“Bookwise,

am in library city this month”
                    
I recently received a few books from my friends. Besides having purchased a few books from the second hand store.

The kind of books I received this time were many and off topic – travelogues, a few books on American cars and their association with music, Indian travelogues (I mean which American actually had the patience to write on India?), a few editions of the Machine design and a few others. The travelogue books were a fascinating read at most of the locations. In fact, the author himself claims ‘most’. It’s interesting to read perspectives on a new location through the author’s eyes. And another story altogether to actually go through information on a city and know that Mr. knowitall (self) has not actually visited any worthy at the location. Take your own city, for example, Bangalore. You know it as the Garden city. Where are they? And then you also know it as a lake city. How many lakes have you visited around Bangalore? The greenest part of the city is in the heart of the city - the IIsc campus. (in the vicinity lies the water supply board, the Aranya Bhavan (Forest department) have huge acres of land planted with a few rare species of trees too) The book also intersperses between the different cultures, enterprise and values. And then the books on Machine design show how immensely technology has progressed. A few members of the community have been spammed by me on some of the advancements.

If you read about the difference between the North And South Americans, or about the Jewish community dominating Hollywood, or how Spanish is the most dominant populace or about the Ohio interstates and country homes, you feel that’s not the America you heard about earlier. That’s it - people are people, and each person has something to contribute. The book also traces the long association between the rock culture and cars. In fact, think America and there are so many associations you instantly make with cars. The drive ins a culture popularized  - eat outs, theatres, drive through car wash, how the car has fuelled millions of jobs just servicing the occupants, and how it continues to be a major driver of American growth. You even have those do it yourself kits for a few of those!

Then I also read this book on how music helped American cars evolve.  Again an excellent leisure read - the ones you would love to caress the pages and linger a few minutes longer over each photo. Considering a guy’s fascination for blazing hot wheels and music, they might be part of a hidden agenda. No, it’s not inborn, but a very natural thing to do. To reiterate, have you heard of the bullock cart driver humming a tune while taking you to a place? Or the old Black coated Dodge Fargo mini trucks/buses with a yellow cap (reminiscent of Malgudi days) which took you on those bumpy drives at rural destinations with a beaten deck playing the music tracks? A set of wheels always gets the driver/ owner interested in music atleast while driving. Of course, there are also the drivers who have specific preferences of music. Some prefer those slow moody songs enough to rub salt on a co-passengers wounds. A few put those beaten tracks or songs which is soothing to them, but jarring the others out of their sleep. And then you have the tracks which actually stay in your mind and you remind yourself that a trip to the music shop is long pending.

That reminds me - while I like to see drivers ideally sleep peacefully offtime, I wouldn’t want his sleep to put me to a permanent sleep. I chat with a few on some of those midnight journeys. There was this time when my driver was literally dozing off while driving through Krishnagiri. And as the car halted near the railway track to pass, I could see that the driver was sound asleep. Should I have him stop or should I drive. I don’t drive midnight runs, the reason I had the driver in the first place. I used shock treatment. I ran this jarring audio cassette into the deck and blasted shock music. The guy woke up with a jerk. I grinned. We laughed ourselves out till the train passed. After that, the driver was grins all the way.

Oops... too much on cars and music, but that’s how it would be if you read too many of those magazines, books/ stuff on America. Aargh!

But I still find the travelogues the best ones to read. You immediately come to know about various places and you have an immediate yearning to visit the place. So many architectural marvels, nature’s hidden bounty and people with different recipes. Yeah, that’s another of my favorite topics.