Death of a landmark book stall in Mumbai
“Just go to Strand Book Stall. You will be able to buy any book you want to,” advised my Sydenham College English professor Zebunissa Kazi and classmate Jyotsna Sanzgiri. I had won a Rotary Club Award to buy books worth ₹100. Today, ₹100 can’t even fetch one book. Most books cost above ₹500. However, ₹100 in 1969 equates to about ₹10,000 today. Thus, even in 1969, Rs 100 could buy 10 to 15 good quality books.
So I trudged as a 20-year-old student to Strand Book Stall in Fort area in downtown Bombay (now Mumbai). The small store of about 750 square feet was airconditioned and stacked with 25,000 to 30,000 books. I was in a fairyland! The scent of new books is always intoxicating.
The shop owner, TS Shanbhag, found me scanning the shelves and asked if I was looking for any specific title. When I told him my need, he said, “I will help you.” First on my list were ‘Zorba the Greek’, written by Nikos Kazantzakis and ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ by Paulo Freire, ‘The story of Philosophy’ by Will Durant, all of which I still have after 50 years. Mr Shanbhag then personally helped me to select good books by John Keynes, Erich Fromm and Bertrand Russell, which opened new worlds to me. He offered me a 20% discount!
Throughout my career, I visited the store at least once a month to buy the latest books on politics, economics and management. Staff members such as Praveen were always attentive and helped locate books of interest. If the store did not have the title, they would ask for two or three days to source it from the publishers. Then, Strand started delivering books to my office also. Finally, the staff, since they knew my reading habits would periodically send a collection of new books to my office for me to choose from! Strand Book Stall loved books, writers and readers of books.
Celebrities, writers and politicians visited the stall. I met Arun Shourie, a former Union minister and editor, at the stall. Former president Abdul Kalam and actor Amitabh Bachchan ordered their books from the store. Film stars such as Shashi Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor also visited the store, as did industrialists such as JRD Tata and Keshub Mahindra. Everyone was drawn to the shop by the magnificent assortment of books, Mr Shanbhag’s personal care and attention, helpfulness of the staff like Mr Jagat Tekkatte and the 20% discount, unheard of in those days.
Mr Shanbhag brought extraordinary passion and zeal to the task of ensuring good books reached their readers. He was a one-man institution of pioneering customer service in books.Iwasstunnedtolearnthat the iconic Strand Book Stall in Fort Mumbai shut shop on February 27, the day Mr Shanbhag passed away in 2009. Strand has been a landmark store in Mumbaiforalmostsevendecades.Itis the end of an era.
With the advent of online e-commerce options, the sales of brick and mortar shops were bound to suffer. Now, online sites send books to our homes within a day, at 10% to 20% discounts. So single-store formats ended up making losses.
The closure of Strand Book Stall also signifies some decline in the reading habit. Online reading sites are convenient, but really no substitute for carrying a paperback or hardbound book on a train or flight journey, with a pencil or highlighter in hand, underlining new words or attention-grabbing phrases to enrich your vocabulary.
With the closure of Strand Book Stall, a part of my youth has vanished forever. I had not imagined that I would be upset with the closure of a book stall. But my heart is sad.
THE ICONIC STRAND BOOK STALL IN FORT MUMBAI SHUT SHOP ON FEBRUARY 27, THE DAY MR SHANBHAG PASSED AWAY IN 2009. IT HAD BEEN A LANDMARK STORE FOR SEVEN DECADES