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#WorldBookDay Thread:
My grandfather was a bookseller. He worked in Higginbothams. He loved his job. He went to work - & back - in a big yellow van with no windows at the back. He bought me loads of books.
I always loved books. I didn't have many close friends growing up. Books
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My grandfather was a bookseller. He worked in Higginbothams. He loved his job. He went to work - & back - in a big yellow van with no windows at the back. He bought me loads of books.
I always loved books. I didn't have many close friends growing up. Books
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and stories and imagination - were my friends.
We had a room in our house called the Chinna Room. That's small room in Tamil. That room had a book shelf, a cot and a table with snacks (I think). It had a traingular coat rack where my grandfather hung his long trousers +
and stories and imagination - were my friends.
We had a room in our house called the Chinna Room. That's small room in Tamil. That room had a book shelf, a cot and a table with snacks (I think). It had a traingular coat rack where my grandfather hung his long trousers +
+ (he was very tall) and a row of hooks where he hung his shirts. When he travelled, I wore his shirts - white, full sleeved - and walked around the house.
I loved my grandfather...
He was a bald man, with a small fringe of white hair, his ears were pierced in childhood
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I loved my grandfather...
He was a bald man, with a small fringe of white hair, his ears were pierced in childhood
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+ and skin had grown over it.
My grandmother was as short as he was tall; she was as stout as he was skinny. He was calm and gentle, she was chatty and could be very bossy. When my mother got irritated, she'd tell me I was the image of my grandmother. Thatha and ammama
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My grandmother was as short as he was tall; she was as stout as he was skinny. He was calm and gentle, she was chatty and could be very bossy. When my mother got irritated, she'd tell me I was the image of my grandmother. Thatha and ammama
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+ as I called them - were an interesting couple. One bought me books and encouraged me to read them. The other said if I read at the table, the food will go to my brain.
I always read while eating. I still do. I encouraged my daughter to. I spent a lot of time in Chinna Room,
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I always read while eating. I still do. I encouraged my daughter to. I spent a lot of time in Chinna Room,
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+ picking books and reading them. I had my favourites growing up. Who didn't? Enid Blytons were hot faves. Asterix, Tintin, Amar Chitra Kathas. Later, all the animal authors I adore now. I graduated very quickly to books for older people. Sheldon. Forsyth. Archer.
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+ I didn't know they weren't great literature :) I enjoyed reading them.
Besides this there were school books and prescribed texts. Because there was no Google, we had old fashioned things like Encyclopaedias. I actually read them :)
When I went to my mother's parents' house
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Besides this there were school books and prescribed texts. Because there was no Google, we had old fashioned things like Encyclopaedias. I actually read them :)
When I went to my mother's parents' house
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+ in Kulithalai for the summer, I'd take some books with me. When appa came in the middle of the vacation for a few days, he'd bring a few more and I'd send back what I read.
When I got married, I don't think I took many books with me. Much of what I have now, I collected.
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When I got married, I don't think I took many books with me. Much of what I have now, I collected.
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+ The husband keeps laughing when I insist I need to have them all around me. Are you even reading all of them he asks. He's right, I'm not. But I find them so comforting. They are lovely to have around and within their spines, they hold many secrets & treasures & adventures +
+ & advice. They take me on journeys, teach me about love, loss & longing.
Will you keep my books when I die, I asked the daughter the other day. She smiled. I ask her many ques like this. She knows she's not expected to answer. But I hope, someday, she says yes..
#WorldBookDay
Will you keep my books when I die, I asked the daughter the other day. She smiled. I ask her many ques like this. She knows she's not expected to answer. But I hope, someday, she says yes..
#WorldBookDay
