Spurt in sale of Devi's biography

new delhi: a day after phoolan devi was shot dead on wednesday afternoon, many bookshops in the capital reported a sudden interest in the biography of the bandit queen. currently available in a paperback version for rs 195, the biography by mala sen mortalises the rebel of the ravines. said vikas bajaj, owner of cambridge book depot, in connaught place outer circle (one of the few shops that remained open during the traders' bandh): ``since thursday morning we have sold six copies, which is a record.sales went up unexpectedly. we had only seven copies in stock.'' on friday evening, only one unsold copy was left in the shop. ``we never expected this as phoolan's biography is not the most popular of books in our shop. but after news of her death, we have placed orders for more copies as sales are likely to remain high over the next couple of days,'' bajaj said. across the road on janpath, the story repeated itself at the famous book store. ``we have sold 20 copies in the last two days. this is unprecedented. normally we sell one copy in a week or 10 days,'' said sanjeev arora, who owns the store. ``a couple of buyers were foreigners who had heard the news of the killing and wanted to read more about her.'' lakshmi bookstore on janpath (which also remained open despite the bandh call on wednesday and thursday) received several enquiries about books on phoolan devi. ``we got several phone calls but have not sold any books so far,'' said a shop attendant. first published by harvill in 1981, mala sen's book ^ india's bandit queen: the true story of phoolan devi ^ traces phoolan's metamorphosis into a dacoit and dwells on her early years. so far, it is the only authentic and widely read biography of phoolan devi available in india. in fact, shekhar kapoor's film of the same name is based on sen's book.