Saturday 8 September 2012

Retail Therapy!



I feel like a million bucks today. Like a junkie who just got her fix for the week. Hell, for the year. Yep, I'm very guilty of having sought retail therapy. And no, I'm not talking about clothes or shoes.

The Pterodactyl (my Sri Lankan comrade who lives in Delhi too) and I squealed in excitement like little citizens of nerdville (well, mostly I squealed, the Pterodactyl just told me to stop making a scene) as we stepped into the Pragati Maidan premises (something like Colombo's BMICH), home of Delhi's book fairs.

If you ask me to give you one reason why I love Delhi: it's the books. They are everywhere, pouring out onto the streets, into markets, into giant book fairs like the one we had today -- in all their abundance and variety. You'll find stalls full of Archer and Ludlum, next to Tolstoy and Raquin, next to Gandhi, next to graphic novels of the Mahabharata. It is where lovers of books go to experience what I call a nerdgasm.

Needless to say, I went nuts. The Pterodactyl has no experience in book-shopping with me so I was left by myself, to wander at my will, with a wallet full of money. Bad move. I had an overdose and found myself carrying in my arms a tall pile of - not two, not three or four - but ten new books. I would have gone and bought more had my friend not held an intervention and told me that I needed to stop, that the madness needed to end. I ran out of there with my hands over my eyes before I did any more damage to my wallet. I must have spent about 4000 Sri Lankan bucks (which is actually not too bad though, considering what I bought, see list below).

At first I felt guilty. But then I thought, mum, dad, at least I'm spending your money on books, and not drugs. This is good news for you.

My latest therapists:
Anna Karenin - Tolstoy (there's a Keira Knightley movie coming out!)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
The Odyssey - Homer
Therese Raquin - Emile Zola
Grimms' Fairy Tales - Brothers Grimm
Demons - Dostoyevsky
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Paradise Lost - Milton
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
Hind Swaraj - M. K. Gandhi

No comments:

Post a Comment