Yesterday a colleague told me about this roadside bookstore in Pune. Now these are very common in Hyderabad. You get pirated copies of all sorts of books here (and before anyone judges, the only reason I patronize these stores, other than my cheapness is that I can get easy access to pulp fiction here). You also get lots of management-type books that management wannabes eat up. And of course, banned books that you probably can't get in legitimate stores. More about that in a short while.
Anyway, I was going to hit up this place during the weekend but I realized that I still don't have any friends in town and so am free tonight, so what the hell, let's do this tonight! I found the place easily. The area is called MG Road (which is like the MLK Blvd of India). A nice decently "posh" area. Lots and lots of couples. Lots of shopping. There was a mall, which was the first American-style mall I've seen, with an actual food court and two tiers of shopping and lots of opportunity for window shopping.
Basically the reason I came here was because my colleague told me about this book "The Polyester Prince" which is about the rise of Dhirubhai Ambani that he got at this store. This book is banned in India. (Apparently enough wealth can buy you immunity from the close inspection.) At the store I made the big mistake of asking for the book by name instead of looking around for it, or atleast referring to it as the "Ambani Book". The guy immediately sensed I needed the book and jacked up the price (compared to what my friend got it at) by quite a bit. He made a big deal about how it was a banned book and that he could sell it at Rs. 500 if he wanted to, and that the original used to sell at Rs. 18,000. I had to admire his moxie. Still it was worth it and I picked it up, along with a couple of other books.
As I continued to walk down the street I ran into a legitimate book store. This was a big store. And it was awesome! They had all sorts of books from various time periods. Not just brand new, "in vogue" books. They had historical books about colonial India. They had engineering textbooks. They even had a discount section. Now, there are quite a few book stores in Pune where I can get books. But these are the "vogue" stores where you get the flavors of the day. And they're good, but they're also expensive. This store however was right up my alley in terms of a store where I could spend some time browsing through their selection.
People, I am not exaggerating when I say I started hyperventilating from the excitement. I'm not as big a reader as I'd like to be, but being in a bookstore is like smoking crack for me. I particularly love to pick up old books and open them and smell them! It's intoxicating. And when I found this awesome bookstore in Pune I just got way too excited. My head started hurting and so did my chest. I had to calm myself down and promise myself I would come back.
Anyway, I was going to hit up this place during the weekend but I realized that I still don't have any friends in town and so am free tonight, so what the hell, let's do this tonight! I found the place easily. The area is called MG Road (which is like the MLK Blvd of India). A nice decently "posh" area. Lots and lots of couples. Lots of shopping. There was a mall, which was the first American-style mall I've seen, with an actual food court and two tiers of shopping and lots of opportunity for window shopping.
Basically the reason I came here was because my colleague told me about this book "The Polyester Prince" which is about the rise of Dhirubhai Ambani that he got at this store. This book is banned in India. (Apparently enough wealth can buy you immunity from the close inspection.) At the store I made the big mistake of asking for the book by name instead of looking around for it, or atleast referring to it as the "Ambani Book". The guy immediately sensed I needed the book and jacked up the price (compared to what my friend got it at) by quite a bit. He made a big deal about how it was a banned book and that he could sell it at Rs. 500 if he wanted to, and that the original used to sell at Rs. 18,000. I had to admire his moxie. Still it was worth it and I picked it up, along with a couple of other books.
As I continued to walk down the street I ran into a legitimate book store. This was a big store. And it was awesome! They had all sorts of books from various time periods. Not just brand new, "in vogue" books. They had historical books about colonial India. They had engineering textbooks. They even had a discount section. Now, there are quite a few book stores in Pune where I can get books. But these are the "vogue" stores where you get the flavors of the day. And they're good, but they're also expensive. This store however was right up my alley in terms of a store where I could spend some time browsing through their selection.
People, I am not exaggerating when I say I started hyperventilating from the excitement. I'm not as big a reader as I'd like to be, but being in a bookstore is like smoking crack for me. I particularly love to pick up old books and open them and smell them! It's intoxicating. And when I found this awesome bookstore in Pune I just got way too excited. My head started hurting and so did my chest. I had to calm myself down and promise myself I would come back.
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