Call me book-lover, book-worm, book-fiend or “librocubicularist” (someone who reads in bed)…. I love books… even when a whole fortnight goes by without having devoured something new to feed my mind & soul! ….. and we all know that a fortnight without a book is a verrrrrrrry longgggg time!
There are many of my creed, …. kindred souls i haven’t yet met, but can tell from a glance…. We sit in coffee shops, waiting for a friend and a book comes out of our knapsack and we are lost. You will catch us smiling, worried , lost & completely zoned-out of our surroundings, as we turn pages, and we wouldn’t bat an eyelid if there was a fire on the next table!
We read EVERYTHING!!
Newspapers, ads on billboards and buses, Enid Blytons (recently purchased because they need to be RESCUED from being forgotten) , copies of the Readers’ Digest from 1988 at the dentist’s, even discount coupons that come with the newspaper
We buy books more by instinct, less be recommendation – because they draw us into picking them up and we never regret emptying our pockets just so that we can hold them and taken them home
So one can imagine my dismay when i discovered a few years ago that i was allergic to precisely what i loved – printer’s ink!!! The morning newspaper on the table meant a series of unstoppable sneezes and day long sniffles that needed to be stifled with anti-allergies that made me drowsy, irritable & unfit for work ( and worse – READING!!!!!!!!)
Then came a series of shocked friends gasping – “how can you become allergic to newspapers??, weird!!, really?? newspapers?? “
Followed by a round of visits to the specialist – 123 needle scratches on both arms to check what substances you might be allergic to – things which you regularly consume and they don’t even bother you! Tablets & nasal sprays to keep the allergy at bay, come into your life and newspapers go. Then comes a day when you catch the doctor using a nasal spray himself – because he’s allergic to substances as well
By the way, after the 123 pricks they tell you that there’s no tester for printer’s ink but you can be put on a weekly drop-vaccine for the other substances, which never bothered you as it is!!
A worried mom gets you started on alternative therapy – homeopathy, Reiki, affirmations, and breathing exercises – which you never bother to be regular with!
Eventually it happens.
You stop knowing what’s happening in the vicinity, in the country & in the world. “Oh I’m allergic to newspapers, so i don’t read them!” is your excuse wherever you go. Online papers carry the exact information but “there’s nothing like turning the pages of a real one!” comes the answer, pat!
You stop reading of crimes on every page, in every feature… you have no clue of what serial killers have done, you wouldn’t know which politician is involved in which scam ( they all are so what’s the huge deal??” ) and when you talk of tennis you insist that there’s no like Sampras, Agassi or Goran Ivanesevic in the game, any longer
Eventually, you stop being as cynical as the rest of the people around you – because in your “la-la-land” there are enough friends, do-gooders, artists, writers, healers and books to keep you optimistic about Life. You generate a ‘positive vibe’ that allows others to reach out to you when they need a friend
Now that you have “turned off” the bad news rom your life, even gory new on television makes you squirm and switch the channel! you have decided to only allow GOOD to come in
If you wonder why books don’t have the same effect, despite using similar printers’ ink – well, it probably has to do with how we mentally programme our bodies. Mine knows that books are safe, newspapers are not! I could have programmed my system to stop being allergic, but then i would not have a valid excuse to stay away from bad news in this world!
Each time i have discussed current news or politics with a friends, i have said a silent prayer of thanks for this absolute delight of an allergy. Thank God I am not supposed to be going near the damn newspaper. Some article i randomly read even mentioned how having allergies can actually prevent certain kinds of cancer.
talk about blessings in disguise!!
So I go about my day, oblivious to the rest of the world and live in sheer gratitude of having used some crazy ‘law of attraction” to create an allergy i could not have thought up despite being daily soap writer on television!
- Suhana
P.S: having an allergy means you have an over-sensitive immune system and is an exact representation of your real-life persona!
Sigh…… us daily soap writers!
Newspapers, ads on billboards and buses, Enid Blytons (recently purchased because they need to be RESCUED from being forgotten) , copies of the Readers’ Digest from 1988 at the dentist’s, even discount coupons that come with the newspaper
We buy books more by instinct, less be recommendation – because they draw us into picking them up and we never regret emptying our pockets just so that we can hold them and taken them home
So one can imagine my dismay when i discovered a few years ago that i was allergic to precisely what i loved – printer’s ink!!! The morning newspaper on the table meant a series of unstoppable sneezes and day long sniffles that needed to be stifled with anti-allergies that made me drowsy, irritable & unfit for work ( and worse – READING!!!!!!!!)
Then came a series of shocked friends gasping – “how can you become allergic to newspapers??, weird!!, really?? newspapers?? “
Followed by a round of visits to the specialist – 123 needle scratches on both arms to check what substances you might be allergic to – things which you regularly consume and they don’t even bother you! Tablets & nasal sprays to keep the allergy at bay, come into your life and newspapers go. Then comes a day when you catch the doctor using a nasal spray himself – because he’s allergic to substances as well
By the way, after the 123 pricks they tell you that there’s no tester for printer’s ink but you can be put on a weekly drop-vaccine for the other substances, which never bothered you as it is!!
A worried mom gets you started on alternative therapy – homeopathy, Reiki, affirmations, and breathing exercises – which you never bother to be regular with!
Eventually it happens.
You stop knowing what’s happening in the vicinity, in the country & in the world. “Oh I’m allergic to newspapers, so i don’t read them!” is your excuse wherever you go. Online papers carry the exact information but “there’s nothing like turning the pages of a real one!” comes the answer, pat!
You stop reading of crimes on every page, in every feature… you have no clue of what serial killers have done, you wouldn’t know which politician is involved in which scam ( they all are so what’s the huge deal??” ) and when you talk of tennis you insist that there’s no like Sampras, Agassi or Goran Ivanesevic in the game, any longer
Eventually, you stop being as cynical as the rest of the people around you – because in your “la-la-land” there are enough friends, do-gooders, artists, writers, healers and books to keep you optimistic about Life. You generate a ‘positive vibe’ that allows others to reach out to you when they need a friend
Now that you have “turned off” the bad news rom your life, even gory new on television makes you squirm and switch the channel! you have decided to only allow GOOD to come in
If you wonder why books don’t have the same effect, despite using similar printers’ ink – well, it probably has to do with how we mentally programme our bodies. Mine knows that books are safe, newspapers are not! I could have programmed my system to stop being allergic, but then i would not have a valid excuse to stay away from bad news in this world!
Each time i have discussed current news or politics with a friends, i have said a silent prayer of thanks for this absolute delight of an allergy. Thank God I am not supposed to be going near the damn newspaper. Some article i randomly read even mentioned how having allergies can actually prevent certain kinds of cancer.
talk about blessings in disguise!!
So I go about my day, oblivious to the rest of the world and live in sheer gratitude of having used some crazy ‘law of attraction” to create an allergy i could not have thought up despite being daily soap writer on television!
- Suhana
P.S: having an allergy means you have an over-sensitive immune system and is an exact representation of your real-life persona!
Sigh…… us daily soap writers!