Of summer holidays, books and bookworms...

May 05, 2015 01:46 am | Updated 10:00 am IST

I- should aptly be named the termites story… termites are bookworms too, in a manner of speaking. While we take days, months or even years to finish a book, the termites can eat them up in a few hours. Give them a week of damp space with books, and you will have no books left. It often happens when the books are kept in old bookshelves which sometimes turn damp due to the rain.

We used to live in a thatched house with a high ceiling. The thatch often housed millipedes, centipedes, bugs, giant spiders, garden lizards and the like. Sometimes the bamboo poles that held the matted dry coconut fronds housed a whole termite colony; it would give way and fall to the ground with a ‘thud’ with the termites scattering all over.

So it was necessary to remove the books from the shelves, clean them up and perhaps use some roots, powders and neem leaves to keep the termites away. This should be done periodically lest the termites get to them first. In a way, you should thank the termites as they were the ones who made you get back to the books periodically, if only to set them in order — and then sit down with a pile of books and an old book in hand.

Summer holidays had the place cool inside and warm-to-hot outside. Children would be kept busy with books, lemon juice and games. A couple of decades back, in the days before Cartoon Network or video games, children were happy with the collection of comic books, children’s story books, illustrated stories, Rebus puzzles, science fiction, novels, fill-in-the-blank work books and the like. Usually elders would not let them near the “study” or library room.

They were given dos and don’ts. No tearing up pages. No fighting over a single book; keep each book under a separate head and arrange them on the shelf in the right order. No spilling drinks or water near the books. Elders often had other things to do, such as buying groceries, cooking or washing. So the children were under the care of an older child.

After an hour of letting them into the Pandora’s box of a room, it was sometimes fun watching them. Some lay on a pile of books with one favourite book in hand. Some slept with an open book and a fat dictionary for pillow. Despite being instructed otherwise, there was lemon juice and milk shake spilt near a pile of books. Wiped partially with a cloth. Who is responsible for this?… It’s him, it’s her, I didn’t do it..!! Arguments ensue. All because they were immersed in an interesting book or comics volume.

Some of them stuck small pieces of paper with home-made gum (made of maida and preservative; moms keep supplying it for artwork) with headings such as history and comics. Books were arranged in order but as time went by they sat down with a favourite book and were lost in it for hours. Often there were piles of books around them.

Some of them had an illustrated book for guidance and sat down (lying down flat on the stomach with legs dangling in the air) to draw, sketch or paint.

Inspired by some book they begin to collect items, read new authors, learn to do embroidery, and attempt fretwork or carpentry. Paint pillow covers. Learn to make kites or make great thokkus/laddoos with the help of cook books. (This genre was rare in those days.)

There were books on various subjects. Having come down the family line, they were on all kinds of subjects. Each book on the shelf had a story to tell. Some were brought in the rain, covered with the pallu of a sari and dried in the sun. Some were sent by post by friends. Grandmas, grandpas, uncles, aunts all gave books with affectionate notes. Some second-hand books had scribbling all over them; sometimes they were funny and made you laugh or smile. Some had picture postcards as book marks, with great views of places.

Today books are taking a back seat. Individual houses have given way to apartments, and the 2 BHKs and 3 BHKs seldom include a library room or even a decent book shelf. On the passing away of some elder in the house the books are sold in kilograms to the ruddi-wallah.

Summer is here again. I do hope everyone would get some books for the children or let them arrange your books in a shelf. Get back to the days of imagination running riot in the minds of children. Summer ‘hols’ are when a home library took shape, or did it? Happy holidays..!!

sathyavijay1@yahoo.com

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