Finding grandmother’s horoscope among books, generous proprietors: Ramachandra Guha recalls association with Bengaluru’s bookstores

The historian delivered Ravi Sondhi Spirit of Bangalore Lecture 2023 at Lady Jehangir Kothari Memorial Hall on Saturday.

Historian Ramachandra Guha delivered Ravi Sondhi Spirit of Bangalore Lecture 2023 on the topic 'The Booksellers of Bangalore'.

The bookworms of Bengaluru gathered at Lady Jehangir Kothari Memorial Hall Saturday (March 25) evening, packing the venue to the rafters. All of them were there to see the historian Ramachandra Guha deliver Ravi Sondhi Spirit of Bangalore Lecture 2023 on the topic ‘The Booksellers of Bangalore’.

At the outset, Guha recalled two bookstores that had long been mainstays – Brigade Road’s Select Book Shop and Premier Book Shop, which stood on the corner of Church Street. He remembered that at Select, he once encountered a horoscope of his grandmother in a book. “I went to her and said – Paati, this is your horoscope. She said, ‘You know, this is my father’s handwriting and I think when your grandfather died, some books were sold and the horoscope must have gone with them’,” Guha said.

He added, “We live in a city which calls itself the knowledge capital of India and there aren’t decent libraries. I have depended a lot on out-of-print books and documents for writing my books. Without Select, I don’t know how I would have written my books. Select has very often figured in the acknowledgements of my books. I could smuggle it into the text of my book Rebels Against the Raj.”

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Guha also shared his memories of Premier and its late proprietor, TS Shanbag. “Select gave me materials for my research but Premier gave me my heart and soul. This is where I bought the novels, the biographies and memoirs that I read for pleasure rather than information.”

Remembering TS Shanbag, Guha said when he did not have enough money for a book, Shanbag once told him to take the book and bring the money later. But when he returned, Shanbag insisted that it was the other way round and that he owed Guha because of not having change with him, resulting in customers witnessing the confusing spectacle of a book buyer and a bookseller trying to pay the other.

Guha also shared many other anecdotes about Shanbag, who had become a city institution himself, with his store not far from the famous Koshy’s Parade Cafe, where Guha is a fixture, or as he himself calls “the history chair at Koshy’s.”

But as Premier has closed down and Select begins to age, new bookstores have come up, among which Blossom Book Store and Bookworm of Church street are prominent. On one occasion, Guha had been navigating the changed facade of Church Street and found himself unable to locate Bookworm, where he wanted to attend an event. Then he spotted Mayi Gowda, the well-known proprietor of Blossoms. Guha said he called out to him, ‘Mayi! Where is Bookworm’, and he was promptly not only shown the location but also taken there by Gowda. “That is the spirit of Bangalore,” said Guha.

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The lecture concluded with a spirited conversation between Guha and audience members, sharing memories of Bengaluru and its bookstores.

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