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.”