A Book is Looking for You

Many years ago, I had made a vow that I'd never part with any book in my collection. I've broken that vow a million times over. If a book doesn't appeal to me, I feel that it is meant for someone else and it's better to send it back into the world to find its rightful owner. 

Last year I decided to personalize my donation drive. Every book I donated had some comments (in pencil) on different pages of the book. I even made a new bookish email account asking the buyer to write back to me giving me his/her opinion on the book. No one, not one person, has written back. 

Which can mean one of two things. Either all the books I've sent out into the world have not found a new home or the buyers have just dismissed my email address and comments as a lame attempt by someone desperate for friendship.

So I've decided to reach out to you. Send me an email and I'll share with you all the titles which, I think, need to find a new home. Without my bookish email scribbled on page 58. 

Comic Strip: Google Images

Love Happens

When we fall in love, the scenery around us changes from bright colors and defined forms into fuzzy Instagram pictures.

I experienced life the Instagram way when I met my husband in Dec 2008. From the very first interaction, everything around me assumed hues of warm, endearing colors. Our courtship just lasted three months which, as my friend assured me the other day, was enough to lend excitement to my otherwise regular arranged marriage story.

I've been struggling to write about love. What made me believe, in a matter of a few weeks, that my husband was the one? Besides the common interests, love for books & theatre, what made me so sure that this person will keep me happy for the rest of my life? That he'll take care of my needs and support me in every way? That he'll be able to fulfill all those dreams and hopes that I had tucked away somewhere in my soul and forgotten about?

And my answer is simple. Nothing.

Love can come by when you're least looking for it. When I met Adnan, I had crossed our society's 'marriage-able age' mark. I wasn't on the look out for a Prince Charming myself and was ready to marry whoever my parents deemed fit for me. In this case, I must admit, I was very lucky because had my parents ever come under societal pressure, I shudder to think where I might have landed. 

I found love at the right time in my life and this love has made me a completely different person from who I was five years back. And that, I think, is what real love does. It makes you grow and blossom into the person you were always meant to be. And when a man loves and takes care of you when you're down with fever and throwing up in the toilet or when he doesn't snub you when you're complaining about a bad hair day or shares your enthusiasm for almost all your hobbies- you've found true love. 

Almost.

'The deepest love is not the most carefree.'

Travels with my Aunt - Graham Greene