In the good books

BANGALORE: Sir C V Raman visited them.The Maharaja of Travancore browsed at their place. Oh, and yes, so did RuskinBond. Everything in Bangalore has a history, starting with the very name of thecity. Bookstores in the city of stories are no exception.One of theoldest has turned 106.Higginbothams, the country''s oldest survivingname in book-selling, set up shop on M G Road in 1897. It was perhaps the firstbook outlet in Bangalore. What started as a ground-floor bookshop with themanager living on the first floor, has now transformed into a sprawlingrenovated bookhouse that will soon be computerised."We were thefirst to bring in foreign publications to Bangalore, specially from the UK,"says Dominic Michael, regional manager of Higginbothams. One of the storeassistants, Ananth, whose father too worked for 50 years at the bookshop,recalls that the Maharaja of Travancore visited them. It is also the firstcompany to tie up during the British Raj with the Railways to set up bookstallsin railway stations.Says Prakash Gangaram, partner, Gangarams BookBureau: "We started out in 1977 selling books and stationery and then addedfloors to include bargain books, academic books, and now even CDs." His fatherN. Gangaram was in the newspaper and book business since the 1950s in Mysore andstarted the Bangalore Book Bureau in 1965. "We have created a book-buyinghabit in Bangalore. We offer customers more titles on a subject and give them achoice," he says. "In fact, business has grown with the popularity of theInternet. People want books they know are already available in the West," saysPrakash. They are in the process of setting up an onlinebookstore.T.N. Shanbhag set up the Strand Book Stall in Mumbai firstin 1948 and brought the concept down to Bangalore in 1995. "My father wasslighted when as a college student, he was turned out of a large bookshop whenhe was browsing through a book. He was hurt by the humiliation and after deepthought, decided he would set up a shop that would make books affordable and aplace where people would be allowed to browse," says daughter Vidya Virkar whoruns the show now. Strand''s annual sale, a year-round discount of 20 per cent,and chairs throughout the store for customers to sit and read in are what booklovers scramble there for.Newcomers at the Premier Book Stall willalways be amazed by proprietor Shanbhag''s knack to locate any title in the rowsof books that line this little store literally from floor to ceiling, makingthat connection between author and title in a jiffy. Weaving your way throughthe alleys between multitudes of books at the store, you wonder if you are inBookLand. The latest magazines and releases are found on the standsinstantly.Streelekha remains the city''s and perhaps country''s only"feminist" and women''s bookstore. It stocks women''s writing (periodicals andjournals) and books on women''s studies, and doubles as a meeting place forwomen.Oxford Book Store is based on the cafe-bookstore concept, witha special children''s corner where kids can read or learn clay modelling. Itallows a buyer to read a few pages of a book before actually buying it. And thiscan be done sipping from a choice of over 60 varieties of tea at their ChaBar.The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan haspublished over 5,000 publications pertaining to Indian art, culture, literature,philosophy and religion in English and regional languages. Their store on RaceCourse Road stocks books that are invaluable but very affordable. MotilalBanarsidass in Jayanagar are specialists in books on Indology and sacredtexts.The Evangelical Literature Service, The Book Room of the BibleSociety of India, Pauline at St Patrick''s Church, Islamic Voice, ISKCON Temple,Vedanta Book House (specialists in Sanskrit publications), are someorganisations with whom you will find religious literature.TheKannada Book Authority and adjoining Kannada Sahitya Parishat in Chamarajpetshowcase and sell their publications in Kannada on a host of subjects rangingfrom children''s literature, science to folk traditions and works of Jnanpith andPampa award winners.Sapna Book House that started in 1967 boasts ofIndia''s largest showroom of 22,000 square feet for books, stationery, music,toys, CDs, English and one of the largest collection of Kannada books at theirGandhinagar outlet. Their online shop offers over 10,000 book titles that can bebought off the Net. Sankars The Book People with branches all over the city, TheBook Cellar on M.G. Road, Fountain Head on Lavelle Road, Mecca Stores offCommercial Street, Prism Book Shop in Jayanagar, Focus Book Shop in Malleswaram,Avenue Book Centre on Avenue Road for textbooks, Computer Book Centre on M.G.Road for specialised books are where bookworms head to in search offood.The famed Landmark Book Store that is synonymous with Chennaiwill make its entry into Bangalore in the first half of this year at The ForumMall coming up in Koramangala.Second-hand book stalls on AvenueRoad, Blossom on Church Street, vendors on footpaths selling novels and piratedversions, Sunday book bazaars on the footpath near Upparpet Police Station nearMajestic, and book stores in Balepet are favourite haunts of book lovers lookingfor a bargain here, a discount there or a rare title at a throwaway price.