விலைவாசி

சில எழுத்தாளர்கள் ஆங்கில பெயர்வெய்த்து தமிழ் கதைகளை எழுதும்போது, நான் தமிழில் தலைப்புவெய்த்து ஒரு ஆங்கில போஸ்டை எழுதுவதில் குற்றமும் இல்லை; இதில் எனக்கு எவ்வித வருத்தமும் இல்லை.

It's the best time for me to write, coz I;m so beat right now I won't delve into deep details or technicalities.

Bored at the hostel I ventured outside with a goal on my mind, 'buy an refill for the sturdy AD pen'. I've been using that pen for a few months now, and hope that it'll be with me for a while.

Couldn't find the refill, shopkeepers say 'no one buys refills anymore; customers prefer to buy a new pen rather'. I was on foot, searching for any other Stationary shops that might have what I need. While I was staring at either sides of the road, a kid approached with children's books.

" அண்ணா அண்ணா please நா, வாங்கிகோங்க நா.  இருவது ரூபா தான்."

"ரெண்டு எவ்ளோக்கு தருவ?"

"முப்பத்க்கு எடுத்துக்கோங்க"

"சரி நாலு குடு"

"Thanks நா"

"Schoolக்கு போரியா? இல்ல ...."

"போறேன் நா"

I bought four books for the kids in my family. Had a mind to do some kind thing, and pondered of the kid from whom I bought the book from, and the kids I bought the books for.

Life's strange, it may turn to any direction. One must be glad of his situations, for there are people who are struggling a lot and aren't complaining.

With these thoughts, my eyes were fixed on a book shop. I was enticed and magically appeared inside the shop without any conscious effort.

First words out of my mouth were:

"செருப்பு  போட்டுக்கலாமா ?"

"ஆஹ், அது பிரச்சன்னை இல்ல"

After a few seconds of glancing at the book shelf with a 'Only 20 Rs' tag over it, I said:

"இல்ல uncomfortable-ஆ இருக்கு ", and removed my footwear in a corner. It felt weird, looking at books with my foot wear on. I was reminded of my schooldays, you must remove your shoes before entering the Library.

Found a lot of interesting books, 'Mystic River', and 'The Notebook' are the ones that seemed to tempt me; mainly because they were made into wonderful movies. I settled to buy 'Best Music Written' and 'Webster's Thesaurus', there were plenty of other books but they were out of my price range (especially because of lack of the offer).

I had a pretty good haggling experience with the shopkeeper, I was asking for the old 'Avid Handbook' and he said 50% 0ff and offered it for 200 rupees. I had at this time picked up a Jiddu Krishnamurthi book too, I glanced at my purse and back to the book. I didn't buy those books, I had only got the Music book and the thesaurus.

Walking away I looked at the two sets of books in my hand, one-for which I didn't haggle far too much but bought to make the kids happy. The other I bought to quench my thirst for knowledge.

                                " ஒரு நூலகத்தில் வசிக்க ஏனோ ஆசை "