By: Aalam Singh Batth.
The things I would do for a book is beyond anyone’s imagination. And, no I would not describe myself as a bookworm, I read at my own pace and at my own choice. I don’t read to highlight it or put status on social media. If the concept of the book is interesting, then I’ll read it, that’s it.
(P.s. I know it’s hypocritical that I am highlighting the stuff I am writing, but these day’s people’s attention span is very short, these are the lines also happen to describe the basic idea of this piece).
I also happen to be very clingy, if I want something I try my best to get it. There’s a reason, I won’t describe it as me being ‘goal oriented’ or ‘ambitious’. By clingy I mean really clingy, I remember the first book that I bought in person was at a book fair held at the back of van, I was around 8 or 9 at that time. The book was an encyclopaedia, and I must have read it idk how many times, I don’t remember. I got so attached to that book that I always kept it with me, and I kept it near my pillow when I went to sleep. I still keep books that I am reading next to my pillow, it’s one of the few things from my childhood that I never grew out of. So, yes, I can be clingy when it comes to books that I like or find interesting. So, much so that at times, it’s love at first sight, which means that I get attracted by its title and summary.
Obviously you can’t judge a book by its cover, but it’s always worth a read. And, thankfully books are not people, so I actually pursue my interest, since it doesn’t involve an awkward conversation.
Last year (2025), I was at a Crossword book store that is very near my place of accommodation in Pune. I remember very succinctly that I saw a book at the tangent of the war-politics and thriller intersection. I saw the book, found it to be interesting, it was placed conveniently well at the tangent of its genre. However, I made a mistake, instead of adding it to my ‘to be read’ (tbr) list, I searched it on amazon. Then I forgot about it for quite a while. In February of this year (2026), I remembered liking such a book. However, to my dismay, I couldn’t find the book on my amazon search history. I was lost and confused, so I did what I had to do. Since that day, whenever I went to that bookstore, I would look for that book and every time, I’d comeback heartbroken like an anxious lover. I must have visited that bookstore 6-7 times (67 lol), but it yielded no promising leads. One day, I had enough and I emailed Amazon asking for my entire amazon search history and each and every product I had viewed. I got a huge excel sheet mailed at my inbox from amazon, with the codes entered of each and every product I had viewed on Amazon. Since, I am not good with computers, instead taking help from a software engineer, I took the aid of the ‘job killer’, Chatgpt. It decoded the code easily and yes, I could see each and every item I had viewed, which also included a Bharat Petroleum worker’s uniform and a toilet seat (don’t ask me why, it’s a very addictive spiral). But, that book was not there. And just like two complete strangers, who could have possibly fallen in love, we never saw each other again. 🙁
That experience taught me a very valuable life lesson: Always click the photo of a book you like (pls don’t do this with actual humans that’s harassment).
So, today I went to that same bookstore again, saw some books that I found interesting, clicked their photo (with consent, I asked the staff) and I THINK, I MIGHT HAVE FOUND ‘THE BOOK’ . But that’s a story for another day, because we need to get to know each other first. 😉
