Waking in the morning at 6 can be tiring if one is on a holiday break. After eating Tosai and Puri at an Indian stall along Queen's street is rather replenishing. Walking endlessly; up and down the streets of Chowrastar and it finally gave its very best to me. Walking in the stench filled complex of dead meat, listening to the shouts of busy butchers accompanied by the sound of their sharp blade going down on the raw stricken meat; I found a flight of stairs. I climbed it up, crossing a beggar sleeping, I walked up and found all the shops close, except for this little chinese man selling clothes. A sign caught my eye instantly: "Old and Secondhand Books". My heart raced immediately. I turned to look and to my surprise there was only one shop open. I walked towards it, the Mamak owner gave a wry smile. I found myself a little tipsy. The mammoth stacks of books drowned the entire place. I dropped my bag of corn, and popiah skin and immediately started to browse the books.
Sweat poring down my nose. Drops of it, fall to the 40-year old chemistry text book. Later I grabbed a book entitled "General Physics", I gave the mamak. Then I asked for some comics. He brought out a stack of them; my eyes teared for I have never seen such old elegant comics before. Browsing my hand through issues of Flash Gordon and War Machine made my heart melt.
The almost endless rows of book is really touching. The amou
nt of knowledge that little store held was like a used library. The smell, of aging books, and the colour of faded pages is exquisite. I am grateful for such an experience, because I love to look at books. Read them, and sometimes not able to understand them because of the complex language. That what makes the mind grow, grow with imagination and grow with intellectualism.
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