The book that stole my peace

It was a rainy afternoon. I was at school helping my head teacher to clear her cupboards full of books. She chose md precisely because she knew my weakness fof books. Even at home,as a child,the only work I willingly did was unpacking provisions for the kitchen and putting them away in the containers. In those days,dals,chillies and other such stuff came wrapped in newspapers,or in papers given away by students as waste paper. Both had a lot of interesting matter to read. Everytime my mother returned to check on the progress of my work,I would have just unwrapped only a couple of them,and would be lost in reading. I would get scolded too. Well,as I was clearing the books from my head- teacher's cupboards,I chanced upon one Hindi poetry book with the titled,' zabt kavitayein'. That was a book of poems banned during the British rule as they had poems that inspired fellow Indians to revolt against the oppressors. ' Reading 'Vande mataram' in original version,and poems by other revolutionary patriots,

was an experience beyond words. I retrieved the book from the discarded pile and read it again and again. The poems conjured up the images of our freedom struggle very vividly. I was overwhelmed with pride and thanked those patriots who gave up their yesterdays so that we can breathe freely and dream of a prosperous life. Days passed. I had the opportunity to script a play for the 50th Independence day to bd performed by the school kids. I borrowed heavily from the lines I found in those banned poems. It gave goosebumps to the audience to be transported to an era when these were thd very lines that our patriotic forefathers mouthed,even as they faced the wrath and fury of the British. Years passed,once again.  Perhaps I lent this book to some friend of mine. It never came back. I have spent years trying hard to find this book ' zabt kavitayein'but to no avail. I have searched for it in book stores, on the internet,spoke of it in gatherings that had avid readers of Hindi poetry. It still eludes me. That's one book that has stolen my peace.