Bookless in Bangalore
PC : Priyanka Sacheti
This flash essay is part of a collaborative, constrained-writing challenge undertaken by some members of the Bangalore Substack Writers Group. Each of us examined the concept of ‘BANGALORE’ through our unique perspective, distilled into roughly 500 words. At the bottom of this snippet, you’ll find links to other essays by fellow writers.
Books have been our best friends forever !!.
When we moved to J.P. Nagar, what we missed the most wasn't the neighbourhood bakery or the local park, but a fresh supply of books. We had to make do with what we had at home: dog-eared comics, school textbooks (ugh), and on the truly desperate days, an ancient Stardust magazine from 1981.
New comics only came during the summer holidays, so we counted down like prisoners awaiting parole.
One summer, a well-meaning neighbour who had apparently “outgrown comics” (a tragedy in itself) , gifted me his entire Indrajal Comics collection. What joy! Phantom! Mandrake! Bahadur! It was a jackpot. I held on to them for years before (tragically? nobly?) passing them on.
The hunger for more books remained.
Then, one glorious summer morning, the doorbell rang.
We ran out and beheld a sight for sore eyes: an auto-rickshaw overflowing with books! A man stepped out and announced that he was from Higginbotham’s, one of the most famous bookstore in Bangalore. They were launching a home delivery book membership. Three books a week, to your doorstep!
Was it divine intervention? A government scheme? Some kind of literary Uber Eats?
Before he could finish, my mother signed up with the enthusiasm of someone who hadn't read a new Mills & Boon in months. Even though it did sound a bit shady.
Predictably, the books dried up after three weeks. Vanished, poof! A few months later, someone came back with the same story.Only this time, they had a uniform and a badge. Professional scam? Who knows.
In the meantime, a friend and I launched our startup. A library, At home. We sourced whatever we could: Champak, Tinkle, Chandamama, detective novels, cookbooks, even outdated astrology pamphlets. If it had pages, it made the cut.
Our “library” opened post school and sports. Friends dropped in to read, chat, and borrow for a small fee, of course. Membership money was supposed to go towards acquiring more books… but let’s be honest, most of it was redirected to critical items like ice-lollies, Kadalekai, mavinakai with salt and chilli.
We were doing just fine until… reinforcements arrived.
Two real-deal libraries opened in the area: Gurudutt Circulating Library in Jayanagar 9th Block, and Saraswati Circulating Library in JP Nagar. Actual shelves! Library cards! The works !
Sometimes we spent so much time browsing, they politely told us to leave or sometimes not-so-politely asked if we were planning to pay rent. We didn’t mind. We’d be back the next day anyway.
Visits to my maternal grandmother’s place followed a strict routine: eat copious amounts of food, run wild, and walk to the library, most often twice a day. Once after breakfast, and once in the evening. Sometimes, playtime became live-action roleplay of Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, or the Three Musketeers (complete with fake moustaches drawn in pen).
I have even returned a book moments before boarding the bus back home.
As we grew older, the school had a library, but it was filled with Encyclopaedia Britannicas and books titled “The History of Steel” (no offence to steel). Luckily, right next to school was a City Central Library which is a glorious government-run wonderland where I consumed my dose of Tintin and Asterix.
And just like that, we were no longer Bookless in Bengaluru.
Here’s a list of other flash essays by fellow Bangalore Substack writers:
Looking Down over Bengaluru by Vaibhav Gupta, Thorough and Unkempt
Blossom Book House, Bangalore by Rahul Singh, Mehfil
A Walk, A Pause by Mihir Chate, Mihir Chate
Bangalore: A personal lore by Siddhesh Raut, Shana, Ded Shana
Bangalore,once by Avinash Shenoy, Off the walls
My love story with Bengaluru by Rakhi Anil
Bangalore Down the lane of History by Aryan Kavan Gowda, Wonderings of a Wanderer
Nagar Life by Nidhishree Venugopal, General in her Labyrinth
Belonging by Shruthi Iyer, Shruthi Iyer
The Street Teaches You by Karthik, Reading This World
The Wild Heart of Bangalore by Devayani Khare, Geosophy
A Love Letter to Bangalore by Priyanka Sacheti, A Home for Homeless Thoughts
Movies Dates, Bangalore and Them by Amit Charles, AC Notes
Between Cities by Richa Vadini Singh, Here’s What I Think
A Haven? Awake in Bangalore, by Lavina G, The Nexus Terrain
My love affair with blue skies by Sailee Rane, Sunny climate stormy climate
A City That Builds Belonging by Sathish Seshadri, Strategy & Sustainability
There and Back Again by Ayush, Ayush's Substack
One of my wishes if I ever encounter a genie is to be a child growing up in the Bangalore of the 80s and 90s. Your stories always conjure up glimpses of what that might have looked like. This is such a delight to read.
I loved this… I am a librarian and always love to hear stories about how people think of books and libraries. And I have actually visited the red library in Bangalore you posted a picture in one of my trips to India, I still remember the crowded newspaper section.