How 1982 ‘Gandhi’ film inspired Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal to start the Gandhi Book Centre in Grant Road

It was November 1982 and Richard Attenborough's ‘Gandhi' had just been released in theatres across India. In Mumbai, TK Somaiya and fellow karyakarta (co-worker) associated with the Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal, saw how people were thronging the theatres to watch the movie featuring popular Hollywood actor Ben Kingsley play the titular character, enact the life of Mahatma Gandhi. Working with the organisation that was continuing the legacy of Acharya Vinoba Bhave, popularly known as an Indian advocate of non-violence and human rights, and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, they decided to start selling books on Gandhi outside the theatre.

He explains, "At the time, we used to sell books about Bhave but saw how so many people wanted to know more about Mahatma Gandhi. So, we put up a stall outside Regal Cinema and sold Gandhi's autobiography and other books on him for Rs 5. They were selling very fast that we used to take as many as 40 books and it was always sold out for the next six months that the movie ran in the theatre."

Birth of the Gandhi Book Centre
At the time, the Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal situated in a quiet lane off the vegetable market near Grant Road railway station was only running as a non-profit organisation focused on continuing the legacy of Vinoba Bhave. However, after seeing the demand for books on the ‘Father of the Nation' grow immediately after the release of the movie, Somaiya decided to take it a step further beyond selling books outside the theatre. "The ground floor used to be vacant and not used by anybody. So, the owner gave us the space to set up a bookshop and that's how the ‘Gandhi Book Centre' came to life," shares 86-year-old Somaiya, who is the president of the organisation today.

The walls of the two-floor structure showcase photographs of Mahatma Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave. The first floor has a section solely dedicated to an exhibition on the life of the latter, as many may not know it. Ask him if he thinks enough people know about the life of Vinoba Bhave and he says there is definitely a lot more room to get to know about him, especially for the current generation. This writer meets him on a weekday, and may have interrupted his afternoon siesta, but the face of a slightly groggy-eyed Somaiya lights up as soon as he starts talking about Mahatma Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave and how the Gandhi Book Centre came to exist. In the same year the bookshop was started, the bachelor octogenarian, who used to live in Colaba before that with his family, soon moved to the first floor of the Mandal's office, which now functions as his home, to generally overlook operations.

At the time, Somaiya, heavily inspired by Bhave's work in his early 40s, had already been working with the mandal to learn more about their work, after giving up his job as an engineer with Larsen & Toubro. Even today after all these years, the Mumbaikar is as passionate about the work they do as he was more than four decades ago as he instructs those around him to get the statistics on how many people read about Mahatma Gandhi every month. In the week leading up to the 76th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on January 30, apart from its bookshop Gandhi Book Centre, they also put up a stall at Flora Fountain. Together, they earned Rs 2.25 lakh in just six days from selling books on him across the two locations. According to the Annual Report of the Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal, they sold books worth Rs 22 lakh in 2022 - 23, showcasing the popularity of Gandhi and his teachings.

"Which country do you think must be reading the most about Mahatma Gandhi through our website apart from India?" Somaiya asks. "It is the USA," he replies, while showing us a paper with the statistics, which he insists on getting a report of every month. "Can you imagine that in January 2024, we got 2,19, 305 pageviews from the US on the website? That is how popular Gandhi is not only in India but also around the world, as people from more than 200 countries visit our website every month." Coming in second was India at 1,10,116 pageviews, followed by Poland at 75,970.

Going online for the world
Having a website has proved to be a boon for the Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal. After having registered it in the late 90s, they roped in Rajesh Shinde, another Mumbaikar who started out with the Mandal as an intern to manage their digital presence but has found purpose doing the work for close to two decades. Today, the physical bookshop boasts of as many as 300 titles on Mahatma Gandhi and more on Vinoba Bhave in stock that goes into many thousands. Somaiya adds, "While we sell books on Vinoba Bhave and Mahatma Gandhi through the Gandhi Book Centre here, the staff of four people is also busy sending books by post as many people place their orders online from different parts of the city and country. However, people can read books on Gandhi for free through e-books that we regularly upload on our website mkgandhi.org."

Today, the website also has articles on the life of Gandhi, that any person around the world who wants to read about the Indian freedom fighter can read about it. Their WhatsApp group takes it a step further as they send out popular quotes by Mahatma Gandhi every morning hoping to help people start their day positively.

Making Gandhi accessible to prisoners, children
Since 2007, they have also been trying to inspire prisoners to read the works of Gandhi in the prisons across Maharashtra by regularly conducting sessions and even giving them free access to books about him. "We also conduct the ‘Gandhi Peace Exam' every few months after they have done these sessions at many of the jails including Byculla jail, Thane Central Jail near us and even in Nagpur," adds Somaiya. "There was a young boy who used to frequently go in and out of jail in Nagpur due to his different activities, so they kept him within the jail and that's where he got exposed to the works of Gandhi through us and his life changed," narrates the Mumbaikar. Less than a decade ago, Somaiya says he got out of jail a changed man and has now transformed his life by getting a job in Mumbai and living a happy life with his family.

Beyond the prisoners, they regularly conduct the exam for school students in the city to help them learn more about Mahatma Gandhi from a young age, and hope to carry forward the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi through the bookshop.