Church Street in Bangalore presents any avid reader with a special opportunity, with many bookshops of diverse formats accessible in a small area. Writer and historian Ramachandra Guha recently spoke about these booksellers in a riveting lecture, part of a series about the “spirit of Bangalore”. He described how he would spend the day going from one bookshop to another and return home with a bag replete with books. My cousin and I were inspired by this account and decided to emulate his “bookshop crawl”. Booklovers rarely clock more than 100 feet an hour on their fitness watches — hence the term “crawl” seems apt.
We reached Church Street and fortified ourselves for a hot Saturday at the legendary Koshy’s, as Mr. Guha would. We did not find him there, if you are wondering. Being sticklers, we followed the prescription from Dr. Guha precisely: First, take a long swig of tradition at the Select Bookstore. Follow immediately with a bracing dose of Bookworm, Blossoms (old and new) and top up at Goobe’s. We ended the day at 10 in the night, having restored ourselves at the Lakeview Milk Bar, another Bangalore institution. About 9 hours of browsing had yielded us many treasures, such as 50-year-old copies of Man-eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett (with an exceptionally well-illustrated cover), The Tiger Roars by Kenneth Anderson, and the old gem from Mir Publishers, Mathematics can be fun. Mr. Guha had recounted how the Select bookstore was a key source of research. Similarly, my cousin could stock up on books relevant to her PhD in the history of Ayurveda.
We are truly fortunate in this aspect in Bangalore. These bookshops are so unique in what they offer that one can always enter them with the enthusiasm of an explorer. Every faded spine is worth reading for you never know what treasure you may uncover. Like the ‘Room of Requirement’ from the Harry Potter series, endless shelves of artefacts owned by those from ages past beckon — and, who knows, like Harry, you may find the equivalent of the lost diadem of Ravenclaw, which invests its possessor with knowledge and wisdom.
These bookshops have great variety and a passion for their goods, but care little for appearances. Faded walls and musty smells may greet you in most of these premises — but the owner will energetically wade into the cobwebs on the mission for a rare book that you set for them.
It was also heartening to see many young people in the stores. One young lady made my day by asking the owner for the Asimov section — I would not want the next generation of youth to miss out on Hari Seldon and his adventures!
A final bonus is that these bookshops are within walking distance of each other, and in one of the rare pedestrian-friendly areas of Bangalore. So, I urge everyone to try the Guha book crawl and dip into the truths of life. After all, as the sign outside Goobe’s indicated: “This way for books, that way for Maya.”
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