… and how! Already have had two sessions of each class I’m taking this semester. Which, for the record, are a research class (wherein I have to do a real-live research project) and a more fun but still lots of work Managing New Technologies class. (Finally, a legitimate reason to delve into Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Posterous, Technorati, Digg, Delicious and all those other cool Web 2.0 sites!)

On top of this all, I’m in the thick of a thorny fellowship application which had had my butt glued to a chair in front of my parents’ computer for most of the Labor Day weekend.

But, the kids at the library are still making my day, every day. The day before yesterday, H., an 11 year old girl, came in looking for ’scary books,’ so I picked my tired self up off the ref desk chair and scoured the shelves with her. Half hour and some impromptu booktalks later, a very happy H left the library.

Shine, Coconut Moon and Skunk Girl are two books I haven’t yet gotten to, but as a young adult librarian, they are high up on my list of books to read. There is an awesome event coming up for connecting with the authors of these two books, Neesha Meminger and Sheba Karim. Unfortunately, I’m out of country, traveling in India, otherwise I would have definitely gone. Here are the particulars:

Wednesday, July 29th, 7pm

Beyond Gossip Girls:
An Evening with Young Adult Authors Neesha Meminger and Sheba Karim

Join us for a reading and discussion with young adult novelists Neesha Meminger (author of Shine, Coconut Moon, Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster 2009) and Sheba Karim (author of Skunk Girl, Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2009).  Meminger and Karim deal with issues ranging from the Sikh experience post 9/11 and single parenthood to body image and Muslim American identity, while providing cohesive narratives of South Asian American adolescences and their growing pains.  Both authors will read from their new novels and discuss their different paths to publication and writing for a teen audience.  Booksigning and reception to follow.

New York, New York

$5 suggested donation

Just strolled around the new book section and picked up these to scan/flip through as I sit at the reference desk:

~The Book of Other People edited by Zadie Smith
~The Importance of Being Kennedy by Laurie Graham
~Laughing Without an Accent by Firoozeh Dumas
~Mistress by Leda Swann
~Making a Difference by Being Yourself by Gregory E. Huszczo

Figure it will help with my Reader’s Advisory skills. :-)

What are you scanning these days?

A few days ago a woman came to the reference desk to complain. Why is it, she asked, that we have tons of books about Islam and Buddhism, but few about Christianity?

I tried to point out how many books we do have about all religions, but she was not satisfied. Where were books by Billy Graham, she asked. So I showed her that we had books by him. She was still not satisfied. Then she asked who was responsible for ordering books. I told her that it was centralized ordering, not in the hands of the individual branch. She did not seem to believe me. She asked me why it was that they would order so many books on Buddhism and Islam and not enough on Christianity. (Her words.) I made the mistake of conjecturing that maybe they ordered books according to the demographics of the neighborhood, and that this neighborhood is heavily Asian and Pakistani. At this (pure guess) she raised her eyebrows. Then she looked me up and down. And asked me if I was Muslim.

I am not Muslim, but I really wish I had told her, yes, I am. Or that I had asked her, How does it matter?

Today was a stressful day at the library. Why is it that on one of our busiest days of the week, we only have three librarians and several clerical people on staff (and NO security guard), when on normal weekdays (which are much calmer than Saturdays) we have anywhere from five to seven librarians and even more clerical folks AND a security guard???

I suppose tis not mine to ask. But I suspect that in the case of few librarians and clerical folks, it is because this is a way of ensuring that we don’t have to work too many Saturdays. Personally, I would rather work more Saturdays and retain a sense of safety and sanity than work fewer but pressure-cooker Saturdays. But the security guard question is mystifying.

Here are some highlights.
In the children’s room a five-year old girl came to complain to me that there was a boy in the girls room. The “boy” turned out to be an incontinent 65+ years man who said he didn’t want to wait for the boys room because ‘he might have an accident’ … When he finally came out, both he and the bathroom smelled like a sewer. But at least he was apologetic and not belligerent.

Downstairs they had a guy in a cowboy hat yell at the staff when they told him he had a fine. Also, there were several people who just were super-demanding, including this one guy who is hmm… a bit off-kilter and who constantly talks to himself and comes to ask interminable, obscure (and somewhat pointless) reference questions, one after the other, for a long, long time… and yet one feels one has to accommodate him, as he has a screw loose and has been known to walk into the library with parts from a gun in the past, to ask question of how to fix it. (!!!!)

Recently I asked many friends, both online and off, to recommend one book they had read in the past year. In fact here is exactly what I asked:

hello friends!
I have a request for you… If you could recommend (to me or to anyone else) one book that you read in the past year (loosely defined, doesn’t have to be exactly within the ‘08 time span) then what would it be? Who is it by? And why would you recommend it? (The why can be as short or as long as you like. It could even be one word, if you don’t want to write much.)

Linked here for your perusal and enjoyment is the result of everyone’s combined efforts.

Friends, thank you so much for playing the book game along with me!  If you would like to add a book to the list linked above, do fill out this simple form!

P.S. Rajeev Alexander gets the prize (so far) for longest, most thorough review. Thank you, R! :-)

Yesterday was quite stressful at the library. I came home soul-exhausted. There were some incorrigible customers who seemed to relish putting the librarian through her paces. But on second thought, there were some thought-provoking and delightful encounters that made the day well worth living. Here are some highlights.

Two Pakistani-American girls befriended me at the children’s desk. One of them shadowed me all day and even helped with reference transactions. I think it made her feel grown-up and responsible. The best part was when we were talking about how bad my spoken Hindi/Urdu is. I explained to them that Hindi isn’t my mother tongue. Then they asked me where I come from. India, I replied. We silently digested the fact that “our countries” are having some “problems” at the moment. One of them said,You know, I think I heard that India and Pakistan might be going to war. Oh right, I said. Oh my god, what am I doing talking to you! :) We all laughed.

They asked me where I came from in India. Gujarat, I replied. Gujrat??!! one exclaimed. But Gujrat’s in Pakistan! No way, I replied, it’s in India. We wikipedia’ed it and found out we were both right. Gujarat the state is in India. But Pakistan has its very own Gujrat – two in fact! One is Gujrat District, located within Pakistan’s Punjab. The capital of Gujrat District is Gujrat Town. Fascinating. A twelve year old taught me some geography! Oh, but to be expected, of course. I wonder if there are any connections between Pakistani Gujrat and Indian Gujarat, other than name. I wish my Lakshman Dada were alive so that I could ask him.

Then we talked about age. As in, when I inadvertantly let it slip how young they seemed to me, they seemed slightly offended. I countered with, Well, sure okay, fine, want to exchange our ages then? I’d be oh-so-happy to be back in sixth grade and let you worry about things like rent and paying the electricity bill! Both of them retorted in consternation and unison: But doesn’t your husband take care of that!!!???? When I replied that I wasn’t married, they were speechless. I have never laughed so hard as I did later that evening when replaying this conversation to another single female friend of mine. Oh yeah, we ruefully admitted. Forgot to pick up one of those at the grocery store.

And then, still later, one of them came up alone to the ref desk. Her friend had gone for the day, she explained. To the mosque to read the Koran. I was distracted when she first said this, so I asked, sorry, what? Oh, she said. H. went to read the Bible. The Bible, I asked? Don’t you mean the Koran? Oh yeah, she said, well, it’s our Bible. I asked her, Do you sometimes get scared people are going to discriminate against you because you’re Muslim, is that one reason you changed what you said to Bible instead of Koran? Yeah, she said. And also, some people might not know what the Koran is. Reminds me of myself at sixth grade. When asked to create a “family shield” with symbols of things that were important to my family, I wanted to draw an (symbol for Om) but instead i drew a cross because I figured my teacher wouldn’t know what an was. I guess some things take much more than 20 years to change.

Long ago and far away (as in from the upper reaches of Manhattan) Sandhya from Literary Safari tagged me for a 7 Things About Me meme. Here are the rules (from the source):

1) Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2) Share 7 facts about yourself.
3) Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4) Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Since #1 is done above, I will proceed with sharing seven facts about myself.

1. I have freckles, which for some reason a lot of Indian aunties think is a personal affront to them and to the bleaching industry. But I like ‘em. (edit: I meant the freckles. The jury is still out on the aunties; well, at least the ones who come armed with bleaching cream.)

2. I adore sour things. Lemons. Grapefruit. Sour belts. Lemon cake. Green mangoes. Thai papaya salad with lime. The tangier, the better. My mouth is watering now.

3. I read (sometimes) while walking in the park, or even across the street (after looking both ways first).

4. I recently discovered Tehelka and I adore that site. It is my new favorite. When I first wrote this, I was thinking in a lighthearted vein, but even from a more serious perspective, Tehelka’s writers have important, insightful points to make regarding South Asian politics. After the November attacks in Mumbai, as I was seeking solace online by trying to find answers, I found Tehelka’s Tarun Tejpal to be one of the most thoughtful, informative and human voices in the strident cacaphony that erupted online and off.

5. I am a bit (ahem) of a germaphobe. But I don’t walk around encased in plastic, so don’t worry too much about my sanity. But I do believe in coughing in my sleeve, not my hand! It drives me crazy when people cough ineffectually into hands that only half-heartedly cover the general area around their mouths. In case you think I’m totally nuts, take a look at this awesomely funny and smart video that may just convince you that the sleeve idea ain’t all that weird.

6. I have been scuba diving. In Curacao. Once. It was hands down the scariest and most sublime thing I have ever willingly done. And, by doing so, I broke the law. (I had no idea it was illegal to go without a special permit, and the friend who persuaded me to go, wisely did not tell me so.) For this I am grateful, as scuba diving is the closest I will ever get to flying. And what slow motion, dreamlike flying! My dream is to one day go again. (After proper training this time, but of course.)

7. Sometimes I am very, very, very slow in responding to email. And yet, when someone is slow in responding to me, I get sad. Go figure. I am trying to get better at this. (Both the getting faster at responding part as well as the not getting sad part.) Um…. see, this post is kind of a case in point. I do believe Sandhya tagged me like, more than nine months ago??? I mean, I’ve had friends get pregnant and have their babies already in that time. (umm, hello Henry! Love ya! So nice to have “met” you last week. You are a doll. At least the size of one. For now. Now don’t forget the Gujarati I taught you, kay? Mwah!)

Sheesh. (Note to self: Got to get better at getting back, Bookish!)

Okay. Whew. With New Year’s and all, I am so glad to have this entry finally finished and published! And now for my turn to tag others. (Rubbing hands gleefully!)

1. Joy from The Spiral of Seasons, my friend and mentor in all things healthy and librarian-y!

2. Sally from Any Given Sundry, another wonderful online friend. Her photographs are perspicacious.

3. Pranav from Scarlet Guju, my friend since babyhood, who tells it how he sees it on his hard hitting blog.

4. Ariah from Trying to Follow, possibly the most soul-searchingly honest seeker I have had the privilege to meet.

5. Linda from Touched by Cancer, a friend of great empathy and eclectic interests who reaches out to others with helpful advice through her blog.

6. Mahmud from Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World, a friend from the west coast days, who is currently writing and writing and writing his heart out in Bangladesh. And who is having a book published very soon–called Killing the Water; definitely check it out!

7. And lastly, I’m tagging someone I know only through the blogging world; Pessimisissimo from Exotic and irrational entertainment… (and Pessimisissimo, I don’t think your obsessions are indefensible!)

Okay folks, it was nice to share with you my first post from 2009, which was more than nine months in gestation. I hope that our next mulakaat (meeting) will not be so far away. May 2009 shower blessings upon blessings upon us all!

The end of the semester in sight, I have a slew of things to do:

1. Study for final in Cataloging

2. Create presentation re: Podcasting (I agreed to make a presentation/workshop re: podcasting for another class… Volunteered, in fact. Whether this was wise or foolish remains to be seen!)

3. Do my darn Pathfinder!

yikes yikes yikes

Well, you can’t say you haven’t been warned. When a blogger starts a post with capitalization run amuck and flings about words like “end” and “era” the reader should be aware that some sentimentality might be creeping around the corner.

This past Saturday was indeed the end of an era for the library at which I work, as it was the last day we were open to the public before undergoing renovation, which is slated to last at least two years.

Two years! For the kids who have made our library part of their after school ritual on a near-daily basis, two years is an unimaginably long time. T., who is seven and just in second grade now, will be nine and in fourth! Nine! When we talked about it, I could see in his eyes, he had no sense of what it means to be nine… It seemed to be an eon away. The Holy Terror, who is a youngish 13 right now and at the top of the middle school pyrimad, will be well into adolescence and the press of high school life. Twelve year old V. admitted that she was going to be very very sad to miss all of her friends who congregate at the library.

More to the point, where will these kids go?