One of my Gifts

Posted on December 11, 2010

One of my Gifts
This is a comment I posted at tiny Buddha.

Giving without expecting anything in return is a virtue Buddha always admired.

My daughter was recuperating from a long illness and it was hard for her us to keep her occupied.

I had lost all the ideas to make any meaningful contribution.

Then one day, I dropped into a bookshop selling old books. 

I remember, she telling me that there is this new bookshop (opened recently) selling secondhand books (thrown out as thrash in UK) .

I knew she selects books and leave them (with her name tag) at the counter to buy them later (when she has spare money).
I went through the book at the counter but could not find her name.
The second time when I went there, I politely asked the manager, could I see the books that are reserved but not collected.
To my amazement there were plenty of books (bags) waiting to be collected.
After a few meaningful searches I found the bag with the label in her handwriting.

Rest is history.

What really dawned on me was that there are many like her going for secondhand books to save a few bucks.

When I was a kid if somebody gave me an old book, I would have “thrown a fit”.

But now I scavenge at bookshops selling old but readable books.

This Christmas, if you have books worth (secondhand) reading please send them to the third world, Ceylon included.

It is sad our English Education is very poor.

The gift need not be a brand new especially if it is a good reading material.

English books are very expensive even if they are printed (poor quality) in India.

Even, books on Linux were expensive, in my retirement, I used to the same thing my daughter did.

Reserve the books to be collected later when I had cash. 

I did buy a few books in Australia and gave up, soon.

Unfortunately, libraries are poorly stocked with this Digital Books and Amazon entry into book business.

I am still looking for the book "The Capital" by Carl Marx.

I think it is branded not to be used in Western World.

That is my guess work.