‘Kindle’ ing the small joys of life

Just yesterday I got my hands on the old volume of The Gitanjali – a masterpiece by Tagore. It was hidden amongst a pile of other books in an old shelf at my grandmothers. The discovery brought such joy that it left me thrilled for sometime staring at the old dusty copy. As I opened the book and started flipping through the pages with care in fear that the pages might crumble a lovely scent floated across. The whole experience then made me wonder. Are we becoming elusive to these little joys in the dot com era?

There are so much talks about the new technologies replacing books and newspapers. In fact the whole print media seems to be under speculation with the rising costs and ‘Go green’ factor. Paperback books has been held responsible for the depreciating forests. Agreed that all this is true but then reading a book on a Kindle (the amazing discovery by Amazon) can it ever equate the joy of holding an old copy of a masterpiece. Reading its content intoxicated by the rhythm of poetry and the musty smell of something that has refined by the years. We quote ‘Old is Gold’ in that case how can we measure the years of a virtual copy on the hand held devices to something that is real and tangible.

I am not against the new technology but just hurt how so many people are blinded by it. Searching a book by some easy click might be faster than hunting a book among piles of others but it definitely can never give us the joy of discovery. I think there are somethings which cannot be replaced and we should find a way of coexisting. I am sure an ardent book lover would always cherish his library but might equip himself also with a more modern device. It would be a shame if paperback books are scrapped out and we must learn to strike a balance rather than resorting to the Shift+Delete.

Old is Gold!