Enjoy reading regional literature? Explore this 40-year-old book shop in Navi Mumbai’s Vashi

Nestled in Vashi's Sector 17, Dinesh Punjabi runs Bombay Book Bureau, a bookshop started by his father around 40 years ago first in Mumbai's Ghatkopar neighbourhood, before the family moved to Navi Mumbai.

They started the shop as a supplier of reference books on different subjects to colleges in the region but today it houses between 10,000 - 12,000 books in multiple genres that can be accessed by all kinds of readers in Vashi. "Previously, business was very different. We used to be a supplier of reference books for engineering, and there were also IT books for Java, Oracle, which used to sell like hot cakes, which has completely gone down. At that time, since there was no Internet, people needed to refer to them and learn," shares Punjabi, who took over the shop from his father in 1998. Before his father, it was his grandfather, who was in the book selling business in Mumbai.

In 25 years, since the third-generation bookseller has manned the shop, he has seen a drastic change in the books that people read, and the Covid-19 pandemic only helped him pivot further. He explains, "Our retail section has grown tremendously post-pandemic because people are coming back to reading. They come and talk to us and take three to four books at one time, and even if they don't read it, they like to keep it to read in the future instead of getting back to their phone." In fact, many of them who visit the shop actually come to buy the books as birthday gifts. "They also get their children and tell them to compulsorily read at least three pages daily," he adds.

Demand for regional literature and spiritual books
While the number of book lovers coming to the shop increased, the types of books they are coming for have also changed. Punjabi says most readers now come to look for books majorly on self-help, motivation, spirituality, share market, investment, and even manga by not only international authors but also Indian authors. The best part though, the 43-year-old has noticed, which happens to be a post-pandemic trend at Bombay Book Bureau is that more people are entering the bookshop looking for regional language literature.

He explains, "Regional reading has gone up like anything. People are coming to buy Hindi and Marathi books. They have also started gifting each other these regional language books. The sales for that are much better because they are not easily available on Amazon." Interestingly, before the pandemic, Punjabi hardly kept regional language books at the Bombay Books Bureau, but this sudden interest has made him cater to even this new set of readers. "We started with 20 books and now we have more than 300 regional language books. People are reading books by Pu La Deshpande, and books like ‘Chaava' and ‘Shriman Yogi' too," he informs.

Along with regional literature, the Vashi resident says there are more people who are also coming to his shop and asking for spiritual books. "I must have sold some 100 copies of the ‘Bhagavad Gita' because I kept it in the front, and that is how people pick the other books. Now, he has many different types of spiritual book including English, Hindi, Marathi, big, small and leather-bounded," he adds. In fact, he also has the Ramayana and Mahabharata as pictorial books for children, that are quite a hit.

Adapting to changing times
It is a huge change since he started keeping more bestsellers and books from multiple genres more than 13 years ago. He explains, "We used to keep only bestsellers earlier like Chetan Bhagat, but it was very slow because we were a full-fledged IT and Engineering bookstore. If those people who came for these books saw these other Chetan Bhagat books, they used to buy them." However, the demand for books on IT became lesser because of information available on the internet, high prices and changes in the reference material that is happening every two months, compared to six months earlier.

This shift is also what has made Punjabi concentrate more on retail now. However, the change has been good for the Mumbaikar. "Business is not flourishing but is helping us lead a good life," he shares.

It is a journey that he embarked on while he was studying for his bachelor's degree in commerce. Since his older brother didn't want to join the business, and his father needed help, Punjabi automatically took to being a bookseller, like fish to water. "At that time, the business was good, and my dad needed help because he was alone. So, I used to sit there for some time when I was in college and then ended up spending more time and took over. The books business is on the decline, but you need to change and adapt --- that is the only thing helping me survive," he explains.

The bookseller has come a long way since he joined the business 25 years ago, most of which he credits to his father because Punjabi says he has learned everything from him. He gave me such good training, he reminisces, continuing, "When I joined the business, he told me ‘Yeh thela le, Mumbai jaa, yeh yeh jagah pe jaa aur book leke aa (Take this bag, go to these places in Mumbai and get the books and come back). So today, I know how much time it takes to travel to these places, and nobody can tell me otherwise. It wasn't like I had to sit directly in the seat at the bookshop. The training was very strict, and that still helps me." While the Covid-19 pandemic made quite a few bookshops shut in Vashi, Punjabi's bookshop is one of the few that still stands strong.

Even as he houses thousands of books, the Mumbaikar hopes the business will do better because his wife and daughter have a dream, one that he has to put on hold as he navigates rising real estate prices. "My wife and my daughter are telling me to change the bookshop into a coffee shop. However, right now my bookshop is too small and the real estate prices in Vashi is high. They tell me, if you change it, tomorrow, we will come and handle it," he laughs, thinking about the future of his bookshop.