My Office is located at Park Street area of Kolkata. The place is considered to be the centre of the city and houses many famous buildings, new as well as heritage, a five star luxurious hotel, ‘The Park’, glittering shops of ladies’ dress materials and renowned restaurants – which has of late induced people to call the place ‘Food Street’.
The area is more westernised than the rest of Kolkata and celebrates festivals like Christmas and New Year with great fanfare while it makes light work of traditional Bengali festival – The Great Durga Puja. Though, I am personally a great fan of the crazy celebration of Durga Puja, I do not mind if a particular pocket decides to celebrate some other festival in greater splendour – it adds variety to our life.
However, my favourite spot in this famous street is a shop located in front of the formidable ‘The Park’, sandwiched between two eating hotspots – Trincas and Kwality – The Oxford Bookstore. It is owned by the same business house which is owner of The Park – Apeejay Surrendra Group – and, as its hoarding proudly proclaims, is doing business since 1920.
While my colleagues enjoy a sip of tea in ‘mamu’’s tea joint or have a friendly puff of cigarette to get rid of the accumulated tension, I head straight for the bookshop whenever I get some spare minutes at disposal.
There is something extremely charming about the atmosphere inside the shop. There the books of different genre are displayed at different places leaving ample space for movement of the explorers. Staffs of the store are, thankfully, not at all intrusive while they are always happy to help. By this I mean nobody will bump upon you and demand which book are you looking for meaning ‘Please finish your business and make space for the more profitable customers’. You can explore different sections at your leisurely pace, take a book in hand that catches your fancy, read its blurb on the back jacket, and if still find interesting take a few more minutes and go through a few paragraphs or even pages. And then you move on to the next. The process can be repeated as many times as you have time for and finally you can leave the store empty handed without any pang of guilt on your conscience – only the gate keeper will thank you only when he can see a fresh acquisition in your possession.
That, of course, does not mean that I never buy anything. I frequently do and though, like most of people, was initially drawn towards online purchase of books due to convenience and discounts, I realised within a short time that I was missing a significant part of the pleasure that one derives while purchasing a book by physically visiting a book shop.
Very much like courtship and marriage, especially the Hindu ones, purchasing a book too has its prescribed rituals. I, generally, enter a shop with open mind, meaning, I do not look for any particular book to purchase in the shop. I leave it to the instinct and my mood at the moment to make a choice. Sometimes a particular book seems so attractive whichever way you look at it that the decision to purchase is instantaneous but often I take much more time before I give in to my heart(and open my purse).
It normally follows the following course - I take a book, read the recommendations at its back, try to know what it is about(again generally given on the back cover), look at the name of the chapters(especially if it is a non- fiction), read a few paragraphs and satisfy myself that the language used is within the range of my sparse vocabulary, take out my mobile and check out at amazon or goodreads about its ratings(unwritten criteria – minimum four stars out of possible five), check out its online price and if the difference is less than 20%(for even giving patronage has a limit, and mine is around 20%) - then only give a nod and take it under my arms for eventual purchase. I wait a while before rushing to the cash counter for I may be having budget constraint and there may be another book which looks even more appealing; in such case I may end up substituting my earlier choice or, if I am in that rare cavalier mood(It’s my money after all and I have all the rights to spend it my way!), I may end up purchasing both. Sometimes, during this interval, the spell a particular book had on me wears off and I respectfully place it back to the shelf it originally belonged and walk off as a free man.
The entire exercise may seem a little curious to an objective observer but I hope the book lovers will look at my emotions with greater sympathy. Ladies with obsession for sarees and ornaments too may find some common chord.
I carry the newly acquired book(s) with a guilty thrill of a smuggler or practitioner of illicit affair for like every obedient husband I am scared of my better half who often raises a great storm over the fact that my books are transgressing the space meant for her dresses. I know the battle between my books and her dresses is thoroughly unequal but, thanks to my shrewd manoeuvring, so far my books have been spared of the fate of orphans or immigrants.
But, of course, I am digressing!
I was meant to talk about the ‘Oxford Bookstore’ in Kolkata which has been the single most important source of my entertainment during last decade. It gives me space and time to explore and also freedom of just walking off without spending a rupee. The collections are good though could definitely be better for I believe it gives more than necessary space to likes of Agatha Christy, Wodehouse and Pablo Coelho and much less than deserving to likes of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. I would definitely like it to have a larger section for books on nature, spirituality and general science and smaller for crime thrillers but then probably I am out of sync with modern tastes.
It is difficult for a book store to survive in this computer age. As if e-books were not enough, e-commerce seems to be giving it death blow. People seem to be having less and less time for everything – be it test cricket, classical music or classical literature. As such, probably such book stores are fighting a losing battle.
But I wish for the things to change! For there are a few pleasures which can equal the one which a book lover finds amidst a tastefully designed, non intrusive book store like Oxford. It also houses a Tea cafe(Cha Bar) and the people who have a taste for tea and accompanying snacks(I am not amongst them) have confirmed me that it is good.
So if you are a book lover then next time you happen to visit Park Street area of Kolkata, keep some spare some time for this place – you will not be disappointed. Better, you can give me a call and then we can exchange our notes over a cup of tea(as I said I am not a tea lover but then I am fond of those who love books).