COLORES
INFINITUM
I am a regular reader - and of what not.
And I love good books.
Someone once asked me how I selected my
books.
Now, various facets may be to this - that
how I select my books. But the direct one is - I go through some of the pages,
scan it, read a few and make my decision on whether to pick one.
Most of my books of the lot, my personal
library, have entered my life like this. And I have a healthy library.
Then there are books that I know about -
like about the author and the quality of the work - and the subject matter.
These books are always a 'decision-making'
proposition for me.
And the book by Rakesh Kayasth ji (or
Rakesh Sir - that is how I know him), 'Kos Kos Shabdhosh' comes in this
category.
The days with Rakesh Sir at Videocon Tower,
Delhi, were really good days of sitting around, talking on some issue, and discussing
a thing or two, whenever we got time, or whenever we got mood. And with him
came some good friends.
Rakesh Sir had been given a seat with us
and our conversation began like that only - a senior who was willing to listen
to his junior - who believed his junior could talk sense. And we would discuss things - from Manoj
Kumar's Clerk to the anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare. The visit to
the Ramlila Ground after the office hours during the agitation led by Anna
Hazare was one such product of our sitting hours. Sometimes, he would drop me
to my place at IP Extension, Patparganj while en-route to his home in Ghaziabad.
Our discussions would not have a definite
purpose mostly and that was for good. He was famous as the writer of our
network. He was famous as crispy script writer who was called to deal in with
complex subject matters. He would always look in a thoughtful mood, like
thinking about his subject(s) or character(s) at hand.
He is a sensitive human being and a writer
in that garb.
My time spent in that office led me to wait
for the day he would write his book. Though he left the city some three years
ago for better options in Mumbai, and we could not spoken with after that, our
Facebook pages kept me in touch with him, even if irregularly because I am not
a regular Facebook user.
And through his Facebook posts and columns,
I came to know about his book 'Kos Kos Shabdkosh'. And it was the one book I
was waiting to read because I knew the author personally.
And Flipkart delivered it in lightning fast
time, within 24 hours of placing the order.
Yes, I could not read it then, due to my
long engagement with the AIIMS and winding hours of visit.
But now it is here. And I am writing about
it.