10/31/2009

Lost Library

The British Council Library, Mumbai is set to close its physical premises this year-end. It'll shift to an online avatar. No more browsing and spending time immersed in the company of books. Personally I think it's a great loss. My father used to cite it as an example of serendipity. He would be looking to research a subject and serendipitiously find a really good book on the very topic, on the returned books counter. You don't even have to consciously look for it. Sometimes a book 'attracts' you to itself and happens to be the very subject that interests you greatly. I had that experience (again) today.

The returns counter, to me, is a source for tapping into the collective consciousness of the reading public. It has the pulse of what interests people. A more refined subset of wants and desires, than is reflected by Google's Zeitgeist.
Besides nothing beats the advantage of sitting down with an armload of books and poring over their pages, till you find the perfect book. Now we can have home delivery from an online catalogue. But we won't know what we're asking for untill we read it!
A sad turn of events in the life of a great social institution.

10/22/2009

Death is....

A faithful lover,
playfully she flirts, hiding behind a curtain,
patiently she watches, as I carry on my work.

'times she'll dart out, her velvet scarf flying,
tickling the nape of my neck, reminding me of her presence.

Yet patiently she waits,
knowing our love is eternal,
content that the day will come,
when I'll throw my worries to the wind and embrace her,

And I rest easy, safe in the knowledge that
she will always be there for me,

Death, the most beautiful of lovers!
Slender and pale, with a face that silences the noise all around,
Beauty that makes you shiver in anticipation, a gaze that holds you spellbound.

Someday I'll cast off the burdens of this world and rush into her arms.
And she'll embrace me with teary eyes and a bright smile,
happy that I came home to her, and I'd kiss her tenderly.

Until that day, she waits!
Death! The most faithful of lovers!