The Book of Lands

The library is my favorite place and I can spend hours running through shelves exploring books and then, sit in silence to enjoy the ones I would pick. Unfortunately, my city does not have many libraries. The Town Hall library used to be the largest in the city but it was going to shut down and when I heard the news that they were going to close it and use the space to build an exhibition hall, I was disheartened.

The library was two hours away from my place and yet, twice a week, I would go there to enjoy a whole day with myself. I loved the books there and even the old benches that were hardly shining. I had visited every corner and every shelf in the Town Hall library except for the historical division. I was more interested in reading recent stories, sometimes about business, graphics, and other times technology. When I read the announcement in the newspaper that allowed its visitors to take one last peek into the library before it was closed down, I knew I had to take this chance.

I had an office meeting on the D-day of the library but I was willing to skip the meeting to visit my favorite library. I was on a contract job with 3-days a week of work while I was also studying MBA in a distant learning format. I could always give an excuse that I was ill and cope up with the schedules by shifting my work days but that specific meeting with a difficult client was not easy to work around unless I switched off my cell after sending a weary and sickly message from a poor girl to her boss as an excuse to go AWOL. And I did exactly that.

How unprofessional! I thought to myself but then I was not doing it for some entertainment, party, or a boyfriend like other girls would. I was doing it to explore books.

The books take me to a different world every time I read them.

The books that enlighten me with insights, not any person is able to give.

The books that open up my mind to possibilities.

The books equip me with new skills that I could not always learn otherwise.

The books give me peace and happiness which is rare in my life considering the fact that I was a loner who hardly had friends.

Books were my only friends but I could not keep buying new books every day. So, the library was my best bet.

I was a loner, not by choice, but by appearance. Who would like to make friends with a paper-thin girl with a huge spectacle that covered half her face and hair so scantly that beauty was out of the question?

My classmates called me a nerd when I was in college, the reason why I preferred taking the distance learning option for further studies. In my office, people called me 'silent zone' because I hardly spoke except when my work demanded me. My mom was more than surprised when I had told her that I cracked a job interview. Even I do not know how I did that. Perhaps they hired me because of my nerdy-ness. After all, the profile did not require much talking but only desktop work.

No one would ever expect a simple, obedient, and disciplined girl like me to bunk a class or a job day and I was never the one to even do that but this day was different. It was about my favorite library that was going to close down which meant if I missed this chance, I would never be able to take it ever again in my life. I had to go.

The next day, I woke up early, flipped through my diary in which I had been noting down the names of the books I wanted to read but had not yet covered. I scanned through the list and selected 4 of them as I knew I would not have time to read more. One of the reasons why people called me nerd was the fact that I could actually finish reading 5-6 books in a single day but this day, I was also going to make notes so considering that time added to my reading, I would be able to cover not more than 4 books.

So, here I was ready, ablutions over, the dressing was done, the bag was packed, and breakfast over. It was 7:30 AM. The library would open by 10 AM and I wanted to be the first one to reach. The local train would take 1 hour 30 minutes to reach while the remaining time would be spent on the road. I got dressed in my best attire, although I was not sure if this was best as per the definition of the world for me. But, this was the cutest dress I had. A single piece with a flair at the bottom and colored in the patterns of fuchsia and sky blue – it was light, easy to wear, and was gifted to me by my sister Monroe.

“Mish, you look amazing in this” She had said when I had tried it the first time on my 20^th birthday. Even after 3 years, it still fitted me well and looked as bright as it looked on its first day of arrival.

But how silly it was for me to select the dress for this day, I thought for a while. I was going there for the love of the library books and books could not see me. Looking good is the job of humans and is also taken note of by humans, not books and yet, I was feeling happy for the dress I wore. I was acting silly but it did not matter when, anyways, no one was going to notice. So, I picked my bag and forged ahead on my mission to see the library one last time.

As usual, it took me exactly 100 minutes to reach the CST station and then, I got down. The library was 15 minutes walk from the station. I enjoyed the walk as always. The town was quite preened and beautified by the wall paintings and old big trees that were rarely seen in suburbs where I stayed.

If ever there was a possibility, I would choose to stay near the Town Hall but it was a costly affair. If I had to take a rented place in this area, the rent would be more than my salary. Yes, if I was ok with a hostel stay, I could afford it but I was not. Even when I once visited a lady and found a beautiful home which she was offering in my budget at Marine lines, I did not take it because the lady stayed just below my room. I was a seeker of peace and would not like my owner to keep bothering me. Even my mother had suggested I take an independent apartment, away from the flat owners.

The library was not open yet when I reached but there was a long queue of book lovers even at this hour. I was not the only fan of the Town Hall. There were many but only a few faces were regular and familiar. The security guard who was holding the door to the hall looked at me and smiled.

“Hello Child, how are you?” He said and I took this as an opportunity to go closer to the door. I ignored the creepy stares of people who wondered how I could break the queue. In Mumbai, breaking a queue was a sin and anyone doing that would be punished but I did not care for I wanted to the first one to enter inside and select the best books without having to fight through the crowd. The gatekeeper was an old man who worked the morning shift and she would always see me in the library. We often talked. He was one of the rare people I was comfortable talking to.

“She is regular. Comes here almost every day”, She looked at the others in the queue and said.

They looked at each other as if silently discussing my verdict and for some pretty and weird reason, they let me go without a fuss. Perhaps because I looked nerdy, thin, cute – I did not know the reason but I was given permission to break the queue.

So, I was the first one to enter the library. I wrote my name in the old register of the library and mentioned the name of the book from my list. And then, I walked straight to my favorite shelf of literature. But before I could pick my book, I wondered if I should also explore the section I never explored as this was going to be the last day of the library anyway. I picked my pre-decided book but instead of taking a seat for reading, I decided to take a glance through the history section. I did not know why I never explored the section. It was not like I did not appreciate history but there were too many other interesting topics that took my attention so I often let this one escape.

I walked to the last corner where the oldest books were kept. This was one place where no one would look for books. Normally, readers liked to read books that looked good and were not half-eaten by mosses. Some people even wondered why the library would still keep such old books. They did not express themselves openly but their facial curves suggested it. I looked at them and smiled. In return, I got a faint half-hearted smile from a beautiful girl, who was far off from my league.

“The Book of Lands” – It was a strange name and the author's name was torn. The cover of the book was plain and Prussian with its title carved in golden. I opened the book slowly. The pages were all monochromatic and the scribbles were a mix of Latin and English. I would not understand Latin but I knew it from the looks.

There was something different about the book besides the fact that it was full of hieroglyphics. The symbols were all bulging out as if not printed but painted. I wanted to feel them so I touched one and rubbed my finger over it. It felt like a typical matt texture fabric. The touch felt like magic because when my finger left the strange dark black circular symbol, the symbol turned golden. I winced and pulled back my hand.

“What the hell!”, I exclaimed, without a thought. The two girls who were exploring the same shelf but on the other side looked at me with questioning eyes. I smiled at them as if nothing strange had happened. I turned the page and there was yet another circular symbol, similar but with a few flicks in the design inside it. I rubbed my finger across it, hoping that it would turn golden too, but to my surprise, it turned turquoise.

I turned to the third page. This time, the symbol was not circular but rectangular. A circular symbol was inside it but on both sides were straight lines in the shape of a tree with wiry branches curved at the ends. I rubbed my finger on that too and it took the color of sapphire. But this time, it was more than the color.

The door was not just changing color but it also began to shine and the shine grew brighter with every second. I could not help but keep staring at the magical glow till it was too bright for me to keep my eyes open. So, I closed them and the book slipped from my hands. I covered my eyes with the back of my hand with them still shut and shrunk.

After a while, I felt the brightness subsiding as it gave me less strain and in a few seconds, the strange glow was gone. I opened my eyes slowly. The door was still in front of me except that this time, It was not in any book but in front of me. I was no more in the library but in some dark room where I could see nothing but a bright door shining in blue. It had the same design as the symbol from the book.

Was I dreaming? Was I unconscious? Where was I? Where was the library? What just happened? I had many questions but no answers.

Whatever it was, dream or reality, I felt a pull towards the door so I started walking towards it. It reminded me of a time when I had taken an online session on Guided Meditation and the trainer had given us a visualization of a dark room with a bright door that took us to a new world of prosperity. Could I expect the same thing from this door? I was positive. So, I walked to it but I had no idea how to open it because, unlike any other door, it did not have a knob.

“Hello! Open!”, I said wondering if it took the voice command like the door to the treasure cave in the Alibaba stories I had read as a kid. Nothing happened and I tried again, “Khul ja sim sim”, “Abracadabra”, but nothing worked. Then, I thought, maybe touching the door would help. Just like the symbols changed colors on touching, the door would perhaps open by touching. So, I ran my fingers on the circle and as I did, it became brighter. I was right, the door opened.

As I walked to the other side of the door, I was back in the library but it looked different. It was not the old ruffled library but it looked like the one freshly painted with colors so vibrant that she had never seen before. The girls who were exploring the shelf did not look finicky but friendly. They looked at me and smiled nicely. I walked across the library and it looked freshly decorated like a palace. Everything was in the same place as before but was more beautiful. The chairs were not plain but Moorish with a sheen of brown and golden paint over it. Every chair had bluish-green crystals woven on the top rail.

I was surely dreaming I thought and did not know how to wake myself up because it did not feel like a dream, "Madam, Please take your seat”, came a voice from behind. The man in the formal suit and tie, pulled one of the chairs out for me to take the seat. I looked at him. He was dressed in a typical attire that I would normally find the servicemen of luxurious hotels wearing.

I took a seat, still wondering what was happening. There were four other women seated in the same area and everyone was deeply absorbed in the books they were reading. I felt like I was in an alternate world where the old library was revived. But I could not spend more time there. I had to wake up. I must be unconscious and people in the library could be troubled wondering what had happened to me. They could be taking me to a hospital when I was trying to figure out my dream. How do I know if I was dreaming or not?

Once, I had seen an episode on Netflix in which a character mentioned that one way to know if you are dreaming or not was to look at your fingers. If they were more than 5 then you could be in a dream. It also suggested that one could not read in the dream. I looked at my hand. There was nothing strange. Both hands looked normal with 10 fingers in total. I quickly got up and turned to the shelf behind me. I picked the first book I could get my hands on.

“Business,” It said in bold words. I could read which meant that this was not a dream! I kept the book on the table and looked around the vibrant place. I could not accept what I was seeing as normal. I had to find out what was wrong with me. I ran towards the exit hoping that getting out of the library would wake me up. I flipped open the door of the library. The old man was there but dressed in better clothes. He smiled like usual. I did not stop to ask him anything but ran out. It was not just the library that was the same but even Mumbai looked the same except more vibrant.

Everything looked beautiful. The cars had brighter colors. Tree leaves were shining. The road looked freshly painted. It felt like I had painted this world the way I imagined and had somehow gained an entry inside.

The library that was going to close the next day was now the most vibrant place in the town. The closure announcement was gone from the noticeboard. The library, the book, the symbols, the door, and now the new world I was in - I do not know where my life would take me from here now but there was one last surprise left to shock me.

When I walked down the stairs, I saw a mirror. This mirror was constructed for the people who would attend the exhibitions outside the hall and had a tap for washing. I went close to the mirror because what I saw inside the mirror was more surprising than any other things I saw. Just like the library had turned beautiful, I had too. In the mirror, I was looking at the most beautiful girl in the world.