The independent spirit
All fans of You’ve Got Mail (1998) or Notting Hill (1999) will remember the cute-as-a-button Meg Ryan or the articulate Hugh Grant. The movies surely made some fall in love with the idea of running a bookstore. Sadly, movies and fictional scenarios are exaggerated or romanticised, and running an independent bookstore in these times is an immense struggle.
I recently came across a plea for patronage posted by a new independent bookstore owner from a small town in North India. This malaise of low footfalls runs across the country. On a visit to a famous independent bookstore, the Strand Book Stall in Fort, I was disappointed to learn that they have discontinued their annual book sale. Held in a large exhibition hall, the sale at one time saw many visitors, but now the numbers have dwindled so much, the bookstore can’t afford the rent for the hall.
Ask any independent bookstore owner about their business and they will tell you about the countless hardships they’ve faced. Faced with competition from online stores and bookstore chains, many have considered closing down. Yet, like true lovers, they persist against all odds. And sometimes, this enthusiasm for all kinds of books rubs off on their patrons too.
I believe independent bookstore owners always bring their own personalities to the store, and patrons are attracted just as much to them as to the books. In every book lover’s life, there is one bookstore owner or manager who has influenced their buying, and therefore, their reading decisions.
I have a vivid memory of a similar instance at the Nalanda bookstore at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Colaba. I was at the Enid Blyton shelf, hunting for something I had not yet read, and the lady who ran the store asked me how old I was. I was 12 then, and upon hearing that, with a twinkle in her eye, she handed me Just William by Richmal Crompton. My reading habits were instantly transformed.
Ever since, I make it a point to strike up a conversation with the owner or manager of every bookstore I visit, and thank them for their effort. To me, they are as important as teachers or parents. Sadly, their service and endeavours aren’t acknowledged enough.
In the course of my journey as an author, I have had the good fortune to interact with quite a few bookstore owners — intrepid people who do it for the love and romance of books, and all things that go with it. May their kind thrive.