Aristotle, an old bookshelf, and a chinese torch

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Aristotle,the Greek philosopher, was in the habit of collecting books [manuscripts], spending huge amount of his earnings on it.  Sometimes Plato, Aristotle’s philosophic guide, used to call Aristotle’s house as “the house of the reader”. It was Aristotle, who gave us the principles of library classification. The concept of zoological garden and the foundation of logic are also his invention. Terminology of science is also the contribution of this genius. Alexander spent huge amount of his treasure to help Aristotle, in establishing the Zoological garden during his time, since he was the disciple of Aristotle.

                           While reading the classical novels in English, we come across the elaborate descriptions of the library and some interesting related scenes, which give a picture of life of that period. Description of a huge library room with polished wooden tables and chairs, books in red and blue jackets arranged neatly in rows, the elders retiring to the library after dinner to have chats over a cup of tea, servants bringing teapots on trays and knocking on the library door – such fine details made the reading more interesting and realistic. A collection of books, a library in the house, reflected taste and culture of a family in those days.

As a sign of culture, every educated family used to have a small or big library in one’s house in those days. Popular writers and popular magazines used to decorate the shelves. Reading was a sort of entertainment then. Reading always made one knowledgeable, imaginative and empathetic. Now, the word entertainment is the birthright of T.V. Since we are into visual culture now, passion for reading has considerably gone down in recent years. When I was rummaging through the shelf of old books one night, in recent days, I found King Lear, Crime and Punishment, Wuthering Heights, Lady Chatterley’s lover, Dr. Faustus, Gulliver’s Travels, Pilgrims  Progress, The Fountain Head, Atlas Shrugged, Emerson Essays…. and the list continued. Electricity went off suddenly, leaving me amidst the old yellowed books. A Chinese torch came to my help.  Chinese torches are small, handy and brilliant in their performance. These colorful torches have flooded the markets everywhere. The torch threw brilliant light on those classics. For me it was like a box of assorted chocolates wrapped in colorful glittering papers.  When I touched those books fondly and dusted, I could recollect some content of each book, very vaguely. I have started going through these old books one by one, once again. After a gap of nearly forty plus years, the same old books are giving me a different insight and different feelings altogether. I question myself, whether it is the all time appealing content of the book or the graying of my hair, which made the book more interesting and revealing.  A book, be it a novel or a biography or an essay, it always denotes the society, its culture and values. It stands as testimony for that period. This enables one to have comparative views of the past and the present.  Old books are always welcome because these are the repository of knowledge. After a gap, some books look rich and need to read often to get to the depth. Some books empty themselves at the first reading. Can we here apply Reader- response Theory?          .