My grandfather was a measured and purposeful man. He didn't like leaving anything to chance and when he passed away he left a carefully considered will. His life as a Thai teacher had been devoted to his wife and four children, and from his house in Pak Thong chai there were no great treasures to be bequeathed. There were what is in every ordinary middle-class house. In composing his will I know he considered carefully what should be left and to whom: the more significant pieces of furniture, some silverware and silk. And to me? I’ve owned his books, he wrote "To Nang Noi, my books."
My grandfather 's taste in books was not mine. But he was a man who believed in education at a time when education meant books and books.
All his life, my grandfather was a reader. When the education he had paid for moved my reading further and further away from his and common ground became harder to find. “Vikram and the Vampire” (เวตาล) is the book that reminds me of my old days while I had a chance to really sit down and listen to him his stories. Vikarm or เวตาล is the classic Hindu tales of adventure, magic, and romance. The stories are somewhat in the style of the tales of the Arabian Nights - if you enjoy the Arabian Nights or you enjoy fairy stories you should like Vikram and the Vampire. Most of the tales have a humorous or ironic slant to them. Learning about ancient Hindu tales, ethics, morality, and culture. It was enlightening and fun. My grandfather used to tell me stories of Vikram, a wise king, who has to engage in a battle of the wits with a ghost vampire. Oddly enough there was always a lesson of wisdom or morals hidden in each story.
All this came back to me in an instant, the peculiar nature of the relationship of books between my grandfather and me, when I heard that in his will he had written, "To Nang Noi, my books.