Love political and regional literature? This Churchgate bookshop is a treasure trove for Marx, Lenin, Shivaji and Ambedkar

A little over 35 years ago, Gopal Poojari started managing People's Book House situated in Churchgate, just off Horniman Circle, next to Yazdani Bakery, and it was as if it was meant to be. Before that, the Mumbaikar, who hails from Mangalore but was born and brought up in Goregaon, had done odd jobs of different kinds. However, he fell in love with Marathi literature early on and after juggling a few jobs settled in this job. The passion and dedication for which can be seen as he lists the names of the various books and their translations in Hindi and Marathi that are housed in the bookshop, some of which include works by members of the Dalit movement and about Maharashtra's history too.

Interestingly, the People's Book House was started by the Communist Party of India (CPI), known to be one of the oldest communist parties in India, in 1973. After seeing a handful of managers, Poojari found out about the job vacancy and started manning the desk in 1985. Today, the 57-year-old visibly knows much more than when he started out. "Initially, the book shop had a lot of Russian political books and a lot of Mumbaikars used to come to get books at the exhibition that used to be held at different places in Churchgate and VT (Victoria Terminus). The books were subsidised and between Rs 50 - 100."

Embracing Marathi literature
However, that changed in the 1990s after the dissolution of the Soviet Union but since the CPI didn't want to shut the bookshop, they started to include literature in Indian languages like Hindi and Marathi apart from the Left philosophy. "We have books ranging from works by Indian-born American Marxist philosopher Aijaz Ahmed and Fidel Castro to the Dalit movement; authors like Daya Pawar, JV Pawar and Baburao Bagul also find a place on the bookshelves at the shop," shares Poojari.

Over the years, the Mumbaikar took it upon himself to understand the different types of people who came to the bookshop, their tastes and wants in books too. It is also the reason why he boasts that the unique aspect about the bookshop is that it has the kind of books that are not available in other havens in the city including Communist and Marathi literature. One that is highlighted with over 1,500 big and small books that readers can scan through depending on their interests with a price that starts Rs 300 onwards. Some of books that have many takers at the bookshop are ‘Bhura' by Sharad Baviskar, ‘Fractured Freedom' by Kobad Ghandy, ‘When I Hid My Caste' by Baburao Bagul and history books on Shivaji.

While the regular readers have been coming for over three decades, the newer ones usually want to read the works of Karl Marx including ‘The Communist Manifesto' and ‘Das Kapital' and that makes them happy. The bookshop also has publications by the CPI party, which has its head office in Prabhadevi. "Apart from the party's publications, Govind Pansare's book, ‘Shivaji Kon Hota', is so popular that over 10,000 copies are sold every month." Incidentally, he says, for Shivaji Jayanti, they received many orders of between 100-500 books from people, schools and colleges too, and the last one was no different.

Demand for translated works
The bookshop has also seen a demand for translated books over 30 years ago. It was felt among people who love reading political literature in the city. "A lot of people started coming to us and asked, "Why don't you keep Marathi books?", that's when we decided to keep more of them. Marathi books weren't easily available in the Fort area at the time and people had to go as far as Dadar to get them. So, this then became a one-stop shop for them," explains Poojari. The readers, he says, are mostly people working in nearby offices like New India Assurance and LIC. "They come during lunch time for about 30 minutes to one hour and go through many books," he adds happily.

The 50-year-old bookshop also houses many books by Dalit authors that are visible on the swivel stand as soon as one enters the shop. They include ‘Baluta', a Marathi autobiography book by Daya Pawar, and 'When I Hid My Caste' by Baburao Bagul, both of which have been translated by Mumbai author Jerry Pinto. They aren't the only translated works because others include Communist literature that has been translated from English into Marathi for local readers interested in different political schools of thought.

Poojari has seen a visible change in the kind of readers over the years but there have been some constants. The readers that come to the shop, the Virar-based manager says students and youth between 20 - 35 years come very often to read the likes of ‘Communist Manifesto', ‘Das Kapital', ‘Shivaji Kon Hota?' including Marx and Lenin too. The older generation ranges between 50 - 80 years and have been visiting the shop for a long time. They not only come to read the weekly and monthly magazines such as New Age, Yugantar, Laal Nishaan and Panther but also different and newer works in politics that are easily available or made available there. "Yes, we have a lot of political literature but we also have books that are of general interest to people including books on caste and that includes works by GS Ghurye and Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, and well as on subjects such as Indian history, Buddhism, political sociology and a lot on Mumbai too." Apart from pocket-sized books, there are even books on Indian history for children. The demand for which is seen when a visitor picked up a book on Shivaji Maharaj to educate the children in his home.

Dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic
Being at the heart of Churchgate, the Covid-19 pandemic wasn't kind to the bookshop like many others in the city but they sailed through in spite of being closed during that time. Normally seeing many visitors on a daily basis, Poojari says there was a definite slack in the footfalls.

However, one year on, that has now changed. "People come and take books and that is very encouraging. Even if they don't buy and just come to look through the books, I feel happy because it is always nice to see people come to the shop," adds Poojari, who still has three years to retire but wants to enjoy every day at the bookshop.

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