A book in time

Growing up in Bombay meant Fort and King’s Circle’s secondhand booksellers were our best friends with their VFM and exhaustive reading lists. Representation pic

Fiction. Fantasy. Adventure. Architecture.
Happy endings. Mysterious whodunits. Gritty life experiences.
Bombay. Mumbai. Scary ogres.
Super cool simpletons.

Recently, this columnist stepped into a bookstore after a while. And was grateful she did. Because of the universe that it always introduces us to, even if it was for just an hour in the middle of a packed week. There were several other reasons that got us smiling, and also made us put things into perspective.

For one, it felt like a lifetime since the last visit, and so the sheer idea of being surrounded by books from ceiling to floor, was like feeling secure and happy in a really cool, evolved Alice in Wonderland-kind of world. In busy, crazy and chaotic Bombay, that can make for a one helluva upper.

Chatting up with Trilogy's co-owner Ahalya Naidu in this cosy ecosystem that is tucked away in a corner of Chimbai, made one realise even more of the importance and criticality of such spaces for us, Bombaywallahs. Indie booksellers like them need to be supported, not just so they can survive but also thrive, so they can continue to provide us the joy that only reading a book can offer.

As schoolgoers, some of us readers were lucky and blessed to have either parents or relatives who were hardcore readers, and hence the habit was passed on. Bookshelves were part of legacies in homes, and library cards were the all-important passports we possessed to enable us entry into this wonderful world of books. Those were the days where physical bookstores weren't accessible for many, and so hardbound collections by Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle, or the prized Tintin set, from a visiting uncle or aunt who travelled from the US, the UK, Australia or the Gulf, meant the world to us. For the rest of the time of our book-collecting exploits, we had to resort to second-hand booksellers, sometimes even the local raddiwallahs, who by some fantastic twist of luck, would have a dog-eared copy of a rare classic, or then, one had to rely on the neighbourhood circulating library.

Growing up in Bombay meant Fort and King's Circle's secondhand booksellers were our best friends with their VFM and exhaustive reading lists. It was another important chapter in our book-reading life, what with offering collegians a whole new avenue to pursue this passion. The 1990s and first decade of the 2000s, in particular, witnessed the advent and boom of boutique and big-ticket bookstores; soon, we became spoilt for choice. And whether you were a suburbanite or a city slicker, you had options galore.

Not anymore. The pandemic, I suspect and fear, has changed that picture-perfect frame. The online store has also altered the dynamic in so many ways. With the more convenient option available at one's fingertips, it seems to have also tampered with the inclination to make a trip to bookstores, far or near.

Even more reason why when I made that visit to the Bandra bookstore, it was the coming together of many things. It meant that we, as readers, need to be all the more aware of why these indie bookstores and libraries must be allowed to exist in the city, and hence our support for them in this long, arduous journey is the least one can do so they can continue to spread the joy to readers.

So the next time you have a few hours to spare on your day off, head out to support your local bookstore or library with your family, catch up with your friends there, or exchange books with a loved one. And if you have kids, bring them along, too, for a much-needed break from their tablets and devices. The touch and feel of a new book [oh yes, and the smell!] is special. Introduce them to it, and you will have a fan hooked on for life.

I leave you with a cool fact I learnt about some time ago: In Iceland, there is a tradition of exchanging books with each other on Christmas Eve, as families and friends ring in the festive season reading books. Not a bad time to introduce an Icelandic tradition to the city, what say? Let's do our little bit to work towards a happy ending; the kind that we all wish for each time we pick up a book.

mid-day's Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city's sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her. She tweets @bombayana
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