Reasons Why The Amazon Kindle Will Never Be Better Than Books

By Author: Sushmita Mukherjee
Total Articles: 1
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So I got into a heated debate with these extremely smart geeks last night (Hail Engineers), which unfortunately didn’t end too well.
I happened to eavesdrop into the conversation, and heard one of them mention the “Kindle”. Even through the middle of Kurt Cobain rocking his guitar solo, hard and loud into my eardrums, the word, made me involuntarily drop my headphones and dive right into the conversation.
The Kindle, Argh, the Kindle! It may not have been the best idea to have bad mouthed technology as a whole in the presence of not one but two electronic engineers…but well….. it happened. (I know, I’m a rebel sometimes.) And ten minutes into the debate which by now had turned into an argument (thanks to me of course) came my inevitable doom ! 
Well, sure I turned their pleasant chat into a Parliamentary meeting, but I had my reasons for going a little ballistic. (again, you may agree to disagree. In fact most of you will)
But here’s what I PERSONALLY think about the Amazon Kindle.
Tell me honestly, Isn’t it hard enough to be staring into digital screens all day. The computer in ...
... your office, the projection screen in school, your TV’s flatscreen, and that god damned Mobile phone of yours, only to eventually climb into bed with a cup of hot chocolate and read Jane Austen on what? A Screen. Please give me anything, anything but another screen to stare into. All the techies might jump in at this point to explain how the display of the Kindle is made to suit the eye and what not.. Yap yap yap! Well guess what! It’s still a screen. I’d rather read off a porcelain plate. 
Or the simple fact that my book won’t run out on battery or to put it more subtly, on me!
Though the advantages of owning a Kindle may outweigh the cons, I’ll still stand strong for my case.
Because, no amount of net surfing for books will match up to the experience of walking into a bookstore, with wooden rows and columns of paperback and hardcovers.
Books in it’s various forms and sizes, with their distinctive colours of fonts and images and their even more distinctive smells. *Sighs*
Or losing the art (Yes art) of being able to sneak a glance at what that stranger on the flight or in the subway is reading, and make a quick mental note of it!
Or, attempting to assay the meaning of a word, you’re tripping over is a bitter-sweet game in itself.
That moment of sheer bliss, of being able to turn over to a new page, and watch the book being consumed leisurely as you continue to peer through.
Cleaning the dust off old books kept on the shelf and watching the pages turn yellow, watching them age with you, before you.
It isn’t about the technology, it’s about the experience as a whole. And I only wish that people do not forget the essence of a physical book in this age of digitalisation.
Honestly, on discovering Siri’s response to “Can I call you JARVIS?” the other day, actual tears filled my eyes, making me marvel at technology and it’s advancement. But our growing dependence on it, truly makes me what to punch someone in the face (Yes, I need to calm down now).
Probably these reasons, do not poses the same ease in functionality that the E- book will give me. But who needs “Functionality” when I physically can hold a fat and Juicy piece of Rowling’s imagination in my arms! *PEACE*