How I spend my weekend?

Usually it is a sit-back-at-home-and-read weekend. With so many books around me at home: on the sofa, on my computer table, under the blanket, over the pillow, in my reading list, I can hardly imagine a different setup for the weekend. And why, I love the smell of books, I sniff them frequently, they entertain me, they take me to different places, they feed my intelligence, they talk back, they amuse, they enlighten, they may be gods. Yeah, I’m not going anywhere on this weekend. Leave me with my books and forget me.

Then there are movies. Although they are released every Friday, I prefer watching them only if they’ve been rated high by a good number of movie buffs. IMDB is the website I visit most to check out the reviews/ ratings. Only a 7+ pointer will make into my watch-list. No, even a 6.9 does not. So, I have a long watch-list of all time 7+ pointers, mostly from Hollywood; I feel Bollywood is weak in producing 7+ pointers and only an Anurag Kashyap one would interest me. I’ve covered most of the Top 25 of the Top 250 list of movies on IMDB and I’ll soon finish watching the Top 50. So, yeah, if I don’t have a book in my hand, I would most certainly be on my laptop watching movies.

Then, there is music. Oh, my Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interface works magic and it’s a studio music recording that I prefer after books and movies. I’m not much of a singer, so I compose music with my guitar and try to record it in a good-enough voice. I simply love what Glen Hansard plays on his 25 year old guitar and he is a top class singer; I’m sure he’ll snatch another Oscar soon. So, if not composing fresh music, I cover Glen’s songs or listen to them in loop; soothes me.

But, then, there are always relatives out there who want to invite for their children’s birthdays. There are marriages going on at weekends, even Sundays are not spared. And in case there are no such events, the relatives cannot figure out how they spend their weekends and call me to their place for breakfast, lunch or dinner. So I might just visit them occasionally; weekend gone; no books read; no movies seen; no music made.

Now, once in a while, I get too excited about wandering, and because the weekend begins Friday night, my back-bag is packed Thursday night for 2 days and 2 nights somewhere in the mountains. The beach is not very near from Delhi. While in Karnataka, Mangalore was my favorite weekend spot. Merely 110 km from Hassan (where I was posted), Mangalore was the nearest beach place. Now, being in Delhi, I long for a Goa trip, but a weekend is not enough for Goa; it should take a good 5-day week. So, some other time, maybe.

Thanks for reading.

The Smell of Books

Oh, thou old books,
Fresh of library out,
I hold thou in full,
And smell throughout.

Thou fragrance to me,
And I sniff so deep,
Till the odor has
In my soul seeped.

And it brings rest to
My all wandering mind,
As I inhale thy pages
In one go, all at a time.

Books

Give me some books
And leave me alone
That's all I ask for.
That's all I seek.

What's Your True Calling?

And it's all about what your true calling in life is. What is it on earth that makes your knees go weak? Where does your innermost interest lie?

After a long span of seven years, when I once again entered the English Literature class, the very first minute I knew that this was where I belonged. That I should never have gone for anything else, should not even have thought of doing something else. That I had been wandering clueless, aimlessly for seven long years and that nothing brought inner peace.

Such similar realization came once again when I entered a huge library full of books on literature. There, standing alone, amongst numerous books around, nothing but books, thousands of them, a sudden realization struck me. I found that I could spend my entire life there and I would not regret a single moment of it. And that I did not want anything else from life.

Literature. Library. Books.

"Literature" is like a very sensuous and beautiful woman who turns me on every single time I think or talk about it (her). I don't consider "literature" to be merely a subject of study. It is a living thing for me, warm and affectionate, and I find peace in her. I talk to her, I feel her, I sniff her through the old books in the old silent library. This library with books on literature is very quite and calm in her composure. Yet, she talks back as I read her. She speaks out loud. It's wonderful to be with her. It's soothing. Time stops. All I want to do is pick out the old books, sit and read them one by one, line by line, word by word, letter by letter. I wanna absorb all that they have into myself. They complete my being.

Time would fly..

I woke up
That evening
To find that
It had gotten dark.

The Sun had left
The sky orange.
A few birds had
Remained back.

As I watched out
Through the window,
I pondered
About life.

Another day
Had gone past.
That's how
Time would fly.

Soon I'd be old,
But enough wise,
For I've kept
Books by my side.

-- Praveen Kumar Singhmar.

Attempting a song on this one..