a Story...............

At the shelf beside the bed, under the denims and shirts a place which was quite dark to be in , the half-read books of the ‘boy’ were having their annual general meeting. There were the Readers digests ,Textbooks, Noteboks, Harry Potters,The World is Flat, Alchemist, One night @ call center and many more and quite a few NIIT books. As with each year, The Maths textbook opened the day’s proceedings. In his welcome address, he regaled the conferenc with his favourite anecdote about a ‘boy’ who used to study from it when things he had to offer was relevant to the 'boy' . And with each page, boy’s knowledge improved and even though the boy skipped a few things in between he finally passed the boards with decent grades and he was being modest….

The delegates clapped appreciatively and soon dispersed to attend the various workshops being conducted throughout the day. There was ‘a book is forever, not just for holidays’ where several books that had been gifted/bought through the holidays aired their anger at the disservice done to them. There was ‘Never been touched’ where books that had never been pried open by eager hands cried their hearts out. The ‘I’m an autobiography, get me out of here’ section was buzzing with few books that held the lives of people famous and infamous but had languished for want of readers who loked beyond the photographs . And then there was the hugely popular ‘Borrowed and never returned’ section which attracted loads of dissatisfied books from the friends of the ‘boy’ and had never been returned to the true owner and then there where other stalls for ‘I was made a movie’who spoke of readers who had not taken the time to plod through the plot and instead picked up a movie version of the book and the latest entrant was ‘the guide’.

Then there was the ‘ I am being eaten’ where books so hardly moved from there place where being chewed away buy hungry monstrous termites. Not to forget ‘I was used to kill’ section where books showed off the flies, ants and insects which where accidentally or purposefully killed by the ‘boy’ as they crawled or flew through the them.

The organizers had thoughtfully arranged for grooming sessions where the books could have their bent pages straightened and the coffee/and curry/blood stains paled. But by evening, as hard-covers dusted off their Covers and as soft binds slid bookmarks back in their midst and everyone had vented their hatred of the Harry Potter series which was aloof all along [of course, they weren't jealous], a sense of gloom and sadness had descended. The books sulked back into the shelf they came from. But this summit was not like any other …it was time to awaken, to fight back, to register a protest and not to give in meekly ……..thus they all vowed, they will make extra effort and refuse to be shut when their reader fell asleep with the pages agape. No, they will not sit quite until they have been read through…….. But the innocent books had no clue the ‘boy’ sporting a rather disturbing pimple on his nose had seen them all ,heard them all and before they could protest ...he put more denims and shirts and muffled their protesting voices….but the books dint give up…all the notes quipped in “WAIT TILL EXAMS SUCKER……………DON’T COME TO US LATER!!!

The 'boy' snickered ……..”The new semester has just begun!!!”

But a voice came from the back of his mind “but the results haven’t ………“

The end!