What’s missing in this picture? A cup of coffee? And some cookies to complement? Or you may say this is totally out of place (and anachronistic). This guy should have a laptop; instead he is holding a newspaper that he is pretending to read. Besides where is his Smartphone to show how important or how busy he is? If you belong to the ‘modern age’, living a digital life; you are apt to say so.

But remember you are missing some of the simple pleasures of life. And to me, it is not just a simple pleasure to hold a book, a magazine or a newspaper in my hand. It is much more than that. To be totally absorbed reading something fascinating or funny (oblivious to the surroundings) is my way of touching heaven. I admire even others when I see them doing such immersive reading. It is a very romantic sight to behold. 

Apart from the sweet aroma given out by a brand new book or magazine, it is the flipping through a page at time (to help flip through the pages, you may want to moisten your index finger with your tongue, though I don’t), underlining or highlighting to my heart’s content and scribbling my notes on the side etc.that turns me on. Or should I decide to take a break, I fold one corner; close the book and get back to it at the earliest opportunity. It is the much dog-eared book that tells anyone how much I loved it and not how much I abused it.


If it is a newspaper, I would love to spread it out as wide as possible on my bed / couch /table without anyone coming in its way. But I marvel at some guys reading a full length newspaper in a crowded subway train, bus or tram car without inconveniencing the next person. They fold the newspaper into half widthwise, then fold it again lengthwise and once more just so the article or news story they are currently interested in is exposed. And the rest are neatly tucked in and kept out of sight. Once it is read, they do it in reverse and do it all over again for the next story. Before their destination arrives, they manage to read the entire newspaper!  

Coming back to our digital life, we are deprived of such pleasures for many reasons.
– We lead a very fast paced life (you see less and less number of people reading newspapers, books and magazines while travelling or at home)
– We have a lot of distractions. (You are more likely to see them plugged into their iPods, or scroll down the pages of a laptop to skim through its contents or busy checking their iphones or blackberries for their emails)
– The technology itself may come in the way of an otherwise memorable experience.

“Why would technology come in the way?” you may ask. It is easier to order an e-book online and download in seconds or subscribe to an online magazine or web-based newspaper than to visit a brick and mortar store to buy the same.

I agree, today’s technology also very closely simulates reading a physical book .  
Adobe Acrobat Professional enables you to highlight text, or underline it or attach notes on the side and even allow you to bookmark it. Besides it gives you lot more features you cannot do with the physical thing.

Wait; what about flipping through the pages and the distinct aroma of a new book/magazine/newspaper?


But as of now it doesn’t allow you to flip through the pages. But there were some small scale digital publications that came out where you can flip through the pages. I remember once Hewlett Packard bringing out its brochures this way.

You may want to click on this link to visualize what I mean:

Either you click on the Next or the Prev buttons or click directly on the pages to flip through.

Very impressive isn’t it?

But what about the aroma? It’s still missing.

Until Amazon’s Kindle comes out with an answer for that, I should settle for kissing a lady through another man’s mouth.

What do you think?