Mind the bookshelf

Last year in April as most of India was learning to live the lsquonew normalrsquo life in a visionary move the state government of Kerala decided to keep bookstores open for two days of the week because it believed that reading books was necessary for the mental health of the public Even shops selling educational books were allowed to operateApril 23 is observed by UNESCO as World Book and Copyright Day to mark the death anniversaries of three big daddies of literature William Shakespeare Miguel de Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega The following day is Independent Bookstore Day ndash an annual affair in the US ndash but now observed by bookstores across the globe as a mark of solidarity towards their ilkThese backtoback dates hit a nostalgic note especially in these times where we crave for the enrichment that can only come from entering a physical bookstore or browsing secondhand titles on a footpath It was time to write a minitribute to these tactile experiences and their lifechanging impactIntroduction to a dream worldAs a school going teen I recall my access to libraries as a fun weekly affair Some of us friends would pore over collections of Nancy Drew mysteries Sir Conan Doylersquos fascinating whodunits or Archiersquos next mad Riverdale High Adventure with equal curiosity The odd fact book or quizzing tome also caught the eye of this trivia nerd There were no bookstores in my suburb Mulund and so the wellstocked Paras Circulating Library did us a world of good as we gradually introduced to the many worlds outside our charming neighbourhood Our vocabulary was introduced to an array of terms and timelines ndash ranging from Pop Tatersquos club soda to what life must have been like in 19th century London An inspiring English school teacher played her part too her enviable bookcase had Dostoevsky Uris Miller Shakespeare and so many othersBy then my mother had already opened our minds to the collections of Readerrsquos Digest books ndash a delightful universe of knowledge that became our Google search for everything Its reference books were a treasure trove packed with wonderful illustrations crisp information and easyontheeye layouts that wasnrsquot offputting for the impressionable reader keen to grasp beyond the daily newspaper and The World This Week remember that superbly packaged weekly capsule As college corridors beckoned our world opened up a bit more to a wider access of books The iconic secondhand booksellers at Kingrsquos Circle are an institution in themselves It was a dreamcometrue for any cashstrapped collegian who loved books holding on to every paisa of their pocket money I can recall many longdrawn bargaining battles with them they won some we won a few And yet without fail each time wersquod revisit they would source titles from our wishlist Soon enough our adventurous lives took us to the Mecca for booklovers ndash Strand Book Stall I recall my first visit as a 17yearold A bunch of us took the train to VT for a movie at Sterling but the show was sold out so we ambled around Fort and ventured inside Mr Shanbhag would patiently answer our every inane query about a suitable pick My respect for Bombayrsquos irreplaceable book guardian increased with every visit there There was Smokerrsquos Corner another gem in the vicinity located at the entrance of Botawala building Their collection of rare UK publications and quirky illustrated titles grace my bookshelf to this date Like Mr Shanbhag Suleman Botawala knew every book inside outCoffee and booksBy the time professional life came calling bookstore chains sprung up everywhere even my suburb boasted of one It was the new cool place to be seen in ndash buy a book sip on a coffee it looked right It might have felt fashionably lsquoItrsquo yet the feet took me back to Strand for serious bookshopping Fortrsquos pavement booksellers had also caught our eye for their eclectic lists In the mid2000s I was commissioned to write a fact book on the city That proved to be another turning point The library inside the Asiatic Society building intimidated and wowed Within these hundreds of rows sat probably one of the widest collections of titles under one roof it spanned centuries that were intertwined with the cityrsquos evolution The deafening silence occasionally interrupted by creaking sounds of researchers or academics walking on its wooden floors the pigeon poop that would greet me on turning a page of an 1873 original the discoveries in the microfilm section all of it made me treasure those memories This last decade saw the emergence of Kitab Khana Trilogy Title Waves as well as reading spaces like Leaping Windows and MCubed Library giving muchneeded legup for the cityrsquos bibliophilesThe tough silenceToday books sit untouched in these sanctuaries across Bombay They await their fate just like the city One hopes that like the Kerala government our powers will see merit in reopening them up for public consumption and more importantly for mental nourishment Herersquos a timely quote by American aphorist Mason Cooley to ponder over ndash lsquoReading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we arersquo middayrsquos Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the cityrsquos sights sounds smells and stoneswherever the ink and the inclination takes her She tweets bombayanaSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom