The Reader-Author

 

A chance meeting of two friends! Coming face to face unexpectedly, after many years, both blink; rake their memory tracks for a name. Finally, one of them blurts out the other’s name with a tentative drawl “are you not...?” Slow to catch the offered memory string, the other responds, and “oh...Yes. How you been”? Recollection crowding their minds and the need for a lengthy exchange of personal details pushes them in to a cafe’ for a hot cup of beverage.

Since their personal information is privy, let me leave them alone for a while. But this does not prevent me from imagining the predictable lines their conversation will take, because I am acquainted with one of them in a curious sort of way. You will know why? Not now, but somewhere down the line in this narrative!

During an invited visit, the friend could not take his eyes off from the shelf where books, separated in to two parts were on display. Serious doubts rose in his mind but hesitated to seek an explanation from the host.  Confused, he stared to think which one of them needed to consult a therapist!

The host decided to clear his friend’s unasked doubts and remove the confusion.  “Probably, you remember that I used to read at least a book or two in a week. That habit has not yet changed. It was difficult to feed my reading mill, in spite of getting these books from old book vendors or at reduction sales. I can sense your unspoken question – why should you continue to do so? Fair enough, but otherwise the effect would have been disastrous –literally. I would have gone out of my mind”.

Displaying curiosity and concern, the friend asked, “I see the books separated in to two parts. What forced you to do so? I hope not because your mind was slipping out of gears”!

“You are right about the force but wrong about the gears. I was getting frustrated, and the blame goes to the binder’s devil that sowed the seeds in the first place. Of course, my insatiable hunger to read played a secondary role, forcing me on a buying spree in stock clearance sales.

Let me explain. I came up with this term “binder’s devil” after a curious incident. I bought a trilogy in a buy 1 - take 3 - offer.  The eye-catching title “The Arctic thaws and simmers” by a bestselling author, based on an explosive geo-political backdrop, perked up my interest. With high hopes, I eagerly started to read the book, as soon as out of the shop. Little did I realise that disappointments and despair awaited just a volume away.

Fascinated with the narrative, I took up the second volume, running to 550+ pages, and landed in some sort of trouble, not with the direction the story was heading but with the sections of the book that have been uprooted and placed in different locations, as if to test the patience and skills of the reader to navigate. This totally spoiled my reading pleasure and with much consternation managed to finish. At the end, I felt like a hunter patiently stalking, not for a prey but the dislocated sections of the book.

My travails did not the end in the second volume.  After recovering from this shock, I started the final volume, running to 450+ pages, and this experience turned out to be a true nightmare. In this volume, pages were all at sea like castaways, hopelessly arranging themselves finding refuge wherever they could, as if possessed by their own free will.

This chaos not only spoiled the narrative but also doused my enthusiasm for the subject matter. Then and there I decided to name this mishap a “binder’s devil”.

The friend understood the frustration but had a question - “What this had to do with your act of rewriting of the second half of the books”?

The host replied, “Before answering that question, let me tell you one important thing I learnt from this experience. Be careful about the buy-one-get-one or buy-one-get three offers. They hide two factors: 1) Poor demand or the book remaining at the bottom of the bestseller list or 2) Bad reviews or complaints from readers or goof up realised by publishers themselves. What other simple solution exists to recover part of the expenditure other than offering buy- one-get free schemes? After this harrowing experience, mostly due to the active binder’s devil in the second half of many of the volumes, I decided to creatively rewrite only that part to my liking”. 

Accepting host’s explanation, the friend asked, “Why did you leave the first half intact?  The reader - author replied, “At least, I need the initial plot to move the narrative in the second half, but rest assured, my next attempt will be in that direction too”. Then the host handed over two original novels, along with his own version of the second part and requested him to read the original as well as the rewritten version for comparison and comments.

Few days later....

Having read the original and doctored version of the second half of the story, the friend came back, with a beaming smile and admiration. Before even getting settled, he poured out words praising the remastering skills the reader-author had come up with, to present the original novel, in a new light. He shared his thrilling experience in reading that legal-thriller and asked “Why did you select this run-of-the-mill legal thriller for your surgical attempt, even though you had no trouble from binder’s trouble? 

The reader-author replied, “Rewriting the second half of this book happened all of a sudden. But this legal thriller, which I expected to be like a Perry Mason novel to read, lacked the usual fire works in the court. Though the title “Innocent be hanged” was intriguing, halfway through the novel the plot gets mired in an investigative-legal quagmire, turning out an   anaemic and damp squib narrative. The novelist had argued the issues concerning legalities and lack of sufficient grounds in a lackadaisical manner to barely manage an acquittal”.

The friend persisted and asked, “Why alter only the second part and not the entire novel? Reader-author’s reply took the air out of the question’s sail. “Why innocence has to be proved by the accused incurring cost, social standing and future, in a trial?  For their part, the law enforcement officers get away without even a slap on the wrists for unfair accusation and foisting of an unnecessary trial. The exoneration does not help to wash away the stigma and rebuild whatever the defendant lost.

Could I have done it without legal education and then how did I manage it? By heavily leaning on Perry Mason type arguments and safely refraining from quoting relevant codes and subsections, including my own arguments for finding sufficient grounds to compensate the victim.  I finished the second half to my satisfaction.  I even managed to impute the actions of Judge, lawyers and prosecuting agencies without fear of standing in contempt of court!”

Dear reader, if you have not guessed the identity of “me” mentioned in the beginning, let me make it easier. It is me - my alter ego Mr. Imaginch! One of the two friends happens to be the one who kindly consented to read my doctored versions.