Hooked on books

Even though there were books spilling out of my cabinets, I stayed away from them. Apart from textbooks, I only occasionally read comics, Chandamama, or the Illustrated Weekly of India. In stark contrast, my brother read fiction with great delight. He rented them for a steal from Deejay’s Library in Frazer Town. He was often caught reading a novel hidden in a notebook during exams and received a well-deserved rap on the knuckles.

My journey into the wonderful world of English prose had a late start when I started working. My colleague at State Bank, G R Murthy, got me interested in books. Post-lunch, he would drag me to the Premier Book Shop on Museum Road, owned by T S Shanbhag, whose love for books and the way he stacked them is legendary.

While the fascinating covers, titles, and illustrations blew me away, Murthy hand-picked his favourite authors and recommended some splendid titles for me to read.

Murthy kept me interested by sharing his perspectives on the books and the authors. He kept me engaged in dialogue and thus started my lifelong love affair with books and bookstores. I started gradually picking up books, and I arrived home with a bunch of them to meet my wife’s disapproving glare. The house soon overflowed with printed material from every cupboard, box, and drawer!

As the years passed, I scoured for books in the alleyways and second-hand bookstores on MG Road, Brigade Road, and Church Street, hoping to find some good reads. From the humble beginnings of selling books on street corners, these booksellers now run luxurious bookstores (Blossom Book House, Bookworm, and Bookhive, to name a few) along Bengaluru’s renowned book street, Church Street.

The Select Book Shop is my top pick, having been around for 77 years, making it the longest-surviving second-hand bookstore in Bengaluru. This venture had a humble start on the Museum Road pavement, set up by Kurnool lawyer KBK Rao. Many Britishers sailed back to the UK after India gained independence and put their possessions up for bidding at Cohen Auctioneers on MG Road. And it thrilled Rao to snap up these items.

The “old curiosity shop” on Brigade Road Cross has a surprise for every book lover. If you are lucky enough, you may even find a rare, out-of-print edition here! Bengaluru-based historian Ramachandra Guha once stumbled on his grandmother’s horoscope here!

K K S Murthy and Sanjai, the father-son pair, now carry on the shop’s tradition established by its founder. My book collection has grown dramatically because of these legendary booksellers.