Buy a New Coat, Read an Old Book

I don't remember when for the first time, but I know her say this when I started to know language. May be she told me this before my teachers said in their loud voices. And, perhaps she said in calm, unirritating voice to make me feel for long that it was the secret of life. “Wear an old coat but buy a new book”, she said. She, my mother.

She does not know who said this at first. She does not, and needs not, bother to, either. Time on, I learnt through my teachers that it was a popular saying by H D Thoreau, overused to turn a cliché. And, later I surmised that she, my mother, learned it through my father who is a teacher. And I assume he gave her some classes on this particular topic so as to keep us children from crying for new clothes. It was only in festivals that I got new clothes without bargain, uniforms let aside. When it was for books, however, I don't remember her letting me down. Interesting enough, I don't remember much asking her for money to buy books, given the not-so-reading boy I was. And, for heaven's sake it never came to me to buy fabrics with the money mother gave me to buy books, the trade my sister was a master in.

It was already very late, I must say, that I could convince her that what she meant by saying me to buy new books instead of new clothes was wrong. One day, I said to her, “Mother, what you are telling me since my childhood is not wrong in its entirety, but the way you interpret it is wrong”. She jerked, “How can I be wrong since I know it as right for years?”. “A person, while making his theory, says right, but with time, and with several interpretations, the meaning gets deviated”, I said to her in a calm voice like hers, adding “People misinterpret it in a way that suits their interest, and the person who fed you this cliché had his own interest. And it is up to you to demolish the pillars of high-sounding notions once you are aware of its drawbacks”. And, knowing that she, at least was going to listen to what I had to say, I started blabbing my own interpretation.

“By saying 'Wear an old coat', it doesn't mean that you should wear age-old rags chewed to holes by mice. It also does not mean that you need to wear dirty clothes with faded colors. What it actually means is that you can wear the same coat time and again. It does not make big difference how many times you wear it”, I said fluently.

I added, “And by 'Buy a new book', it does not mean 'brand new' book with gleaming pages but a different one. And that should be one which you have not read earlier. You may borrow one from the library or from a friend or even buy from a second hand shop. You can read an old book whose cover has already been stripped off”. “But”, I added a dose, “you can not wear a coat whose collar has stripped off even if it is a brand new one with blooming color”.

“Human mind always seeks for things new. Ideas new. News new. Can you listen to the same news everyday? Can you read the same story everyday? You can, if you are obliged to. In odd cases. But, your mind wants to read a different news, a different story each different day”.

“That's true”, she said.

Happy to see her nodding in apprehension, I added, “So, buying a new book is about buying a different book with different idea, text, philosophy. And wearing an old coat does not mean that you cannot wear a new coat. Borrow books, buy used ones at least, as you can not imagine buying used clothes, stinky and sweaty. Save money from what would have been spent in buying new books, and spend buying new clothes. Laddu in both hands”.

And, finally, to my utter gaiety, and as i had expected, she, my mother, announced, “Buy a new coat, read an old book”.