A sack of books

I was in the OP with Dr. Raveendran, our speciality doctor who visits every month, when Yogitha announced that my aunt, Chandrika chitta, who had come in yesterday to visit alongwith Vijayan kochachan, had sent something for me through someone who worked at her office. After the patients left, she hauled in a big paper bag filled with books...

I remembered telling my chitta inquiring if I had any books with me to pass the time. When I answered in the not wholly positive, she had nodded her head thoughtfully...

And here I was now, with a collection that had Amitav Ghosh, Paolo Coelho, Arvind Adiga, Ira Pande and John Grisham in it, with lesser known names. There was also James Gleick's 'Chaos', David Frawley's 'Vedantic Meditations', five assorted books on medicine, and a bunch of special edition magazines. (And miraculously, none of these books had been read by me before, which is a rare occurrence, as any random bundle of books that someone gives me has got atleast one volume that I've been through.) My cup runneth over... This, in addition to a complete collection of Terry Pratchett's Discworld Novels that a friend gave me, and a stack of philosophy/management/psychology books that another one passed on... (I was not exactly honest when I answered in the not wholly positive, on hindsight)

They all expect me to read them, and the expectation weighs me down. Detachment is something I have to work on, especially with literature, it has its ill effects. For example, the average student studies when he is having his professional exams (prasutitantra,gynaecology and obstetrics), the confident or the diffident ones go to the cinemas, but I read the Dark Materials Trilogy of Philip Pullman at one stretch, taking breaks only to eat, three days before the exam. (And I got pretty good marks for the subject as well, the thing is, they could have been much better if the poring over books was done to the textbooks.) Procrastination, one chapter at a time – that is what happens with many to-do-now things if I'm reading something I like – 'it can wait until this chapter gets over'... and it becomes worse if it is a series...

Anyway, summer ahead. So much to read, so little time. Never going to be a dull moment when I can find time for a dull moment  with these books around.