On Tuesday, 23-year-old Harell Kumar, was on his way back home when he unexpectedly spotted a copy of Basharat Peer’s Curfewed Night at New Ashok Nagar station of the Delhi Metro. He immediately picked it up. The book had been left by a volunteer of Books on the Delhi Metro, a non-profit initiative, which Kumar had been following since its inception, and was ecstatic to finally lay his hands on a copy. Volunteers, who call themselves book ninjas leave about two to three books daily at different metro stations, which can be picked up by anyone who spots them first. A similar initiative in the city is called The Book Fairies, in which books are left at popular locations and restaurants. Both the initiatives have been inspired by Books on the London Underground, which was started in 2012 by Hollie Fraser where people started leaving books in London Underground. It shot to fame after actor Emma Watson became a book fairy and placed copies of Maya Angelou’s Mom & Me & Mom at various stations. “The response has been tremendous and people are appreciating the initiative,” said an ecstatic Shruti Sharma, who started Books on the Delhi Metro with her husband Tarun Chauhan in May this year, and has about 40 volunteers in her team who cover the vast network of the metro in the Capital. “People write to us about the story of how they found a book, or they didn’t, and look forward to catch the next drop. Students have bunked classes to go to the nearby stations as soon as they get to know we’ve dropped a copy,” says Sharma. Keshav Chhabra of The Book Fairies says that it has made people interested in local authors. “It's not just classics or bestsellers,” says Chhabra, a Delhi University student, who looks after the initiative in India. The Book Fairies, a book sharing movement that started in London in March this year, is present in 30 countries. Publishers and authors are tying up with these collectives to promote their books. During demonetisation, Harper Collins, for instance, had distributed books to people in ATM queues to help them spend time productively. Penguin Random House India, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, collaborated with both the initiatives. But Sharma and Chhabra do not want publication houses to hijack their initiatives. They tie up with upcoming authors or lesser known publications. Last week, Bring Your Own Book, a book club started by a Delhi-based writer Nidhi Srivastava, completed two years. “It started with informal and cosy gatherings of family and friends to discuss the books we love,” she says, “We now have chapters in Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad too, with over 5000 members. We hope non-readers listen to the conversations and become interested in reading,” she says. Members, who meet once in a fortnight, are told to read and bring a book of their choice. But the scenario is not the same in other cities, where reading culture is not as robust as it is in the Capital and other metropolitan cities. Bhubaneswar-based Akshaya Rautaray, co-owner of the bookstore Walking Bookfairs is struggling to run his business. He was in news two years back when he travelled the country, driving a truck full of books to smaller towns and villages, which do not have access to such stores. “Every city isn’t like Delhi, which is the hub of publishing houses. When we travelled to different towns, we got a great response as people got to read and buy or at least explore different books,” he says. According to the India Book Market Report, prepared by Nielsons in 2015, publishing industry in India is set to grow at an average rate of 19.3 per cent annually. Trends indicate an increase in sales of paperbacks as compared to e-books. “The popularity of books has not decreased. These initiatives have converted reluctant readers into readers. People who would earlier hesitate buying books now get to hold, read and feel a book,” said Ananth Padmanabhan, CEO, Harper Collins India.
