A few hundred spent (wisely)

Went to Crossword today. Bought 3 books... total damages = Rs. 784/-. Spending on books give me great satisfaction ... I don't know why. I feel as if the money has been invested in some permanent asset. I may get back to the books raraely, but still, a glance at my bookshelf, with all its wealth, gives me tremendous pleasure.

The past few months have been especially good and about 7-8 books have been added to the shelf, substituting some stupid sidney sheldon books. Books that have been added include "To kill a mocking bird", "those days", "first light", "my exepriments with truth", an R.K. Laxman book, "Catch 22", "Kim" and a couple of other books left behind by bhaiya, which I am yet to read.

Anyways, as I said, today I bought 3 books. "Prothom Aalo", by Sunil Gangopadhyay, which is the original of "First Light", mentioned above. Mummy did not want to read the translation, so I decided to give her the original as her birthday gift (her b'day happened to be yesterday). In fact I am in the process of reading "First Light" now and am enjoying it thoroughly. It's been an enlightening exeprience, to say the least. I was quite ignorant about the rich cultural heritage of our Country and especially Bengal. This book, along with its prequel, "Those Days", has helped to dispel this ignorance to some extend.

The second book is "It's not about a bike", the biography of Lance Armstrong. This book was recommended to me by bhaiya. (In fact, Those Days and First Light were also his recommendations) Whatever little he told me about this person really impressed me and I wanted to know more about him.

Finally, the 3rd one is a pictoral biography of Sachin Tendulkar. I would not have bought it hadn't it been for the attractive price. The book originally worth 495/- was being offered at 199/-. I couldn't resist the temptation. Everyone knows how much I admire him. Even though, some people may consider it a waste of money, I don't care.

Anyways, I hope i find time to read all these books. Right now I have 6-7 books queued up. But I have plenty of time. Once I get over with "First Light", which I guess will take another 2 days, I shall start with Lance Armstrong. I shall try and write a review of First Light and if it comes out well, it may be one of my next posts!