Shelf Life with Mid-Day: Here’s how this bookshop at Mumbai Central railway station helps provide food to adivasis in Dahanu

Amid the hustle and bustle of people waiting or running for their long-distance trains at Mumbai Central Railway station, time slows down for many travellers who stop by Sarvodaya Sat-Sahitya Book Stall, which has over 5,000 books. They are mostly adult travellers who are looking for specific books or teenagers with their parents, who come by skimming through the books before they hop on to the train. A younger reader comes looking for manga but is left with choices of Tinkle, highlighting how much the tastes have changed over the last two decades.

Ironically, people who come to the waiting hall don't frequent A.H. Wheeler, which has over the years been frequented by many people but since being converted into a multi-purpose stalls, sees more people come to buy eatables than to buy books, which are less than 50, in a stall that boasted over thousands of them till a few months ago.

Finding joy in social service
However, Sarvodaya has managed to sustain itself over 30 years because of dedicated patrons, who are probably inspired by the reason the stall was opened. Being managed by Jayprakash Shetye for over 25-years, it easily transports people to another world. "First there used to be different kinds of history books, self-help books, along with literary fiction. However, there are very few people who read Vinoba Bhave and about Mahatma Gandhi anymore. For Gandhi Jayanti, there were hardly any copies sold," he shares.

For 74-year-old Shetye, social service has always been something he wanted to do after he retired from his job in the book trade, working at a local publishing house. He explains, "This is all social service. It is something that comes from the heart. I am doing this in my retirement and do not earn any money from it."

Shetye says all the money from the sales of these books goes to old adivasis who aren't able to work. He explains, "So that they at least get one time's food, they started this over thirty years ago. While there are challenges running this bookstall, it still manages to make ends meet." Interestingly, he says the fact that Rajdhani now stops at Borivali instead of Mumbai Central, has reduced the number of people coming to buy more books but somehow there is hope, especially because they have to feed the Adivasis in Dahanu. Apart from Mumbai Central, there is also a book stall at Churchgate and at the railway station of the origin of the movement.

Understandably, there has been a change in the subjects that readers have been consuming over decades. "More people are into motivational books; the youngsters are into fiction and romance novels, and ladies are into that too. There are also other people who love reading health books, along with spiritual books," he adds. While there are Marathi books, they don't work as much, she says, because there are very few Marathi people who pass by here for long distance trains. Keeping that in mind, English and Hindi books are more popular at the bookstall.

Effect of the Covid-19 pandemic
Just like many others, the Covid-19 pandemic took a toll on the bookstall because they had to close till the trains started functioning. However, once they started, there was no looking back. "Even once travel started, passengers had to directly go to the trains, so there were no stalls. After that, we used to keep it open for four hours when the trains had started operating, and eventually kept it open full time," he shares. Interestingly, Shetye says they not only get passengers as the customers but also railway employees, who often come to browse through the books, and often pick up the ones in Hindi and Marathi and come back with it, when they are done.

While Shetye starts by 1:30 or 2 pm, he is helped by another book veteran, who has worked in the publishing field for some time. Prakash Raoji Pachkale is equally in love with the books and though he doesn't read too much, he knows quite a lot about them, and is also working there solely as a volunteer. While Pachkale lives in Prabhadevi, Shetye is from Chinchpokli.

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