It starts with the sudden feeling of being sucked into the real world. The alternate world that I was in all this time has disappeared. There is a void in my mind. I look around and try to gather my thoughts. It is already dark and I had lost sense of time, again! Hunger and sleep slowly creep into me. I remember I had something to eat that morning and had planned to go meet a friend for lunch. But it is well past lunch time, and in fact, it is well past dinner time.

What will I do now? It shouldn’t be this difficult. Its not like this is the first time. I have been here in this exact same situation hundreds of times. And every time I have experienced these same or a similar set of emotions depending on how good the journey was.There is a sense of accomplishment, for it feels as if I have lived a lifetime in just a few days. But this is immediately followed by a feeling as if the world is crashing around me.

Of late, I have become conscious of this moment and I start to dread the last few hours on the run up to this point. I wonder why I haven’t figured out how to deal with this moment in all these years. I bring my attention back to the book I have in my hand. I curse myself for having rushed through the last few chapters. In my eagerness to know how the book ends, I have landed myself in this mess.

I promise myself that I will take my time to digest the end of the next book I read at the same pace I start the book. But that can happen only after I find something suitable to read next. I have to get back to work tomorrow knowing that I cannot pick the brain of the character I had grown so fond of in these past few days. For now, I read the last few lines of the book again and I am reminded of the emotions I had experienced while reading this book. But then, I realize it is time I moved on.

Thats the exciting part about books. There is always something else to read. There is always a new story to be part of. And at the end, there is always the last page, that would make me feel nostalgic about the story that I had just finished.

Well, time to search for something new to read next…!

Re-posted from my blog