OVER the years this became my favourite place. I used to rush to it whenever I could! Be it for the sake of quenching the thirst of reading, researching for assignments or even strolling past the shelves just to take in with all the five senses the things they had to offer.

“Dear diary,

The keeper of my secrets!

It was another of those school days — the usual long hours of dull classes and the seemingly never-ending work. Yet there was something to look forward today! At least for me.

“We had a library class that day. That one heavenly hour of delving into the joys felt only by someone who knows what treasures the place holds. The love of reading, sharing stories, peeping in the pages, wandering away with the fantasies, getting to know the news and finding an ocean of knowledge each time you visit those shelves.

“But as I walked into the school library, my eyes welled up with tears. You find that amusing? But I had sound reasons to be teary. For this was my last year at school. I realised this was one of the last times that I’ll walk into this place as if it belongs with me. At the desk behind which the librarians were there to keep a check, I showed my library card. I was granted permission to take the seat.

“Again I was reminded that this was the final card I would have, the last one for the last year and it won’t be valid once I step out of the bounds of this school. All this was filling me up with a sense of loss. I was too sad to read anything, I bent my head on the table and closed my eyes. It took a mere moment for the piles of memories to show their flashbacks in the most touching manner. I sighed.

“I had walked into this place five years ago, being a junior we were allowed books from only some specified shelves. Nevertheless I made sure to read as many as I could. Over the years this became my favourite place. I used to rush to it whenever I could! Be it for the sake of quenching the thirst of reading, researching for assignments or even strolling past the shelves just to take in with all the five senses the things they had to offer.

“How wonderful those times! It was hard to believe that all those years had flown by. Oh, how I am going to miss this place! A part of me was attached with it.

“All the books I’ve read and all those I haven’t, the piles of magazines neatly in the holders and the ones scattered on the tables, the morning newspaper and the age old stacks of newspapers, the tables and chairs, the drawers filled with coloured charts, the row of computers solely for the purpose of research, the rules of the library and, yes, the librarian! All these filled up my mind with countless memories so lovingly attached to this place. My heart was not ready to give up on all this. Being in the senior most class, along with a sense of superiority came this sense of loss. I would be leaving this place. Soon enough. But it will remain with me all along.”

I was reading my diary of school days after a long time, but as I leafed through the pages, I found the memories to be as fresh they were that day when I had sat in the school library. I still carry that place with me. And since leaving school, I’ve grown reading as much as I can. I’ve also been to a number of libraries, yet, somehow, I feel none of them can ever surpass the association I have with my school library. It is because those were the times when I developed the love of reading.

I have my roots there. No matter how widespread my branches go, the roots hold them all together. Today I love books all the more and libraries are like heaven on earth for me. Cheers to the love of reading, books and libraries!