Why you shouldn't sit on books in Bali

It was one afternoon (five years ago, in my school in Bali) when a Hindu Balinese friend of mine scowled at me for sitting on a book.

"What's with that look?" I asked him innocently, not knowing his displeasure of my apparently innocent action.

"You're sitting on a book, T" he frowned even more, "Oh well, but since you haven't stayed that long in Bali, I guess I could forgive you....just make sure that you don't sit on any again next time."

"And why am I not allowed to?"

"Because for us Hindus, book is a representation of Saraswati, the Goddess of Education who handed down literature to us mere mortals... Sitting on a literary work would equal a sign of disrespect towards Her"