Mumbai’s iconic Strand Book Stall recently shut down, rekindling the fear that arose when Hotel
Fidalgo’s book store shut down a few years ago. The freedom of walking through
rows of books, with the air filled with the smell of books, is an experience
every reader will identify with. With the changing times, these spaces are
getting more cramped up for the real world, while making room on the virtual
forum.
Leonard Fernandes is the proprietor of Dogears Bookshop in
Margao, which has been conducting various workshops and interactions with
authors and book launches to attract more readers to the store. Speaking about
the shutting down of Strand Book Stall, Leonard says, “Strand Book Stall was
opened by Shanbagh and then his daughter took over. Most of their employees
left the book stall to start working in other book stalls that opened up in the
city. Previously as well, though not everyone was reading, you would find
people who would want one book, per week or month or year. Even if parents are
not reading, they are making their children read.”
Comparing the convenience of buying books online with running
through the book racks in a store, Leonard explains that he does get a lot of
people who look at books and go through them at the store but buy them online.
“You can’t help it and stop them from doing it at the store as you get higher
discounts online. However, for most online stores, books are a loss leader as
they attract customers to buy books at a discounted rate, but for free shipping
the bill has to be of a certain amount, which leads the readers to buy
additional products. I cannot offer anything more than books at the store,”
says Leonard.
Frederick Noronha has published numerous books through his
alternative book publishing venture, Goa,1556. He uses online stores as well as
bookstores to promote his books, which give authors maximum visibility. “Online
booksellers do bring us new readers, but I have very mixed feelings about them.
They also kill real-world bookstores, which we very much need, as they are
cultural spaces, meeting spaces, discussion spaces and a lot more.
“The online bookstore opens up new options, finds us buyers we
would not be able to locate ourselves. But some charge us as much as 55 per
cent commission on our books. Readers see these as convenient, but I also fear
that the online bookstores could lead to the collapse of brick-and-motar
bookshops. If it were a choice between fewer sales and real world bookstores
surviving, I would prefer the latter. But, at the same time, wholesale
distributing of books in Goa is almost non-existent, and much needs to be done
on that front, or else nobody would be able to move ahead,” says Frederick, who
has a collection of over 2,500 on Goa itself.
When asked whether the disappearance of physical bookstores will
affect young readers, Frederick replies, “It will affect all. These are vital
spaces in the chain of book creation and distribution. We should remember the
service they have done to society over the generations, and not just be ready
to junk them because we see what looks like a shinier, far cheaper option for
books.”
After 32 successful years of running Avanti, a lending library
in the heart of the city of Panjim, Joyce Fernandes, its proprietor, had to
close it down. It was a heartbreaking decision as it was her hobby for reading
that led to the opening of the library. She started with her own collection of
books, which grew over the years to 13,000 novels at the time of closing.
“It is a really sad thing that children and youngsters are not
gaining knowledge through books and I don’t know what the future of these
children will be. Everyone is glued to the internet for quick information; they
don’t have the patience to read a book. Earlier, children who used to read
English had very good grammar but now their hobbies don’t include reading,”
says Joyce.
The library had a collection of books, for readers of all ages.
“We used to get children as young as 7 years, who would walk in with their
parents to search for books to read. Reading helps you use your brain in the
right way,” she adds.
With
Goa itself witnessing the closing of Avanti, Hotel Fidalgo’s bookstore and
Tinesh Kalra’s The Reading Habit, the fear of losing the charm of picking a
book from a bookshelf is more palpable.
