Stories defined me, even when I was 7 years old. Ya! I must have been seven then, when my father presented me my first ever hard bound book.
Oh! love at first site it was. I turned and re-turned all of its pages, I marvelled at its glossy paper, I looked at the pictures forever, and then thru' the nights, I read it. Every single night, for god knows how many nights, I just read it. There came a time, when I knew every single word by-heart. Every night as I would open the book, I would be transported, straight from lanes and bylanes of Jodhpur where I lived then, to icy-snowy lands, where people lighted up fire-places to keep themselves warm, and sipped on brandy and ginger-ale and ate cheese and made merry by dancing to folk-tunes in a language which I was just learning then.
It was a story-book called 'Heidi' and like a true-blood first love, it has stayed with me forever. I was addicted and read many-many more books in the years to come by. I became a Victorian princess fainting at the drop of a hat, a superwoman (/man) on a mission to save the world, an explorer navigating on high-seas, a spy trying to unearth mysteries, a queen in the evil clutches of a ruthless king, a mistress having a passionate affair with her secret lover, and so much more, courtesy my books.
Today as I watched 'Lootera', I felt as if someone has taken me back to those times, when books were my eyes and books were my language. It was as if someone was reading poetry to me on the screen -lyrically, slowly, gently- just as it should be. I was back in the land where Heidi resides. She was speaking in slow whispers and through stolen glances, over cups of teas, in green grasslands and then at snowy high-lands. She was loved and betrayed and broken and amazed. She laughed and smiled, she got ill and survived. It is just as it should be, it was like I had just read a beautiful book....
Thank you for taking me back to where I belong- between the pages.........
Oh! love at first site it was. I turned and re-turned all of its pages, I marvelled at its glossy paper, I looked at the pictures forever, and then thru' the nights, I read it. Every single night, for god knows how many nights, I just read it. There came a time, when I knew every single word by-heart. Every night as I would open the book, I would be transported, straight from lanes and bylanes of Jodhpur where I lived then, to icy-snowy lands, where people lighted up fire-places to keep themselves warm, and sipped on brandy and ginger-ale and ate cheese and made merry by dancing to folk-tunes in a language which I was just learning then.
It was a story-book called 'Heidi' and like a true-blood first love, it has stayed with me forever. I was addicted and read many-many more books in the years to come by. I became a Victorian princess fainting at the drop of a hat, a superwoman (/man) on a mission to save the world, an explorer navigating on high-seas, a spy trying to unearth mysteries, a queen in the evil clutches of a ruthless king, a mistress having a passionate affair with her secret lover, and so much more, courtesy my books.
Today as I watched 'Lootera', I felt as if someone has taken me back to those times, when books were my eyes and books were my language. It was as if someone was reading poetry to me on the screen -lyrically, slowly, gently- just as it should be. I was back in the land where Heidi resides. She was speaking in slow whispers and through stolen glances, over cups of teas, in green grasslands and then at snowy high-lands. She was loved and betrayed and broken and amazed. She laughed and smiled, she got ill and survived. It is just as it should be, it was like I had just read a beautiful book....
Thank you for taking me back to where I belong- between the pages.........
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