If there is something in this world which can induce the same amount of happiness and excitement every time we come in contact with it, undoubtedly it is a book.

Known as a Man’s best friend, books have always been valued as treasures from time immemorial. As clichéd as it might sound, the phrase has stood the test of time and even generations after Shakespeare and Wordsworth, the bond between humans and their books has been growing stronger.

A New World

Books help us dive into a new world, with a new environment and characters which we might not normally come across. Books are capable of taking us through the most surreal places on the world, through the various wars across centuries and through fantasy worlds, within the comforts of our armchair. The words of Shelly and Keats have the power to stir up the souls of even the most desolate beings and help them experience the emotions recollected in tranquility. It takes us into a new world altogether, which cannot be let go easily.

The Person You Wanted to Be

Normally, people are fond of a book if they are fond of a character featured in the book. People like a character if they are able to associate themselves with the character or if it portrays the characteristics of the person they always wanted to be. As the readers are not bound by any restrictions, it is amazing how one character could have a huge impact on its reader. It acts like a friend who inspires the other and helps one find their way, when they think they’re lost.

Of Conversations…

There is a reason why they say books are our friends. Reading is like having a conversation with the book. The book tells its story and we respond with our emotions. The conversation might sometimes seem like a soliloquy, in the form of words or in the form of thoughts, but it can be assured that the other person involved in the conversation is paying rapt attention to the former’s words or thoughts. What more can one ask for in a friend!

Flipping through the Last Pages

I am not sure if the term ‘elatasad’ can aptly convey the bittersweet emotions that one experiences when flipping through the last pages. The joy of being a part of a wonderful journey and the pain of having come to the end of the journey is inexplicable. It is like bidding farewell, with the only hope that we might get to meet later and perhaps recount the memories of the good old days.

Years later, when we read the same book, the memories come flooding in and blind us with nostalgia, as we turn the pages pausing here and there. Yet again we’re stuck by the familiar pain of having to say ‘Bye’. We realize we have to move on, but deep within, we know that there is a special place etched for every one of them!

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