Waiting Words

What’s a book you never finished but still think about?

I admit, despite being in the field of books, in writing and editing. I haven’t been through as many books as an avid book reader might have. Of course, working behind the scenes in a book has a whole world of painstaking but very satisfying experience as well. But I would say one thing though, that over the years I have become a better reader, I connect more with the deeper meanings behind writing and I am able to extract the elements that may be of use to me, and one single book if read with time and patience has a lot more to it than one can simply see on the surface as words on a page.



I used to have a few books initially; it was a neat and tidy collection. I could look at a title walking by and I would quite fondly connect with the feeling of having read it, the world that is present within those pages, the characters, the setting, the endless emotions, I know it’s a lot because as I said there is a lot and those with deep sense of understanding and imagination will connect.



I always thought having more books would be like a dream, it would be better, a library, books all around, that distinct smell of books and wood, pouring black tea out of this beautiful ceramic tea pot into a ceramic cup kept on a saucer, a wooden table getting more beautiful as it ages, comfortable amount of sunlight entering the window. You cannot lie, you have imagined it at least once and I am sure some may even have it in real life. But I don’t, I don’t have the library setting but I have a lot more books than before. It’s a collection belonging to me and my dear wife, not of any particular type, just books.



We will have a lot more books for sure due to the nature of our work, but it has faded, that look of familiarity among those books kept neat and tidy. Now it’s just ever-growing piles. Initially when the books began coming, I thought, wonderful, we will have an envious collection and we are all prepared for old age, but as the books kept coming, the thought eventually came, we might never be able to read all of them. Many will go partially read or unread. It’s like one of those things you have to make peace with that will not happen in your life.



So now we have many books and we respect all genuine, ‘non-AI’ writers, no matter how they write. They have put in the genuine effort to put the thought into words, and it is more challenging than it sounds. Try writing on a theme for the next six months or two years without letting go of the thought, you will know. So, when I see  some people trying to go to the extent of burning books for social media content, calling it an effective way to ‘manage book collection’ I just wish I don’t meet them in real life. I keep all books from all authors; none will be abandoned.



The book I never finished but I still think about is a book from my childhood. It’s a book I don’t have, and as I like to say it is lost in time for me. It is unfinished because I could not read back then. It was a colourful book, a story on animals and birds, the artwork was beautifully drawn watercolour style with minimal detailing, the colours spread like a big drop of water mixed with colour was allowed to drop on the page and spread as much as it could without any stoppage. The book was mostly covered in this blue and green theme, and it was very soothing to the eyes. The feeling is all I can recount and I have treasured it for reasons more than the book.



I go to the book fair every year, because I love to and now even some work is associated. I have imagined a few times that when walking by a book stall, if I came across the book, if it is still being published, would I pick up a copy. I have not been able to answer and somewhere I think I don’t want it to happen because the memory and feeling I carry, I want it to remain perfectly in that manner.

Written by Anuran Chatterji

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