Happy Book Stall, since 1947: A trip to Aamir Khan's childhood haunt and a Bandra treasure

The year was 1947. During this time for new beginnings in every sense, Jamnadas Jerajani set up the Happy Book Stall in Bandra. This was years after he had dabbled with being a vendor for books and magazines. More than 75 years later, a small set of Jerajani's descendants have still continued the family business, keeping alive their passion for bookselling. Son Rajan Jerajani and grandson Krutarth now run the only surviving shop from the Jerajani book empire - which had once grown to include stores in Colaba, Pune, and Bengaluru - and intend on continuing to do so for as long as possible. "The store began because my family were vendors who were involved in getting books and magazines from the dock and that eventually led them to become booksellers," explains the senior Jerajani.

The 73-year-old is a great conversationalist, even though he says otherwise. He is a treasure trove of knowledge about the city's past - with anecdotes stretching from Fort all the way to Virar. At its peak, the family had two bookstalls in Colaba opposite Leopold Café, one in Pune and another in Bengaluru on MG Road. However, all of these have closed shop over the last few decades because younger inheritors wanted to move on from the business. The outlet on Hill Road is the last one standing and has a bright blue board that is hard to miss on any given day. While the original shop was closer to the footpath, they moved to the current location in 1982.

Six years before the change, Rajan took over the reins from his uncle and has since been coming to the shop to sit at the counter and engage with people about their love for books. What is surprising is his admission that he has barely read four books but his experience at the store has taught him all he needs to be able to deal with customers daily. He sets out from his house in Kandivali at 9:30 am and travels by train to reach the bookstall at 11 am and stays there until 9 pm to entertain customers and interested readers.

In the process, he has built many relationships with readers young and old. Some of the most notable include Aamir Khan, who is said to have been a frequent visitor since his childhood days. "Aamir Khan and his brother were regular customers because every Saturday, they used to get a half day and on their way back home, they used to tell the driver to take a U-turn because they wanted to make a purchase here." Khan and his brother loved reading books by Enid Blyton, he shares, as he shows us a photograph of when Khan visited the shop with his son, Azad Rao Khan, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Customers and memories
While he loves running the business till today, which is evident from his enthusiasm to show the latest books on the racks, his love to engage with customers transcends everything else. He says, "When I joined here, I didn't know much about books but my customers taught me about the books. For example, one of them told me about PG Wodehouse, and that's when I started stocking his work and since then, I developed the bookshop on my own. I didn't even have a helper." He reminisces about how he used to not only work on the purchase, sale and delivery of books but also do the menial jobs.

At the time, Jerajani says theirs was the only bookstall in Bandra, and even if there were other competitors over the years, they came and went. "The clients who have married and migrated to foreign countries, whenever they come back to visit their mother's place in Bandra on holidays, they make it a point to visit. They say that if they don't visit Happy Book Stall, their trip is incomplete," says the proud shop owner.

Situated on the turn on Hill Road, the book shop currently has anywhere between 3,000 - 4,000 books. Photo: Nascimento Pinto/Mid-day file photo

"Customer satisfaction is our motto," he notes. "When I come to the shop, I feel like I have come to my house again. I don't take them (people) as customers, I treat them like family members," he adds. This is exactly what has been keeping the septuagenarian motivated for the last 46 years.

The shop currently has anywhere between 3,000 - 4,000 books. While they earlier stocked all kinds of books including ones on children, cookery, fiction, fashion and needle craft, the list has now narrowed down to children's books, fiction and bestsellers by Indian authors. Otherwise, Jerajani like every other bookseller today finds that self-help, spirituality and books on religion are most popular. The evergreen fantasy favourites like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings along with romance, coffee table books also remain in demand.

Art of business
While the demand for books will always exist, trends do change and so do the ideas to take the business forward. About 17 years ago, Krutarth, the third-generation family member, joined in running Happy Book Stall. "I was prompted to stay in the business because I believe that books are so diverse and have a wealth of information about things we haven't thought about," he says.

With changing times, the younger Jerajani has brought in new ideas to help sustain the business. He explains, "Running the bookstore is one way of doing it but to earn a profit, it is important to do more. So, I hunt and look for opportunities beyond the bookstore." Over the years, he has extended the business into not only exporting the books but also importing books to distribute across the country, for both online and offline use. "It helps me do more and sustain the business because things are not getting better for print due to the digital format," he adds.

However, he has been studying the digital boom to find ways of working with it. He explains the pros, "Youngsters are following Pinterest and coming with those lists to select their books. While the trend is still not big in India, it is slowly picking up." As for the cons, he points out that people mainly buy books online because of the many discounts. But the junior Jerajani believes in drawing customers organically. "People ask me if I have a loyalty card programme. But when customers walk into my bookshop for the first time and we recommend good books to them, that is what should bring them back. That is loyalty for me." He picked up this philosophy from his father, and it may just be the secret to their long-running bookstore.

"This is a strategy where you make everybody feel at home where they have their own space. If you are going to a website and everybody is offered the same discount, where is that ‘personal touch' or that ‘I'm doing something special for you' through which the customer and I get related?" concludes the next generation Jerajani, whose enthusiasm for the bookstall is the same as when he first started.