First Book

Once upon a time in the city of Mumbai, 14 years Navin had gone to the station market to buy some groceries for the household. It was customary that whenever there was the need to buy groceries in bulk someone sent to the station market, as the prices of vegetables and grains were comparatively quite cheaper than the local market.

Since Navin was the youngest in the house, he was the one who was often told to do the chore of buying the groceries from the station market, sometimes he was requested politely, sometimes he was flattered and buttered by his elder sisters and at times with a stern order by the elders of the house. His family being a typical North Indian had a very traditional and paternalistic culture, and Navin always bowed down and obeyed or rather in a perfect sense he did his duty without bating the eyelid.

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On that particular day, while walking on the streets of the station market,Navin's attention was drawn to a small bookstall. The bookstall mainly had Gandhian literature which was distributed by the Sarvodhay organization. There were also other books from Hindi Literature apart from books of Mahatma Gandhi,

These books were colourful and Navin got fascinated looking at them as never before in his life he had seen such a collection apart from his the school books. There was the Biography on Mahatma Gandhi, book on Satyagraha, Letters between Gandhi and Nehru when they were in jail. There was literature from Premchand, Nirala, Bhisham Sahni, Dharamveer Bharati,- and many such books from elite authors.

He had read about these authors in school, but he never had an opportunity to know them and their works in detail. He never thought in his wildest dreams that he should be reading them to gain more knowledge; however, he now had an opportunity and developed a sudden urge to know more about them.

Sometime back when his elders had told him to buy the groceries from the station market he was quite agitated and angry with them but now suddenly he felt like thanking them for offering him such a beautiful opportunity. He examined the price of the books, which were quite cheap. Most of the books were around five to seven rupees. His hand went into the pocket and removed the bundle of currency notes and counted them, there were four notes of one rupee each. His face turned bright as a smile lit up. He knew that he is going to be the owner of one of these books.

The shop keeper was an old man who seemed to be a bookworm and probably also was an activist. Every book Navin picked, the old man provided in detail the contents of the book and moreover also about the author, from the very first book till the last book he had written. Navin was highly impressed with the shop keeper’s knowledge.

The shop keeper realized that Navin was a newbie in the world of books and offered. Navin help in selecting the books for him. Navin felt relieved with this help from the shop keeper, as each and ever book fascinated him and he just couldn't make up his mind which one to buy. The shop Keeper then began showing him various books and briefing him about the content of each book. The shop keeper had a great style and had a god gifted crystal clear and deep voice, his comprehension and distinct style of narration motivated him to love each book which he spoke about.

Navin was now in a state that contrary to getting help from the shop keeper, he was further confused. He mentioned to the shop keeper he can buy only one book as he did not have money to buy more. He felt that as the shop keeper was showing so much enthusiasm he would be expecting that Navin will be buying a good number of books, However, "One is quite enough for you", the shop keeper said firmly.

"Later on you can buy more but for now you can chew one", Shop Keeper again asserted.

Navin looked at the shop keeper bewildered. The shop keeper understood Navin's inquisitiveness.

"Chew means not literally chewing, it meant to understand the crux of the book. Sit and analyze and reanalyze what the author of the book is trying to say through his book", said the shop keeper.

Navin picked up 'Tamas' by Bhisham Sahni. "How is this book?",Navin asked.

"This is a serious book, not the right book to start with. You should pick up something lighter", The shop keeper answered.

Navin felt the weight of the book and naively said, "But it's not that heavy, Uncle?" The shop keeper smiled at Navin’s innocence. He tapped gently on his head and explains that he meant about the content and not about the weight of the book.

"What content? What is there in this book? Navin throws a surprise at the shopkeeper.

"It talks about the Hindu-Muslim conflict."

Navin looks blankly at the shop keeper as he knew nothing about this subject. The shop keeper again taps his head affectionately and tells, "There are two types of people in this world. The first type is the one who believes that their religion, their caste, their race, their gender, their class is greater than any other species in the world whereas the second type of people tries to bring each human in the world together as one Identity and in unity." Navin quickly responds that he wants to be part of the latter people.

The shop keeper smiled and blessed him, "the god shall prevail you to be so".

The conversation went on for a few more minutes between them and the Navin sought his permission to leave with the promise and glittering smile that he will soon come to buy more books once he finishes and chews this book well.

Navin had butterflies in his stomach while walking home. He wanted to reach home as soon as possible. so that he can sit in some lonely place and start reading the book. He had four rupees as its pocket money and the cost of the book was five rupees that means he was running short of one rupee. Suddenly it occurred to him that the bus ticket cost one rupee too and if he spends this money to buy the book then he can walk back home instead of boarding the bus. He invested that money in buying the book and hence now had to walk home.

The station was quite a distance from home. He never knew the distance in kilometres, but he knew that it was quite far. Under normal circumstances, it was not possible to walk so much as it would be quite a tiresome journey, but the energy which he had obtained after buying the book was phenomenal and that kept him going. The market place which he was passing through was quite crowded; there were vegetable vendors, fruit vendors and flower vendors at the various other stalls. Men, Women, and children all were engaged in buying stuff for the house and because of that a huge crowd was formed, it was also not possible to walk fast and moreover the roads were narrow and cluttered.

Navin was feeling a little irritated with this ambiance as this was reducing the pace of his walking. He felt that at this rate he will take quite a long time to reach home and felt like walking on the side of the footpath and as well read the book. This idea brought a sudden shiver of excitement in him. He quickly removed the book from the grocery bag to read while walking.

As he removed the book he suddenly saw a mob of men rushing from the behind pushing him towards the wall and shouting... "Kill them...Kill all the bastards!!!! "Jai shriraam! Jai Shri raam!!!. All were holding iron rods and hockey sticks.

Navin did not know what happened for a movement and before he could even think he saw more mobs coming from across yelling. "Allah o Akbar!!! Come on you cowards!!! These people were also holding iron rods and stick in their hands. Suddenly in the market place panic-stricken and people ran helter-skelter to save their lives.

Navin also got scared and tried to escape but suddenly he felt a big blow on his head and he fell down.

Though the mob of hooligans had disappeared long back, people were still frightened and were rushing and pushing each other to save themselves. Navin who had fallen on the footpath gradually gained consciousness. He saw his grocery bag crushed on the road and along with the scattered groceries, his book 'Tamas' was lying on the street trampled by and hundreds of feet. The pages of the book were tattered into many pieces. Navin's eyes filled with the tears... a sudden thought flashed in his mind... the words of the shop keeper rung loudly, 'There are two types of people in this world...

The end