Chapter 4: The Scent of New Pages

 

Summer holidays were a long-awaited respite from school, a time when the scorching heat and hot winds couldn't dampen our spirits. We knew that summer meant a break from studies, and no one would bother us to "study" during this golden period. But our favourite days melted away like, an ice cream, day by day, and as the summer wore on, someone would bring news of school reopening soon. 

 

    My father would say, "School reopens next Monday, so reduce your roaming, and I'll bring new textbooks tomorrow." I dreaded such statements. Can’t these elders ever stop saying, "Study, study"? Are we actually learning, or just pretending to? One moment they tell us to study, the next they say, "Go play" or "Go sleep," but they can never stick to one thing. They’re like people who can’t make up their minds.

 

 Anyway, they kept their promise and one day, new textbooks arrived. What can I say? When new books arrive, it's special, isn't it? We should bid farewell to playing and roaming and take the new books in our hands. In our house, we had the habit of buying new textbooks every year, even though we had elder siblings. But in many houses, they'd say, "Why buy new books when the elder one's books are there?" and dump old, smelly books on the younger one. Not just that, the elder one's used toys, colour pencils, and even lunch boxes became the younger one's "property." Oh, God! Seeing kids studying with old, smelly books and tolerating the smell of sweat and dirt, I felt sorry for them. I used to feel proud that this situation didn't exist in our home. As a young boy, I didn’t think about anyone’s financial status. I didn’t know big words like democracy, individual freedom, or liberty back then, but I had a strong sense that some dads were like villains straight out of a movie.

 

 When I saw new books, I felt immense joy. New enthusiasm surged. I wanted to finish reading all the textbooks in one day. I'd pat myself on the shoulder, thinking I'm the luckiest person. This habit of patting my shoulder continued even when I worked as a sub-editor at Andhra Prabha, a Telugu daily. If I liked a headline or matter I wrote, I'd pat my left shoulder with my right hand. Maybe this is called "self-encouragement." I loved new books and would fondly flip through them. In those days, textbooks had beautiful pictures, some even in colour.

For example, when you opened the Telugu textbook, there was a poem "Chetha Venna Mudda..." with a cute picture of little Krishna. Who is sitting on the floor having "venna mudda" (butter lump) and seeing that Krishna made me think of my little brother, who would run around the house making "ghal ghal" sounds with his anklets. When I brought the book close to hug that little Krishna, I'd get a wonderful, indescribable smell from the colourful book. It was like a fragrant flower garden. 

 

 Why cover new textbooks?

As soon as new textbooks arrive home, a pleasant smell fills the air, but simultaneously, a shocking order hits like a thunderbolt – “Cover the textbooks with thick brown paper sheets!” They say it's a precautionary measure while buying textbooks. They bring brown color sheets to cover the textbooks. The new textbooks’ cover page, the letters, and pictures look so beautiful. If we want to show them off to everyone, it's unfair to cover all the textbooks with the same brown colour, seems like a uniform. A revolutionary thought rises within me. 

From Telugu to math textbooks, bring "equality" by covering them with brown paper as a cover. We stick multi-coloured stickers on them to write our names, class, and section. The small pictures on these stickers bring some comfort. We buy an aluminium box to carefully carry new  notebooks and textbooks to school. Well, my father used to say that the excitement of new textbooks increases interest in studies and boosts imagination in children. The arrival of new textbooks feels like a special occasion, like the hot summer sun easing and the rain pouring down. The wet soil smells so good. Such small joys in life are precious. These are the real treasures that stay with us forever. If there's interest in books, knowledge grows. I realized it many times later. That's why I'll try to share more of my experiences with books.

Book reading shows a better path: It was the 1970s… Those were the days when having a book in hand was considered a mark of wisdom. During our high school and college years, we believed that reading books defined a person’s character.

Today, it’s the mobile phone that has become a style statement. Back then, whether we were traveling by train or bus, or simply sitting in a park, we always carried a book with us. We would read whenever we found a moment—or at least pretend to. Those were the scenes of our youthful days.

Now, the world has changed. Books have found their way into mobile phones, and we read them on screens. The medium has changed, but perhaps the spirit of reading still guides us toward a better path.

    After the internet arrived, all the  information in the universe has come to our fingertips. Back then, carrying one or two books in hand while walking in the college grounds made us feel like intellectuals. Compared to boys, girls had a unique style of carrying books. 

Girls used to carry books close to their hearts, like a bouquet of flowers, and walk elegantly. In those days, many college girls wore Langa-Voni (a traditional Andhra dress). They looked like colourful

Apart from textbooks, we used to read general knowledge books and novels. We used to visit libraries to borrow books. I used to visit the town library occasionally. Girls also used to come there, mostly to read novels. In the library racks, some weekly and monthly magazines were available for reading. 

 

In those days, weekly magazines started a new trend, publishing new and innovative serials. Writers, especially women writers, tried to attract young readers with various serials. Those serials had a huge following. Writers like Yaddanapudi Sulochana Rani, Koduri Kausalya Devi, Muppalla Ranganayakamma, and Yandamuri Veerendranath became popular. When I was working in Andhra Prabha, a Telugu daily newspaper, as a sub-editor, I used to write special news articles (called box items) in the style of Yendamuri. In the editorial section, those who wrote good box items were fondly called 'boxers' by the editorial staff. That's how I was nicknamed as a 'Boxer'. In those days, some serials were not allowed to be read at home, warning that they would spoil us if we read them. But we didn't listen. We would somehow get and read it secretly and then discuss it with our friends. If there were restrictions on reading weeklies at home, forget about detective novels! But some of our friends would read detective novels and narrate the stories with so much thrill, like a movie plot. I still remember names like Detective Bharat and Detective Yugandhar. Detective books were pocket-size, which made it easy for us to hide them in textbooks and read. We believed that books could reform a person's behaviour. 

 

    Now, let me take you back to Bombay... When it comes to libraries in Bombay, the American Library near Churchgate comes to mind. It was located near our hostel and was a modern facility. I had never seen such a library before. The Nandigama library, which was close to my house, was like a black and white movie, while the American Library was like a new colour film. However, a mobile library van from 'Vishalandhra' (a book publishing company) used to visit our town occasionally. It was called the 'moving library'. I would run to the van when it arrived at the Gandhi statue centre. Inside the van, there were rows of books on shelves. I wanted to buy many of them, but I didn't have the money. The Soviet Union publications were cheap, and their calendars looked very nice. The beautiful mountains, valleys, and flowers... it seemed like Nature was mesmerizing me. The Soviet Union used to print calendars with lovely colour pictures. I used them in various ways. One way was to cut out some scenes and make New Year's greeting cards for my friends and family. I didn't have to spend money on greeting cards, and I felt satisfied making them myself. I also bought books from Vishalandhra publishers, like 'Naraavataram' (human evolution), 'Vishwaroopam' (astronomy), and 'Physics in Everyday Life'. I read them slowly, and when the mobile library van came, I bought more books. When I read these books, I learnt many new things. I shared them with friends, and some of them listened with awe. In Mumbai, I took membership in the American Library and borrowed books, even if I didn't read a few of them. My friends would see the books in my hostel room and praise me. I felt a sense of pride. I read some books, took notes, and liked certain points. I also borrowed science books from our college library, especially biology books. When I read them, I felt like I was discovering new wonders. I realized that our perspective changes the way we understand things. 

 

When I read biology books, I understood that there are many amazing things in the life stories of living beings. Some species seemed to tell me their strange stories.

 

- "For whom do plants bear flowers and fruits?"

- "Why do some trees have thorns?"

- "Are plants mute companions (or friends)?"

- "Are there living beings that don't die?"

 

 I started writing notes on such topics under the title 'Wonders in Nature' with the idea of making it a book. 

But that was ignorance because I didn't think about how difficult it is to publish a book. Still today, the 'Wonders in Nature' title is in my thoughts. Life is strange. Maybe someday I'll write articles under that title and publish a book. But unexpectedly, I did manage to do one thing. When I worked for TV5, a news channel, I presented a 30-minute special program on 'Immortal Animals'. 

 

 Our thoughts are big, but our actions may not match them. What did this young lad do next? What did he achieve? I'll share with  you in the coming chapters.