Tome Reader

My old roomie was renowned in Pilani for being an all-environment reader. He’d read while walking to classes and back, during meals in the mess, and even while…ahem…using the facilities (ed: close encounters of the first kind, not the second, mind you!). In Urbana, something drastic might have happened because I saw little evidence of this obsessive compulsive behaviour. Of course, he bought books by the multi-dozen but they were definitely not subjected to the same level of scrutiny as before.

One possible reason behind this detox scenario is that the contagion was passed onto me, his namesake. You know what they say about not judging books by their covers? Turns out that the logic swings both ways – bitextuality, I believe. Anyway, I’ve perfected the art of walking, reading and avoiding inconvenient obstacles like people, lamp posts, potholes and cars. Well, I shouldn’t be too carvalier about the last one, since there were a couple of occasions in Cambridge when I came close to being a muddied page in history. I’ve also almost mowed down pedestrians who were silly enough to cross me.  Serves them right for not paying attention to their damn surroundings. The pavement is not your bloody patio, lady!

Once I’ve gotten used to the lay of the land and the traffic patterns, it’s time to whip out the book. The strenuous trek from the lab to the apartment simply dissolves in the literary universe. I find it more enjoyable than plugging the ears with headphones and blasting the Walkman (ed: he’s endearingly old-fashioned). Studies show that you’re 3.141596 times more likely to be struck by a passing vehicle if you’re deaf than if you’re blind. That’s right. The statistics are brilliantly encapsulated in this stellar couplet by Kabir who was undoubtedly more groovy than self:

Ears blocked by iPod-aa?
Flat you’ll as pi be, by Yoda!