so, which book did you read last night? – Did you ask this question to yourself anytime ? Do you have a habit of reading any book periodically everyday or every week or so on … ?
I don’t know about you … but to be honest, I can say, i used to read at least one poem everyday during my student life … i used to buy poetry books by saving my pocket money every month… yes there was a time … i used to be mad with the modern poetry and all etc… and later, after i started my professional career, i fell into this professional trap and could not help but discontinue the earlier habit… i can’t say whether it was bad or good, all i can say that, i ran out of time and could not carry the practice of reading something daily…
… i am certainly not talking about any technical books, you might guess by now … but down my memory lane, i was missing those fine moments reading books in my leisure time…
…. it was raining heavily for last few weeks in bangalore… the days became gloomy and cloudy all over the weeks… i have a strong believe that sometime weather or environment does wonder for us… right weather and right environment help us getting the right memories …
it reminded me those days when we were egarly waiting for a pujabarshiki anandamela ( Puja edition of a bengali magazine named anandamela ) on our puja vacation … i still remember, we did not have money to buy a copy of that, however i used to borrow it from one of my friend after he finished the magazine … I still remember the days when , during the puja vacation, we used to read those novels written by then famous authors like Sunil Ganguli, Sanjib Chattopadhyay, Shirshendu Mukherjee, Samaresh Basu, Moti nandi, Sailen Ghosh and others…
those had a different charm at that point of time … first novel which stuck my mind was named Iti Polash by Sanjib Chattopadhyay … subsequent year another serious novel by Sanjib himself , Iti tomar maa…
I was a mad fan of Professor Shonku and Kakababu… those days Santu was our favourite childhood hero … and there were Adbhuture series by Shirshendu Mukherjee… Pagla Saheber kabor was one of them i still remember … i still can feel the time, when i read it first on anandamela… it was a different feeling those days .. i was studying in sixth standard if i guess it right…
We still get Anandamela every year , even now … but it has lost its charm now… the novels are not so compelling … the magazine is more filled with commercial elements, not with good quality literature … all of my friends also have the same opinion now …
… however, while searching on net someday back, i found a PDF version of pagla saheber kabor…. i did not wait to download it… and there it comes a gloomy and cloudy day … i just did not want to miss the right environment and started reading the story which i have read almost 20 years back.. i could not help but finish it in single sitting … and… yes, i felt i went back to my childhood …
… now, i have made it a practice that i read something everyday after i go home from office at 12 midnight … i just don’t want to repent in future …
( the above photo was taken with a Nokia N85 camera phone )
