Indian Railways to phase out iconic Wheeler stalls across Mumbai network

Indian Railways will shed its connection to Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling as one of its most iconic features mdash the Wheeler book stalls mdash are set to disappear from stations across Mumbairsquos Western Railway WR network marking the end of a centuryold legacyWR however has decided to preserve a Wheeler stall at Mumbai Central Terminus station which retains its original design ldquoAlmost all the Wheeler stalls in Mumbai are just cubicles The only one where the original design is maintained at Mumbai Central will not be touched We will repurpose the structurerdquo an official saidA Wheeler stall that has been converted into a multipurpose store at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj TerminusThe stalls where one can buy newspapers and affordable books have been a part of the suburban railway network culture helping cultivate a reading habit in commuters For generations of commuters Wheeler stalls were more than just retail counters mdash they were hotspots to affordable literature from newspapers and magazines to bestselling novels often serving as a companion to long suburban and intercity journeysRudyard Kipling English journalist novelist poet and shortstory writer whose early works were published as part of AH Wheeler amp Corsquos Indian Railway Library Series PicWikimedia CommonsTheir distinctive presence on platforms became synonymous with railway travel itself In 2021 however they were converted into multipurpose stalls MSP under a revised commercial model A communication issued by WRrsquos Mumbai division has confirmed that the fiveyear contract for 55 MPS will conclude on March 31 2026The cover of a collection of short stories by the Nobel laureate whose first edition was published by AH Wheeler amp Co in 1888 and sold for Rs 1The city remembersTimepass during train travelDeepak Rao Historian and city chroniclerTheir stalls were treasure troves of knowledge I particularly treasure their rubber stamp that was etched on their copies one of my books dates back to 1956 As schoolboys my friends and I were regulars at the VT todayrsquos CSMT stall which had a fantastic collection I remember heading there to buy comic books and later when the magazine boom hit India in the 1970s they would stock not just the best Indian magazines but also international publications like Time and Newsweek Longdistance train travel to places like Pune was incomplete if we didnrsquot pick up at least one bestseller to kill time on the journey Their closure is sad news Todayrsquos readers will never understand its value and presence as a Mumbai icon that stood the test of timePulse of a generationKaiwan Mehta Author academic and architecture theoristMy undergraduate thesis was on railway stations My argument was that in the case of Mumbai they act as thresholds for travel While we wait at stations we drink chai and quite organically our eyes would scan the station and these book stalls would catch the eye I remember being fascinated by the Hindi comic book superhero series lsquoDogarsquo by Raj Comics They stocked every newspaper even those that werenrsquot published in Mumbai like lsquoThe Hindursquo would be available later in the day These bookstalls gave you a sense of what the general public is reading beyond physical and online bookstores It also offered insight into translated bestsellers Apart from value for money paperbacks titles like lsquoThe Discovery of Indiarsquo Dr BR Ambedkarrsquos writings as well as Mahatma Gandhirsquos lsquoThe Story of My Experiments With Truthrsquo were almost always on sale They offered a pulse of the generation in the same manner as All India Radio didSynonym for bookstoresArundhathi Subramaniam Poet and authorIt was a big part of our life in the city I would call it a synonym for bookstores at railway stations It was almost a common noun I remember picking up magazines newspapers and books during our train rides to my grandmotherrsquos home on vacations or the commute to friendsrsquo houses in the suburbs I would call it my lsquoWheeler Dealerrsquo for books as a running joke The stalls were a landmark at the crowded railway station Before mobile phones wersquod simply say lsquoIrsquoll meet you by the Wheelerrsquosrsquo bookstall to a friend and they would know I suppose it is the end of an era Soon it will be one of those things that you mention and get a blank stare in return I just arrived in Mumbai and told my cabbie to take a turn past Dev Anandrsquos bungalow He looked back to ask lsquoWho is Dev Anandrsquo Thatrsquos the way it isSummer holiday memoriesEhsaan Noorani ComposermusicianIt was a huge part of our summer holiday memories As a child summers to me meant travelling to Lonavla on the Deccan Queen I would always insist on getting to the station early so I could buy a lsquoDennis the Menacersquo or lsquoArchies Digestrsquo to read all the way It was all part of the excitement of a train journey It is a terribly sad thing to hear that they will no longer be a part of the next generationrsquos experienceA memory of my formative yearsAtul Dodiya ArtistThe Wheelerrsquos bookstore was a huge part of my formative years of art It housed a diverse range of books I remember picking up books in regional languages comics and classic novels But most of all they would also sell published film scripts Those are rare now I recall picking up scripts like Awtar Singh Kaulrsquos lsquo27 Downrsquo and Basu Chatterjirsquos lsquoRajnigandharsquo among many others during my commute from Ghatkopar while I was studying at Sir JJ School of Art It was there that my love for Hindi cinema took rootsAbout AH Wheelergtgt The first store was opened at Allahabad Railway Station in 1877gtgt The chain was originally founded by Emile Moreau a French businessman TK Banerjee an Indian businessman Arthur Henry Wheeler after whom the store got named Arthur Lisle Wheeler WM Rudge and Armenian Tigran Ratheus David in Allahabad or present day Prayagraj in 1877 The name AH Wheeler had been borrowed from the very famous and thensuccessful London bookstore mdash lsquoArthur Henry Wheelersrsquo who had been a friend of one of the founders Moreau and had also helped him financiallygtgt It is headquartered in Allahabad now Prayagraj with bookstores spreading across hundreds of railway stations especially in the north and eastgtgt It was once the premier bookstore chain on Indian Railways boasting 258 locations by 2004gtgt The business was taken over by the Banerjee family in 1950 which continues to run itgtgt Following a 2004 railway policy change many of the iconic bookstores have been converted into ldquomultipurpose stallsrdquo that sell snacks and medicines in addition to reading materialmidday staffers recallWheeler staff told me my namersquos in the paperAs a student of mathematics and economics at KC College Churchgate 199194 I would buy two newspapers every day from the Wheeler stall at Churchgate mdash midday and The Afternoon Despatch amp Courier ADC So regular was I that the vendor knew me by my face and later by name Sometime in mid1993 I went as usual and he told me ldquoAapka naam aya hai Afternoon paper meinrdquo Flummoxed I opened the ADC and there it was on one of the City pages under the headline ldquoWinners of National Essay Competition Announcedrdquo It turned out that the essay I had submitted to the Forum of Free Enterprise the wellknown organisation established in 1956 to educate public opinion in India on free enterprise and its close relationship with the democratic way of life was declared the secondbest in a national competition for college and postgraduate university students I was 19 at the time In 1993 FFE established by AD Shroff a banking and economics luminary was headed by Nani Palkhivala and MR Pai when I won the prize I went to the DN Road office to collect my certificate signed by Messrs Palkhivala and Pai Imagine my surprise when Mr Pai himself handed over the certificate I touched his feet and left the office If the clerk at Wheeler had not told me about it I would have probably never known I had won the prize It is a memory I will cherish until my last daySachin Kalbag editorinchiefMy page 1 storyAH Wheeler amp Co for me was more than a stockist of books and magazines During my years in the book trade I visited their office on Dr DN Road to get them to buy books in large quantity but to no avail The woodenframed bookshelves attracted my attention at each station I got off I remember one particular lsquodisembarkationrsquo mdash at Bandra West mdash to check whether this newspaper carried my piece filed as a freelancer in the wake of a reported rift between two buddies Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli in early 1994 The piece was about Mumbai team manager and former Test allrounder Karsan Ghavri refuting talk of a rift To my great surprise the story was carried on page 1Clayton Murzello deputy editorMatungarsquos knowledge addaAs collegegoers we would board and alight from Matunga Central railway station and the AH Wheeler book stall was a godsend for several reasons For many thirdyear students the stall stocked a wide range of knowledge books for every conceivable entrance exam across faculties and interests The onetime miracle book to every current affairs question mdash Malayala Manorama Yearbook mdash was another huge draw and I recall some of us got sweet discounts on slightly creased copies It was a regular feature of our college life and the easiest spot on the station to use as a landmark to meet friends arriving from other locations Mumbai loses another footnote of high heritage value with its shutting down This generation and the next will never gauge how this omnipresent bookseller made us value and appreciate the written word while on the moveFiona Fernandez features editorI was hooked to itSince my school days I have had a special bond with the small AH Wheeler book shop at one end of Matunga railway station The stacks of newspapers and their screaming headlines the colourful covers of magazines hanging by clips and the muchawaited arrival of my favourite comics and periodicals were always a big deal for me That was the social media of our era and I was hooked to it I couldnrsquot help but stop even if it meant risking a missed train or a scolding for being lateRajendra B Aklekar deputy city editorThe presentWith the contract period now ending railway authorities have instructed licensees to hand over vacant possession of stalls along with all fixtures in good condition failing which the Railways reserves the right to take over and dispose of materials Vendors have been directed to cease operations immediately upon expiry and vacate the premises within 72 hours Railways will take possession of the stalls remove the furniture or other articles lying there and dispose of the same by sale or otherwiseThe Kipling connectionThe AH Wheeler amp Co stall at Mumbai Central which retains its original design The shop was fabricated in England and shipped to India PicsRajendra B AklekarRudyard Kipling was born in Bombay on December 30 1865 to John Lockwood Kipling an artist and teacher of architectural sculpture at the Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy School of Art At the age of five he was sent back to England to stay with a foster family in Southsea He did not return to India for another eleven years when at the age of sixteen he started work as an assistant editor at the Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore In the late 1880s he struck a deal with AH Wheeler amp Co which had secured a nearmonopoly over bookstalls at stations across the rapidly expanding Indian Railways network to start the affordably priced Indian Railway Library SeriesMore revenueConfirming the development a Western Railway divisional official said ldquoThe contract of 55 multipurpose stall units awarded to Ms AH Wheeler amp Co Pvt Ltd used to generate revenue of R076 crore annually Further eauctions of these units were conducted on March 26 and 27 and bids were received in 46 units which will generate a revenue of R53 crore annuallyrdquoThe stall layoutWheelerrsquos compact kiosks crafted from teak wood were built to fit narrow platform spaces without obstructing movement They had a distinct redandcream colour scheme making them easy to spot even in crowded stations and openfront counters allowing quick browsing and fast transactions for passengers on the go as well as multitier display racksWith inputs from Fiona Fernandez and Shriram Iyengar