The beginning of human life was meaningless and void but their search for rhymes and reasons in every existence started adding meaning to the same meaninglessness.
Those meanings, that were added, were also inscribed and engraved upon numerous things. Some upon stones, some upon metal plates, some upon polished skins and some upon different types of leaves too, finally that all inscriptions materialized into a pile of tightly pressed and bound pieces of papers called books. The whole thing was done just for the sake of ‘would be change’ that they desired. For centuries and up till now those pieces of papers only have brought about many enormous changes in the world.
The creation, the first man and woman, their offsprings and all that things that happened on this earth lies only at one place that is books.
A book even contains a beggar’s happiness with a penny in the bowl and a king’s stress with a silver glass full of fine wine.
Nothing more than this can be said in favour of books that, the almighty too uses a book to record our lives.
Such a lofty one and thing of glory seems to be losing its charm now.
There has always been a battle between books and wines for the sake of position and glory. But the scene, that presents the change of last five of six decades, shows that books are soon to lose their glory and charm. They are to lose the battle with wine.
A book has always been a mixed taste dish as FRANSIS BACON says- “‘some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly”.
But now the same taste has been stolen and added to wine thus a wine is tastier than a book.
The dearest subject to many writers and wise people used to be books only, but now the one who loves wine is proclaimed wise and offered the best honour.
We called books a humble contradict, a base of belief, light of every heart, an object of paradise, a loyal friend and a maker of a complete man.
The present form of the above sentence has replaced the noun ‘book’ with ‘wine’ and all that glorious adjectives that we added to books have gone to wine.
Earlier, almost every individual housed either a heap of books or a library. Today every individual desires to house some bottles of fine wine or cupboard full of wine bottles.
Our walk with book has turned into walk with wine. We visited every place with a book in our hands or after reaching our destination we used to pick a book from the nearby self, which was deliberately exhibited. Now- a- days, a guest patiently waits for the moment when the self of wine would be exposed and some drops of that would be poured into his throat.
That was a day of knowledge sharing; now it’s a day of wine sharing. Those days a man with health, wealth and power but without books was poor; today a poor sharing wine is no less than a king.
I don’t know when someone was found lying in bed with a book on or upon the face or the chest but many are found lying with broken glasses and wine bottle lying around.
That was a time when wine used to be part of poem and stories, now it is the time when book has become a story.
Wine shops are now a holy temple where the seller is the priest, wine is the LORD; and every morning at nine AM, devotees knock the door to get the earliest blessing.
Whereas, the book shops are a kind of museum which house some rugged and some fine antique relics, people come, see and go.
Everybody is rich at a wine shop but nobody has money at a book shop. Wine sellers are known to all and visited by many noble men frequently, but a books seller craves for two times meal.
Wine lies comfortably in fine showrooms and books on roadside footpaths.
Popping sound of beer bottle is dearer to ears than the flipping sound of pages.
Today on an average, people buy wine once or twice a week but when it comes to books it is hardly bought once or twice in a year.
We must not forget that people like CHANAKYA and KALAM had only one loyal friend they spent life with; AMBEDKAR remained hungry for several days for, was books only.
We must know that it is not the battle of books only against wine but it’s our battle, a battle of conscience, hope, belief, progress, change and of eternal happiness. We must not let wine conquer over books. For, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE said so- “O thou invisible spirit of wine if thou has no name to be known by, let us call thee Devil.”