On Wednesday, my husband and I moved the work desk and chairs around, so we could sit under the air conditioning vent. Let me explain. My husband and I work at the same table, on either side, facing each other. I chose to face the book shelf.
Since Thursday, I have been sitting here, writing an article on Coping with Loneliness for a national magazine. In between, I watch TV (also facing the book case), talk on the phone, read, check my email, drink tea and coffee, talk to my husband who sits across me, and blog - all facing the bookcase.
I must say I like it. We had the bookcase built three years ago. They are of light wood, in four panels, from the floor to a foot away from the ceiling. The two outer panels have nine shelves and the two middle ones have five large shelves and four smaller ones. They were designed by our architect friend Jeyanthi. Since then the design of the shelves has changed. We put an AC in last year and this required removing a panel. It blends in nicely though. And the coolness is more than welcome.
Arranging the books has been a challenge. We had a lot of books. In 1991 when we moved back to India, we had one lot shipped from my house in Pennsylvania, US and two lots from Rome, Italy (mine and my husbands). We then divided them in several places - at our various homes and offices. When we moved in here we still had three places to house books - this home, my clinic, and Mahesh's office. However, we had begun to weed out the books. I had come to believe that like a garden which needs to be weeded to thrive, bookshelves also needed weeding (for us to thrive). For too long we had books on Marxism and Feminism (and other things) that were once important to us. However, time and isms had marched on. What tune were we marching to? I believed it stopped us from moving on.
So, every year we started taking out books we did not think we wanted to house with us anymore - offering them to friends, libraries and charities. People and institutions were delighted. So were we. Our goal was to have just one large bookcase - this one - of books.
So, now we have three shelves for books related to cooking and food. Four shelves of psychology, self help, and healing. One for gardening, trees, alternative therapies. Three shelves for large size coffee table and reference books on art, travel, photography, jewelry, kilims, houses, etc. One shelf of books written by me. Four shelves of CDs and DVDs, arranged in order of western classical, jazz and pop, blues; Indian classical and vocal; and Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese.
The books are sometimes separated by an artifact. The shelf with travel books has a black and burgundy Japanese lunch box. The shelf with my books has a vase, a gift from my nephew who is a pilot, based in Dubai. The shelf of 'weighty' fiction has a wooden cat with dangling arms and legs, made by Indian folk artists. The shelf of dictionaries (English, Hindi, Italian, Spanish, Urdu, and Sanskrit) houses a cigar box.
On the three topmost shelves to the extreme left, I look at artifacts collected from our travels - to Myanmar, Senegal, Nepal, Afghanistan, Egypt, China and Korea.
At the centre of the bookcase sits the gold plated Buddha statue, given as a house warming gift by Phuntshok, my Bhutanese friend, blessed by the high priest of the Tibetan monastery. Around it are three river stones gifted by Gretchen, collected by her on her January trip to Rishikesh - a spiritual place in North India.
I love looking at the book case - the various colours on the spines of the books, their names, authors and the memory of reading them. While the books have their own way of sitting on the shelf, the CDs are immaculate in their order, always being the same size, unlike books. The artifacts ground me and take me back to the places I collected them.
In the various houses we have lived, we have always had bookcases. But never custom made, like this one, to suit our needs. The books and the CDs were measured, like any good custom made things are. When we arrange them (and this has changed over the years) I am conscious of how they will sit on the shelves - what spines do I want to look at when I am on the couch, by the round take, the easy chair? And now, the work table. A whole new dimension is added by moving furniture and ourselves around. Who would have guessed?
As I sit here writing this, I think about all the people who wrote those books, the song writers, the companies that produced them; the artisans who produced the artifacts; and the love of friends and family whose gifts we hold dear.
It's such a rich tapestry. And, all in a bookcase. Imagine.
