feel any kind of joy that I have felt earlier. 

Today. there are so many more avenues for me to buy books. There's flipkart. And family friends with bookstores who give you discount throughout the year. And the annual British Council sale where you get books dirt cheap, literally. The book fair does not offer me something new, something different.

The premises are huge, ofcourse. It's held at Milan Mela. Which is bang opposite science city and ITC sonar bangla Hotel. So, pretty accessible location. A huge crowd of people are here. It's a big thing here; not as big as Durga Puja but it's still a pretty big deal in Calcutta. It's also become a touristy picnic-y thing to do. And people in Calcutta are generally book lovers. Well, most bongs are (sorry for the stereotyping ) 

The "When I finally get my own place" list

The list maker is back. I was bored of studying nutrition yesterday so I made a list of things I want  when I have my own place.

1. One wall will have a huge bookshelf. From one end to the other. And Agatha Christie, OHenry, Pablo Neruda, J.K Rowling, Paelo Coelho, Kahlil Gibran, Jacklyn Moriarty, Alexander McCall Smith will have pride of place on it

2. I will have a red wall. 

3. And a desk. 

4. And a softboard placed over my desk. I will stick a huge world map on it. To be wistful about places I want to visit and to mark the places I have been. 

5. I also want loads and loads of pens on my desk, ready to be used. So that I never run out of ink. I keep losing my pens.. I will buy the 3 rupee ones. So I can keep on buying them without feeling guilty. 

5. I want a small terrace. With a deck chair. To come up and look at the stars. To grow flowers. And for long glances at the moon. 

6. I will have a hammock. To laze around with a book.

7. I will have an espresso machine. For the instant caffeine high. 

8. I also want a landline with an answering machine. I always wanted one. Whenever I read about them I was fascinated. I want to record fun messages for callers. I have a list of funny answering machine messages, somewhere. 

9. I want a huge bed loads of pillows. I do love pillows. 

10. One of the walls will have framed photographs. To look at. And smile. I wish we had framed pictures at home. I already know which photographs I want framed. 


There will be other things in the house too. But for now, these are the things I really, really want. 

P.S: The Title of this post is inspired by a song by Aqualung. You can find the lyrics here

Fictional guys I totally dig

Of all the guys I have had crushes on, most have been fictional people. Here's a list of guys from books I totally love. 

1. Fitzwilliam Darcy (Pride and Prejudice): Have you read Pride and Prejudice as a 13 year old? Darcy is such a snob and Oh-so-annoying. But that's what makes him so drool worthy.  I dreamt about guys like Darcy. The hate-like-friendship-love pattern is quite cliche but it works! I wouldn't fall for such guys in real life and that's what makes Darcy so special. 

2. Ron Weasley (Harry Potter): He is the guy next door. Clueless. With typical guy habits. He can be annoying, insensitive, messy, jealous. He transforms from an eleven year old cute kid to a tall hunky fellow. I love him . I do. 

3. Michael Flynn Hennessey (Key of light): He made me want to fall in love. Easy going on the surface but quite shrewd ( in a good way) And  he is witty! He can squat down on the floor, wolf down a pizza AND successfully run a newspaper. Fun to be with and unpredictable, who wouldn't want to wooed by a Flynn? 

4. Sirius Black (Harry Potter): The adorable bad guy. Reckless practical joker. Very loyal to his friends. To die for! And the best part is he is not paired with anybody. Atleast he is single if not available. ( I will ignore the fact that he is dead *sniff*)

I have a very big grin on my face right now. Not exactly a grin, a "I am thinking about a guy I like" smile. I feel like giggling the teenagery sort of giggle. I don't have butterflies in my stomach but I wish I did. 

And Ships Sail

We humans are such suckers for love stories. Correction, we females are such suckers for love stories. We just love couples. I have always shipped people in books, in movies, movies trailers, co-stars, soaps, ads. Everywhere. Even random people on the streets.


My first book shipping was Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Even though everyone knows would end up together, they did start on the wrong foot. Darcy insulted Elizabeth, for God's sake! I was rooting for them so badly, throughout the book. When Darcy finally told Elizabeth- "I only thought of you" my only comment was "Atlast!" 

Then Harry Potter entered my life. Accompanied by fan-fiction; with some really weird shipping. How I hate them. I would rather stick to legit shipping.


When rumours of movie co-stars do the rounds( I do know it's mostly promotions, but still) I so wish the two of them get together. I know it doesn't affect my life but I was rooting for Priyanka and Shahid to be actually dating each other. ( Even now when I saw a recent Bru ad I was like aww, they look so good together)


I also love it when I find out that TV co-stars are dating each other. Couples I root for- Karan Kundra and Kritika Kamra( I think they were called  Arjun and Arohi in Kitni Mohabbat hai) and Sushant Singh Rajput and Ankita Lokhande ( Manav and Archana of Pavitra Rishta)


I think we girls also like shipping our single friends with each other. "Oh Ankur and Nilesh are so made for each other" "Esha should  totally meet Shaan" " I wish things work out between Riya and Aman, so cute they are!"


But, I don't like the ternd of merging the names of the couple you ship. Like Romione( Ron and Hermione) Drarry ( Draco and Harry, gulp) Kriyansh ( Kriya and Rayansh of a really sweet soap D3) 


And when Twilight fans keep on saying Team Edward and Team Jacob I feel like catching hold of them and almost shouting- "It's called shipping, it's not a bloody sports team you are supporting. "


Shipping is one of the random things I end up doing. " But it cannot be helped. "


P.S- I always wanted to ship Sirius Black with someone but couldn't think of anyone.

Booked

I don't like reading e-books for the same reason I don't  cover my books to protect them. I like to look at the cover when I take a book in my hand. 

I like the feel of books. Correction,I love the feel of books. I love the slight ruffling sound of turning the pages when waiting to savour the next few words. And the task of remembering the page number for the next time you read it. 


Like a typical bookworm I like the smell of old books. And I won't trade those yellowed, musty pages for a just out edition. There is something about old books which can't be replaced by the fresh out of the print edition.


The first book I remember reading was a musical version of " Goldilocks and the three bears". The book had a few switches for a bear's growl and other sounds with instructions at the appropriate places to press the switch. It was very exciting and became more of a toy than a book. I think I read it everyday just to get a chance to listen to the 'grrr' sound of the bears. 


My second favourite was "Red riding hood". I loved that story. (Aside remark: I also wondered if the 'big bad wolf' of that story and the 'big bad wolf' of "Three little pigs" were the same)


Another  favourite activity as a kid was making bookmarks. I was forever creating bookmarks out of old greeting cards. I still have some of them, tucked away at a corner somewhere. 

Ownership of books is important to bookworms. Borrowing a favourite book from the library just wont do! Spending money on stuff is difficult for me, but when I really, really want a book I don't blink an eyelid before taking out my wallet. 


I am the kind of person who will head instinctively towards the book section in a store; take out interesting looking books; read their blurb and type the names of books in my cell. And then, when I am back home I will add those names to my "books to read" list. Ah, yes, the list is long and yeah I tick off the books once I have read them.


Some people say that us bookworms are lost in their own world and don't know an iota of what is happening in the world outside the book they are currently reading. I feel, that we understand the world much better than other people. Reading makes us more perceptive than people imagine us to be. We know better than others that failure is not the end; that roses don't come without thorns; and that all stories need not have happy endings.

The HP craze!

The fifth book came a long time after. The first movie had released by then. And Daniel Radcliffe became one lucky guy- he got to play the famous boy wizard AND got an instant female fan following. I was 12 when the 1^st movie came out. A few girls in my class started calling themselves Mrs. Radcliffe.

I remember a memorable incident that took place at that time. We had a senior, a year older. She was a tomboy, had cropped hair and wore specs. One day few of us saw her on the field from our 1^st floor classroom window. Bang! She totally looked like Harry Potter.( we thought so then) That did it. One girl developed a crush on her. We all trooped in between classes to catch a glimpse of her. Breaks were spent looking out for her. We even knew her routine! We followed her everywhere. She naturally felt harassed. She told us off, even complained to our teacher. We calmed down for a while. 


One day some of us came up with an idea. They bought a cake on 31^st July and told her to cut it! That certainly was the last straw.  She complained to the Headmistress.  No action was taken though. We heaved a sigh of relief. Final exams came soon and we all went up a class.

In the 1^st week of the new session ‘she’ arrived. With the Headmistress. To identify her harassers. Oh God! Somehow she didn't  recognize me. Good for me!

Anyway, the craziness had just begun. Over time we HP fans started calling ourselves Hard-core HP fans as we wanted to distinguish ourselves from the HP movie lovers. And the love for everything HP related continues…

P.S – Class 6 being high school we were reshuffled into new houses. When my turn came all I wanted was to be in Red house, the closest I could be to being a Gryffindor. And guess what? I did get chosen for the Red house!

P.S again : I later realised that I was more of a Ravenclaw than A Gryffindor. I am now A Pottermore certified Ravenclaw.  

Growing up with the wizard with specs

I was in class five then. My friend Pratiti told me about a great new book- Harry Potter. She told me I absolutely have to read it! Somehow her excitement intrigued me. When my bhua came for a visit and asked me what I wanted I asked for the first three Harry Potter books. And thus my odyssey began.

“ Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, at number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. “

That’s the first line. I didn’t move my eyes from the pages till I reached the last line. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat. It was frenzy, my first reading of Harry Potter.  

I remember I read through the night and went to school the next day. And I wasn’t even drowsy. That was the level of my excitement. After seventeen chapters and loads of awe filled moments I was hooked!

I couldn’t wait to get back home and read the 2^nd book. How intriguing is a name like “chamber of secrets” be? Pretty intriguing.

Soon  had read all three books. My mother promised to buy me the fourth book if I did well in my finals. Best incentive ever!

By then a proper fan club had been formed in our school. India too had discovered the most popular bespectacled boy and the HP craze was all over the news. The Chosen One had arrived.

Its been 11 years and The Boy Who Lived has never bored me. Ever time I re- read the books I discover something new. And the Adrenaline rush I get whenever I talk about HP has not decreased a bit.

I don’t think I will forget the year ever. It was 2001 and I became a Harry Potter fan. For life.