The Kindle

As a child, I used to really read a lot of whatever I could get my hands on. That was non-technological era, and finding material to read wasn’t as easy as it is today. So, I was always searching for something or anything to read. I would go to the Gurdwara sahib in my village and read and brought many religious books and magazines home. Shyly, I would ask neighbours for newspapers, and when they let me have those, I would be running home happily. It always lelt like winning a lottery. Whenever I visited my relatives, one question was always on my mind, what can I get here to read. Soon after getting refresh and having something to drink or eat, I would be on the hunt to every nook and corner of their house, looking for any books or newspapers to read, even academic books would do. It never mattered even if understanding those was difficult. I wouldn’t even leave the instructions and manufacturing details on products or classifieds in the newspapers, and would be reading ads about search for grooms and brides.

So, just imagine my joy, when one day, when I was about seven or eight years old, I was reading a newspaper article about upcoming inventions or innovations in few years, something like that. There I read about an eBook reader, where hundreds of books can be stored. Oh my gosh! I read it again and again, I total amazement. Is it possible? How can hundreds of pages be stored in such a small thing. Being a child, I couldn’t understand any of the technical terms and the fact that it was an electronic device where books will be stored in digital form. None the less, I kept that cutting of newspaper article with me for a long time. Often, I would look at it, get lost to day dreaming about a magical box, which would enable me to read hundreds of books. To even think about it was so mesmerizing.

I aged, kept reading, searching and buying books, but one thing always stayed with me, a hope that one day I will own that magical box. Still I didn’t understand the electronic books concept but had faith that something like this magical box is coming my way.

It was after I completed my higher secondary education when I got a phone. Being a bibliophile, Kindle was one of the first apps I started using  to read books. By using it, I got to know about eBooks and ultimately about ‘KIDNLE’, the eBook reader, an electronic device where hundreds of books can be stored. Finally!

I was a teenager and Kindle was costly. It wasn’t so easy to buy one. But I would every few days, be visiting amazon site, looking at all the images of kindle, reading product details, its reviews and watching its video ads. I could see my magical box but it was still out of my reach. I found out that it has so many great features and how the pages look just like real paper, and it is anti-glare, easy on our eyes and so many other drool worthy things. And I was just dying to buy it.

One Diwali season, when it was being sold at a heavy discount, almost at half its price and I finally made that order. I waited eagerly for it to arrive. The moment it was in my hands, my happiness knew no bounds. I finally got my magical box. I could really see, touch, and yes, kiss my childhood dream. I was totally, passionately, madly in love with it and I still am.