Last night while my dad drove me back from christmas eve grocery shopping, I asked him if he thought of giving away all our encyclopedias as they were getting old and nobody read them any more.
At home, I have the classic big 4 sets of Encyclopedia Britannicas - the baby one, the one for teenagers, the red bound one for older youths and finally the mighty big brown ones for serious adult researchers. They are all musty now and the silverfish have been industriously tunneling around in the spines.
My father declares, "Give them away? Do you know how much I had to slog and save to buy them for you guys?" He recounted that he bought those encyclopedias in the 1970s and back then, they cost $3000.
He goes on to contextualise it by saying back then he paid $6300 for a new car and $6900 for a new flat.
It floored me - those books on our shelves cost a freaking half a car? half a flat?
What floored me more - that somehow my father had been farsighted and sacrificial enough to think : my children need more than transport and a roof over their head. My children need knowledge and wisdom from others.
It was really sweet to have found that out by chance actually. Its wierd how we find out all these little things about how our parents thought.
His investment paid off. Me and my brother developed a voracious appetite for books of all kinds. Books have been a part of our childhood as much as Electric Company , 3-2-1 Contact, Abba and Lode Runner.
Me, my korkor and later my sister grew up with a healthy respect for learning and an active, creative imagination.
I love this photo. It looks like a natural promotional poster for some reading campaign. :)
Check out cool 80s cultural references in picture: I am reading the seminal Usbourne How to be a Spy Handbook. My brother is reading Hardy Boys... he loved the 3 Investigators series so much he called himself Peter Crenshaw.
And coolest of all: he is wearing his very own hand drawn Storm-Trooper pajamas. :)
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