Just another strange thing occured during my college days which i think would bring nothing less than a laugh.
Not every time when I go to a Library, I go there with any urgency or purpose. Mostly, I go there either to kill time or to look out whether there are any more additions to Crichton's or Archor's titles. But my latest visit to the library was much different.
I wanted to make note of certain things regarding CFD studies from a known reference book. Late on a Saturday afternoon, I realised that I had to collect the information before the day end since the library would be closed on Sundays. It was two hours before the closing time when I rushed in to the library. There was a reasonable crowd in the library and while browsing through the computerised catalogue, I wondered about the number of people in the library on a Saturday evening. I located the rack where the book would be and hurried there. As luck would have it, the book wasn't there.
Since the book was a 'reference' book, I knew it for sure that the book must be within the library. But, there was a chance that some person who used the book might have kept it in a different rack. I myself have done that couple of times before inadvertently and felt bad about it. Unmindful of the numerous racks, I scanned the library for that big red volume. It is not a wise way to search a book but at that point of time, common sense got over-ruled. Feeling tired and disappointed, I came near the 'Reading Desks' at the far corner of the library and there it was. It was indeed the book I was searching for frantically for the past several minutes but it was in the hands of another person.
Not wanting to sit idle and watch the faces, I picked up some book from the nearby shelf and sat down at the other end of the long reading desk. I made sure that the guy who was having the book I wanted was visible from where I was sitting. Minutes ticked by and by that time, I was simply turning the pages of the book that was in my hand. It was a book on Geo Engineering and though I do not know anything on the subject, I was glad that I picked up some book with lot of flashy and interesting pictures.
For a few moments, I was lost in the Geo-Eco stuff and when I looked up to see the guy who was having 'my book' :-) ! To my horror, that person had left and one another guy in a red-shirt was flipping through the pages. By that time, I had just 45 minutes left before the closing time. While one's patience was running out, weird thoughts come in to mind. I was wondering why this guy didn't have the courtesy to check whether anyone is desperately waiting for the book before taking the same. :-)
Anyhow, I decided to remain seated at the same place and was doing the same thing as what I was doing before. But this time, I was careful enough not to concentrate too much on that book. Every now and then, I was looking at the red-shirt guy very often to ensure that the book he was holding didn't escape my view. It appeared to me that the red-shirt guy wasalso looking at me with a sarcastic smile. On closer observation, I found that the guy wasn't serious about reading the book but was just flipping through the pages. I thought of going up to him and ask whether he was serious about reading the book, atlest he could give it to me. But I dismissed that idea in the thought that since I am eager to get my hands at the book, I am assuming something strange. Further, I convinced myself with the question, "What for would a person come to the library?" Another 20 minutes passed on and my patient had dried up. I thought that there is no point in waiting further and decided to leave the library. So I put down the 'GIS' book on the desk and was about to turn back.
As soon as I had put it down, the red-shirt guy came running to the place where I sat and almost pounced on the book. Taking that, he said, " All along I was waiting for you to finish this book. Just for killing time, I was flipping through that Automobile book. Thank you, Sir". :-)
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