Good old books versus e books

 I am an avid reader. I like books more than anything in my life. I don't consider books as non living things, instead I consider them as my friends, who don't talk behind your back or back stab you. I can share my melancholic moments with them, my happiest moments with them, no matter what, I can share with them. They are silent listeners and aggressive advisers. They enhance and expand the horizons of my mind like no other thing.

"Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul" - Joyee Carol Oates.

There cannot be a better description than the above quote. Why I am writing this post is that I heard a news that in one of the University authorities where I studied before are planning to implement a law which fines the students for not going to library and read the books kept there. Well, the Library is pretty old with dusty interiors and nothing modern to brag about. There are old and new books, but the physical facilities are limited. There erupted a loud cry against this controversial law and during the deliberations, there were some views that the library should be closed down as this is the era of e-books and nobody no longer reads a book going to a library.

I beg to differ to this opinion. It is my firm belief that there are people who still loves to go to a library, roam around the dusty interiors, searching a dust mite infested book among the heaps of books in the book rack. The happiness you feel, the relief you feel when you finally grab the book you were looking for, is immense. It is an experience e-books can never replicate. 

E-book cannot really replicate the feel of turning the pages of a physical book, laying in your cozy little room, during a rainy season enjoying the drizzle and a cup of green tea in your couch. You can hold you  apple i-pad or notebook and read e-book and it is absolutely comfortable in that they can be carried anywhere. But did you really get that feel, the characters of the book really floating around you and conversing with you when you are reading a horror novel, I am doubtful. Both have their own merits and demerits. You can choose which one do you want, but closing a library is not the right thing to do and so is inflicting a fine for inculcating reading habit. Both are wrong. Instead the authorities should think of renovating the library into an appealing abode for the good old books. What is you take?