The old man,his books and his wise words..

When I woke up today, I had no idea how enriching my day was going to be.

Last week while browsing through a popular social media site I came across this event happening in Johannesburg. It was a second hand book sale. The event description said, a ‘Recently retired academic's personal library. An impressive selection of over 4000 books to be sold.’ I kept reading and re-reading the event description, partly happy, partly confused and also strangely angry. I was naturally happy because the books were sold at a ridiculously less price. But what confused me and further angered me was the fact that someone has actually arranged a book-sale to see unknown people touch and take away his beloved books. I tried telling myself to calm down. I do not know the person and hence I could not be angry on him. But a part of me was highly dejected, and I kept going back to the events page. Finally I decided to go.

Today morning when we reached at the gate of the mansion, it was drizzling. In my mind the backdrop seemed perfect, as the universe must be deeply saddened by this treacherous activity. But I quickly controlled my mind from the melodramatic ranting, composed myself and stepped into the foyer. The house had a warm welcoming vibe, and it was clear that everything was placed with a lot of thought and care. I crossed the foyer and walked down a narrow hall-way, when I heard voices coming over from the room on my left. As I turned and stepped inside, I found myself standing in one of the best home library I have ever seen. The two walls on either side of me were covered with thick wood panelled book-shelves. The room was U-shaped with two floors. From where I stood i looked up to an elegant crystal chandelier, around which the wooden carved railing of the second floor could be seen. There was a huge table in the middle of the room. Behind the table a spiral stair-case led to the second floor. There were around 10-12 people in the library, who must have come for the sale. I looked around the place trying to locate the owner. At the corner of the room there were few chairs and I could see two elderly gentlemen and a lady were engrossed in conversation. I looked at them from the corner of my eye, trying to understand who the academician was. 

His collection was diverse, impressive and awe-inspiring. Homer’s Iliad rubbed shoulder with Aldous Huxley, Shakespeare’s plays stood next to John Osborne. There were books on the history of chamber music, wine tasting, law, gardening, travelling and so on. It was like tens and thousands of different worlds colliding against one another, creating this magical realm. I just closed my eyes and let my fingers brush through the spines of the books, taking in their stories. I didn’t realise when I had reached the corner of the room. As I looked up I saw few young college students were standing around a kind-faced octogenarian man, “You kids should have come yesterday. Today is the 2^nd day of the sale, and most of the good volumes are already sold off.” He was looking through the books these students had picked up and was helping them chose the right ones. He had the kindest face and the wisest eyes I had ever seen. I walked to the other end of the room.

I picked some books for myself and walked to the table in the centre of the room where a young man was busy with the transactions. Kunal said maybe I should meet the owner once before leaving and thank him, as a courtesy. But I was not sure of that. I still harboured some mixed feelings for the person and didn’t want to face him with my prejudices. So I stayed back in the queue. As my turn came I laid down my books and started handing them to the guy at the counter. Suddenly someone took a book from my stack and said, “I was wondering why no one was taking this book. This one is a sure winner. I hope you have good time reading this one.” It was the elderly gentleman I had seen before, the owner of this envying library. 

I smiled and thanked him politely.

And before I knew the words poured down my lips. “How can you sale your books to complete strangers?”

He looked at me, as if he is noticing me for the first time. A pleasant smile crossed his lips and sat cosily in his eyes. “I’m not selling them to strangers. I’m selling them to people I know will value them. I have read these books and I know that I will never read them again. Moreover this is just one-third of my whole collection.” He paused and silence swiftly filled in the spaces within and without.

“And you know young lady”, he spoke again, “As you grow old, you must learn to live light and let go of the things that binds you.”.

Sometimes few words can teach you more than what a library full of books can do.