Z - MY PAGES-30 OCTOBER 2002

MY PAGES - 30 OCTOBER 2002

A few steps and I was in front of my favourite book store 'Bookland'.
As I stepped in I walked along the bookshelves to see the books put up
there. I wondered how lucky Freddy was to be the only son of his father
who owned this book store.

This store belonged to Mr. Robin Samuel. Freddy for Fredrick Samuel,
was his only son. Freddy was my childhood friend. We had passed out
from the same school, graduated from the same college and of course got
our post graduate degrees from the same university. He preferred a
teaching job, thus taught in a college and as for me I preferred an
office job.

Entering into 'Bookland', I looked, here and there, searching for
Freddy as he was present in his shop at this time of the evening. But
today I could not find him. This shop was a very big one and the
interiors had been done very nicely. The proprietor's chamber was
partitioned with glass so that he could get a clear view of the whole
area.

It were during these hours, Mr. Samuel was not present in his shop. He
could be found playing tennis in his club's lawn tennis court. Mr.
Samuel was around 65 years of age. He stood 5 ft. 8 inches tall, very
lean and thin?.. all this for his regular game of tennis?? , the grey
hair receeding back and he smoked cheroot. He wore round-rimmed
spectacles. He was very fair and his cheeks were pink. A casual look at
him could never reveal his age but his grey hair did give away. Always
he was smartly dressed. He preferred wearing culourful shirts which
showed that he was a very lively person.

Come evening, Mr. Samuel could be found in the tennis court. He
satisfied himself with a couple of games. He preferred playing with his
age group than playing with the younger ones for they out played him in
the game, which he did not like.

Whatever it may be, Freddy acted as a substitute at the book store in
the absence of his father.

'Bookland' was one of the oldest book stores of this town. Varieties of
books could be found there. Mr. Samuel was friendly towards all his
customers and even at times helped some of them in choosing books. He
was very well read. A new book enters the shelf and there is Mr. Samuel
to brief you about it.

He would always tell Freddy, "Dear son, this book store belongs to you.
After me, look after it. Don't dare to close it down when I am there no
more. This place is a den of thoughts". He would laugh, pat his son on
his shoulders and move away.

Being the heir to this vast knowledge world, Freddy also spent a lot of
time in reading and at
times did lend me books to read. This had always been lucky
opportunities for me. I just can't remember the number of 'Mills and
Boons' that I have read from this shop.

Today as I moved along the shelves looking for the books, through the
glass partition of Mr. Samuel's chamber, I found him sitting in his
chair working on something. Suddenly he lifted his face and looked
straight through the glass partition. Seeing me, he waved at me to
enter into his chamber. Till now I had not found the books that I
wanted, at the same time I could not avoid Mr. Samuel either. I did
like Mr. Samuel but some how I knew, finding me alone, he would like to
converse for a long time with lots of questions form his side and me,
sitting, opposite to him just giving the replies very meekly.

As I entered into the chamber I said, "Good evening Uncle Samuel. How
is it that you are here today at this time?"

"O my child, I am not feeling well today. So I preferred to come here
instead of sitting at home. As for Freddy, he has gone for a movie. By
the way dear did you find the books you are looking for?"

"Uncle I want Jhumpa Lahiri's 'The Interpreter of Maladies' and 'Tom
Jones' by Henry Fielding".

"At present we don't have Jhumpa Lahiri's book but you can get 'Tom
Jones'". He called out to one of his sales boy and he brought for me
the book. "Anything else?" he asked.

"Uncle I want 'Tintin and the Picaros'", said I sheepishly.

He looked at me with glistening eyes and gave a smile. He said, "I want
to share a secret with you. I love reading comics. You come to my house
and I will show you my collections. Two cupboards full of comics. Till
now I read them when I want to. Don't buy that Tintin comic. I will
lend it to you, after reading it you can return it to me. Of course I
don't lend my comics to anyone but you are my special little darling.
Come tomorrow morning and take it".

Then, I could not tell uncle that I needed 'Tintin and the Picaros'
because I had lost it from my collection of the Tintin serious by
Herge. The characters of Tintin, his dog Snowy, Professor Calculas,
Captain Haddock, Detectives Thomson and Thompson did fascinate me so
much. How much I enjoyed these comics that only I know.

"I will come and take it from you tomorrow". I paid for the book that I
bought and Uncle promised me that he would order for the other book
which would be available the next week.

I thanked Mr. Samuel and picking up my book left his shop, very sad
because I could not get my Tintin comic. I made up my mind that I would
come back again when Freddy would be present to buy my missing
comic.