Why I am warming up to ebooks

One sits listlessly in office, swatting at flies no can see, catching a few winks in between chai breaks. This was something I did not perceive would ever occur to me. Like everyone else, I dreamt of a profession that pays, sends you on trips and possibly kept you within the confines of an office, as little as possible. And I still dream on. Journalism. Sounds like a snazzy job to be doing, but truthfully, part of it can become quite monotonous. Resting your bum on a chair, for 6 hours! Heck I definitely did not dream of this.

And just as sure I was about my job, I was about ebooks. They suck. I was never in favour of new technologies like the Kindle. I'm pretty old school when it comes to books. For me, the touch, the feel and the flipping of pages added to the entire experience of a book. Every time I bought a new book, I plunged my face within its pages and would smell the pages. If it was a second hand book, then the yellowed pages would draw me closer. It was just something else you could not argue with.

But with spending six hours in front of your office desktop, wasting atleast half that amount felt criminal. Till, I discovered the real joy of reading an ebook.

I had started Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, but something better came along the way. Do not misunderstand me. Do not assume that I am degrading Salman Rushdie, its just that his book was not ideal for an office environment. One must ruminate, ponder over and patiently digest his words. But, for me, Michael Crichton, or Stephen King can be gulped down. They hold your focus, till they suck the life force out of you. And before I knew it, I had finished, Pet Cemetary and The Shining by Stephen King, and Sphere and Airframe by Michael Crichton, and currently reading Disclosure by the same author. Where earlier I had thought that office had killed the insatiable thirst for books, I just discovered a way around it. The link below is a treasure trove of long lost books! And the book 'Do Androids dream of electric sheep' is available!!!
http://www.freebooks2u.com/

In the SPHERE and back

After near 5 days of being buried in an ebook, during office hours, I feel like a baby just out of the womb. I feel vulnerable, yet am able to retract into that space, that place inside, unknown to me before. I slip back into the SPHERE, where even I lived for the past 5 days. The movements around me, people and their reactions seem like a motion picture to be seen through the porthole. Everything is silent inside, but the noise hurts the ear when woken up from the dreamless phase, the seamless world of the ocean. I wonder if the book helped unlock an inner state of being, a place I always wanted to reach. I thought meditation would help, funny what a book, a submarine and the endless ocean brought me.



But then again, people say its easier to lock oneself in another realm, ignoring the present. Why not? If it helps to better understand the present, to better cope with the difficulties or even brace for the future. The mind knows not what it can hide, surface, resurface or never disclose. A maze of endless possibilities? My world hides in there, and so do I. Like drifting in the ocean, a floating buoyant object, drifting away....staring at the sky above. Swimming through space. Where emotions don't matter, complicate or even bother. A passive motion, effortless without pain, or even stoic instincts.


However, I will snap to the present, the gravitational pull of the current spaces, of the energy of the bodies around me will bring me back from my stupor. I wake up. To the present, the so-called known and the pain. Is it worth it you ask? To live a dreamless yogic life as opposed an impassioned world of emotions, anger or anxiety. Open up yourself to another person, open to get hurt, or even face extremely frustrating times. To fall back against a wall, smash your fist through it...but the pain never ends. But ITS WORTH IT. Every bit.


I may contradict myself, but who doesn't. There are times you like an apple, there are times you prefer that melon. But its necessary to be true, to what you feel then and there. Time changes, its not static, why should you? If you do, is it worth it? If it is, then hang on to it.