A kingdom of books

BANGALORE: Imagine. The essence of the Sunday book market in Daryaganj, Delhi, distilled by good taste and a buy-back policy, and bottled within 3,000 sq feet area on Church Street. Ummmmm! Even Patrick Suskind’s Jean-Baptiste Grenouille would have been satisfied with the perfume. It is called Blossom Book House, the House of Used Books.Though physically located in the city, the smell of used books, enhanced by the fame and variety of its writers, wafts across the world. The store’s owner Mayi Gowda is  neither surprised when he finds foreigners asking for directions to his bookstore nor when bibliophiles express passionate sentiments on entering the store after a period of separation.City Express walks through the narrow aisles of the book shop in conversation with Mayi Gowda and a few customers. The journey begins on the first floor of the three-storied bookshop. It is the first stop for those who followed Blossoms’s move from Brigade Gardens to their new-but-rented premises. This floor houses first editions of latest best sellers. Importantly, the most-visited aisles in the store — English and American fiction, poetry, drama, popular fiction, science fiction, Indian English writing, travel writing and romance — are located on this floor. “In 1997, I was staying in a hostel near Majestic and pursuing an engineering course from UVCE. To earn some money, I started selling used-books on Avenue Road. By the time I finished my course, I had a collected over 1,700 books. I joined GE but did not like my job there. I quit within 20 days and got back to selling books,” Mayi Gowda says with a sheepish smile.While his family was scandalised with his decision, a group of book lovers including several journalists were very happy. But for him, their personal collections would have suffered.The appeal spread due to the range of books on offer. If other book shops stored John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant Woman, you will find his The Magus here and only for Rs 50; or Hemmingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls. “All books that I have ever bought are from here. The others are those I receive as gifts. Through student days, this was the only affordable place for books,” says Aparanjeeta Sambandan, who currently works with a news-based website. Her treasured find is the complete collection of John Mortimer’s Rumphole series that she has never found elsewhere.Fans of fantasy fiction treat a trip to Blossoms as a pilgrimage. “Yes, Flipkart offers it all. But, even it cannot offer me some rare books written by Terry Prachett, that too at discounted rates,” says Navin Athreya, a research scholar from Mumbai.The second floor has books pertaining to psychology, history, biographies and even languages. It is here that you will find an entire shelf of books dedicated to Gandhiji and Nehru family. Copies of the volumes titled The Spirit of India presented to Indira Gandhi by Indira Gandhi Abhinandan Samithi and edited (not surprisingly) by Shankar Dayal Sharma, by itself comments on history leading to the Emergency.Anthologies of Black prose and poetry and South-Asian literature find place here. The ground floor has best-sellers and space for religion, culture and music. “I picked up a rare translation of Thondaradippodi Alwar’s Thirupalliezhuchi here,” says Suraja S, a teacher.So, how does Mayi Gowda manage to get these books and sell them at competitive prices. “Over the years I’ve managed to convince several paper-mart dealers in Bangalore and Mumbai to sell used books to me. I also scout for books at American-reject sales,” he explains.But, it is the buy-back counter that registers more footfalls. Like the gypsies who deposit books in secluded hangouts across the world, customers here can walk in and give a book they do not want, in return for a book they love. This bargain cannot be matched by any book chain in the country. On weekends, the line of people from other parts of the country who drop in to sell books they have read in return for some nuggets, is serpentine.For a bookshop that does not advertise, except for their customised plastic carry bags, they have a sizable fan following in the country. Proof is the number of celebrity footfalls including film director Shekar Kapur, who walked in and picked up several used-books.The irony of other shops organising literary events including book launches to increase footfalls is felt when authors freely walk in to pick up books here. “The author I recognised immediately was Ramachandra Guha. There is also Anita Nair,” he says.It is very difficult to walk out of Blossoms without buying a book. When the intoxicating smell of books numbs your brain, then the free coffee supplied at regular intervals wakes one up to the joys of the good-old touch and feel reading.