Since I was a child, I loved the smell of books. Especially those paperbacks with yellowing pages passed down over a decade or two. It was a thrill to read a book that was actually printed before I was even born. My love for books was really instilled into me by my mother. She was insistent that I read. Books, newspapers, magazines and much to be delight even comic books.

This was early 90s I think, she took me to this neighbourhood library. The library was really someone who had a lot of books and was just stacking them up outside his verandha of his house and making a small amount out of his collection. It would run for 2 hours from 7pm to 9pm. Usually it was dark and so my mother would take me there. She herself was a voracious reader so she took pride in her ward being excited about books.

I loved neighbourhood libraries from my childhood. I hardly see one these days. The idea of a library, the act of excitedly borrowing a book for a small subscription and the community that came along with that seems gone or maybe it was never there.

Last week I was in Bangalore for couple of days. One of my favourite things to do in the great city of Oru, is to walk through Church Street and MG Road check out all the bookstores. There is much to like or dislike about Bengaluru, but the city sure loves its books! The picture above is from Bookworm.

I love these types of stores which mix new, freshly minted books and also old used ones. It is not a library but the smell of those old books stacked all over is very comforting.