K. JAVEED NAYEEM writes: A leading Kannada newspaper recently in its weekly supplement on Mysore carried a brief article about ‘Newspaper House’, an all too well-known landmark of our City located in the Lansdowne Building.
Like all book shops which have since my childhood always drawn me like a bee to nectar, it still continues to be one of my favourite haunts although they mostly sell magazines now instead of books and newspapers as the name might still suggest.
Though started by his father in 1930, my association with the shop and its former owner L. Raja Rao was from my childhood days in the mid-sixties. Although a very soft-spoken, frail and small-built man, he was extremely large-hearted in dealing with his customers and his benevolence and gentle nature were of great help to me in satisfying my almost insatiable appetite for books.
Although books were very cheap then, as a school boy I used to find myself at his shop invariably with money that never even remotely matched the bill for the books I would enthusiastically pick up, when the gentle soul would urge me to take as many books as I wanted without the need to pay immediately. That was my first and certainly my only painless experience with buying on credit which now pains me so much when the time to pay my bills draws close!
He had grown so fond of me as one of his favourite customers that even long after I became a full-fledged doctor he refused to let his sons, Sridhar and Krishna close the credit account in their ledger although it was a facility which I no longer required and which would have perhaps helped some other less well-to-do lover of books.
While most people are a little shy to admit that they have long standing credit accounts, this is one credit account of which I still feel proud and sentimental. When once he was to be interviewed by the All India Radio, he wanted to introduce me as one of his favourite young customers and had requested me to come down to his shop at the appointed hour although I politely declined the honour.
But he certainly did me a great favour by proudly introducing me as the most avid reader of all his works to R. K. Narayan, who was a regular visitor to his shop. It was only after I got to know him well at this shop that I gradually discovered the freely approachable and talkative man that RKN really was under his rather grim exterior and his brown sleeveless sweater.
Rao was such a simple-hearted and grateful man that even till his death, three decades after the incident, he would never fail to narrate before his other customers how I had once given him a lift from his shop to his house in my father’s car on a wet and stormy night. The 10th anniversary of his death has just gone by but I still recall his smiling face whenever I enter any book shop. May his tribe increase and may his soul rest in peace.
While talking about books and book-shops that have been a part of my life in the city, I think it is pertinent to mention here the other lead players.
The ‘Geetha Book House’ located diagonally opposite ‘Newspaper House’ also used to be another one of my hideouts although now with its changed timings that clash with my working hours and with its full holiday on every Sunday unlike in the past when it used to be open for half a day, I have not been able to visit it for a very long time.
It is owned by Gopalakrishna who used to painstakingly but most willingly procure every book I wanted and who still remembers my tastes very well and still sends me an old-fashioned post card occasionally whenever he receives a book that may be of interest to me. This shop too has been the source of a large part of my collection of books that have given me long hours of fascination and pleasure.
‘Nanumal & Sons’ and its later offshoot ‘Ashok Book Centre’ now owned by the two brothers Ashok and Thakurdas, who still not only allow but even encourage their customers to browse all the books to their heart’s content without the pressure to buy, are perhaps the last of the old-fashioned book shops in this City long known for its literary heritage and stalwart writers.
Sadly, with the habit of reading fast vanishing and business thus declining, good book-shops too have all but vanished from our City although I felt happy to have been recently invited for the ‘re-inauguration’ of the much expanded and renovated ‘Navakarnataka Publications’ outlet on Ramaswamy Circle.
The kindness and magnanimity of the book sellers of Mysore is undoubtedly a debt I can never repay and it always make me recollect one of my favourite poems by Charles and Mary Lamb about a poor schoolboy who, much to the irritation of the shop-keeper, would always visit a bookshop and try to browse books which he could never afford to buy.
It goes thus:
“Of sufferings the poor have many,
Which never can the rich annoy.
I once saw a boy with eager eye
Open a book upon a stall,
And read as if he’d devour it all.
Which when the stall-man did espy,
Soon to the boy I heard him call,
“You, Sir, you never buy a book,
Therefore in one you shall never look.”
The boy passed slowly on, and with a sigh he wished he never had been taught to read, ten of the old churl’s books he should have had no need.
I was sure lucky that I happened to know much kinder and more generous book-shop keepers here in Mysore than the poor boy in my favourite poem.
K. Javeed Nayeem is a practising physician who writes a column for Star of Mysore, where this piece originally appeared
Super…sitting far away, reading this, I could imagine walking infront of Lansdowne Bldg…also the second hand books stall at the beginning is a fond memory. Not to forget the white and red sugar coated peanuts from this shop.
Those were the shops which made proud of Mysore. More than anything else , ” Service with a smile ” was their MOTTO. Those were the days you could find literary giants visiting those shops regularly and recommending books to their libraries which were useful to the student community. By and large the busy life of modern academicians has made it difficult for them to visit Book Shops. The student community is more intrestede in having the notes Xeroxed providing livelihood to the shop owners.
Really awesome. Though I am not from Mysore but I identify my self more with Mysore than with Bnagalore. Its is this culture this thankful nature of a guy to a book shop owner even after decades of his death shows how deep routed the relation one has with his customer and vice versa. In this era of so called best customer service where the company offers the best and customers thank them by ringing the bell during exit looks very very dramatic and most importantly artificial. In an era when people shy away from credit card companies and companies in-turn send goons to recover money shows bankruptcy in the values and ideologies of both the bank and teh customer. I am already feeling the pulse of the story for I have read it 5 times till now!!!!. Thanks CHURMURI for a wonderful story…………
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If R.K.Narayan was a regular visitor to Newspaper Book House in Lansdowne Buildings, famous Kannada writers of his period like D.L.Narasimhachar, H.M.Shankaranarayana Rao, Haa. Maa. Nayak were regulars to the Geetha Book House in the later years. Now, Governor Chaturvedi takes some time off to visit Geetha Book House to buy some books, whenever he visits Mysore. Another good book shop in Mysore now is the Souharda Book House, in Hanumantha Rao Street, near Olympia Talkies, which has a good collection of books. Its owner Seshadri helps in procuring books not available his shop.
What about the ole Higginbothams book shop at Manasagangotri? In the 70s and even in 80s, they used to have a good collection of technical, social sciences and literature books.
DB, in fact, I thought of it. You have reminded me, OK. Higginbothams opened their shop in the beginning in the Post Office Building in the Gangotri Campus. Later it was shifted to the Library building. It is there that I say purchased many books of Tagore, RKN, and many other valuable books including Year Books, Guides for Competitive exams. It has helped many research scholars in getting the books that they required. What about Peoples Book House (owned by the Marxist Krishna-murthy)….Mysore cannot and should not forget their services
GS
Yes Peoples Book House as well run by Murthy–which doubled up as a sports goods shop. I remember telling the great man, “Yenu Saar nimma Russia communism yella biddhe hoythalla”
An ailing DRK had to close his PBH in Jaganmohan Palace Road. Now it is a grocery shop! I remember DRK selling the speeches of Bulganin and Krushcheve for 4 annas. It was sold like hot cakes those days, when the two Russian leaders visited India.
M Sathyanarayana Rao started a small bookshop called Geetha Book House in Landsdowne Building if I correctly remember in late 1950s. he was teaching English to us, the first batch of preprofessionals in NIE. Within a few years, I think in early 1960s the Geetha BookHouse moved to where it is now. MS Rao used to tell us during coffee break after his lectures that he was very apprehensive of expanding the business so quickly, but had faith in his brother who mananged the day-to-day business. I have seen D L Na in Geetha book House. Of course H.M.Shankaranarayana Rao, a friend of MS Rao would go to Geetha Book House. I have often seen R K Narayan in Srinivasa Stores as my past time was to take a walk along Landsdowne building in the evenings. But I have never seen RKN in Newspaper House. I am a bit sceptical about the blog author’s account of RKN being a regular visitor of Newspaper House which those days attracted sizeable crowd, and from what I know about RKN from his friends ,he would avoid places like that. Also I am not sure that RKN was ‘talkative’ from what I used to hear from my friends in Srinivasa Stores. He certainly did not have ‘grim’exterior, but looked more like a pensive person.
Yes-I particularly rmember the first shop selling used books also selling Hal Khova[wrapped in wax paper],square clock shaped,pink wafer biscuits andsquare,orange kobri mithai.Any one remember these? I recall nearly 48 years back!. Sure,I was a regular customer as I had to carry tiffin/coffee to my father who use to run Srinivasa Electric Press in the same row.Does any one remember? Gauri Satya or Jeeva ratna maybe?
In our press I have seen my father speaking to DLN,Dr Ananthnarayana,
URN, RKN and many alumni of NIE too,as I am one too.Moreover my late father used to be more academically minded as he was a B.Sc[Hons] Geology First rank holderfrom Central College.He always used to keep track of achievements of such students as Dr Bhashyam,Srinivasan,Seetharam,and many more who were my seniors and turned out faculty in NIE.
Father used to show each and everyone specimens of visiting cards printed there,of such illustrious people like Dr JC Rollo,Dr CDN and others,with prideThere were other gems like rare copies of Sanskrit books ordered .
by Maharaja
Well-I can go on and on.Surely some senior bloggers of Churmuri would remeber him-Press Iyengar,lean with a topi on and a thin namam.
I thank Dr Nayeem for making me be nostalgic
“He always used to keep track of achievements of such students as Dr Bhashyam,Srinivasan,Seetharam,and many more who were my seniors and turned out faculty in NIE”.
The above persons mentioned did not even get a first class in their final BE!
They were second class students. In Seetharam’s batch there were 3-4 rank students and similarly Bhashyam’s class mates in Mechanical Engineering there were 2 ranks and in Electrical Engineering 3 ranks, and Bhashyam graduated with a second class like the other two.
In fact I can give the first class and rank holders of Bhashyam’s class mates in mechanical engineering. They are Mukunda and Prabhakara Rao.
there were a few other first classes but Bhashyam achieved a Second Class. In Seetharam’s group the first clases were Shankaran, Parameshwaran and the rank holder was Chandrasekhar. Seetharam achieved second class. I do not know which Srinivasan that the blogger mentions. If it is Srinivasan who went to Canada, came back and later left for Brazil, he was a second class student, but got distinction in his Masters at an IIT.
You remember correctly about the ‘Haal Khova’ shop in Lansdowne Buildings, selling second hand books. It was set up by Phalamrutha Gundappa’s brother, assisted by his two sons, one of whom was Ramachandra and the other I think Krishna Murthy. After Gundappa’s death, the two brothers set up books shops separately. Krishna Murthy’s shop was called Murthy Book House. Ramachandra’s son still runs his father’s shop of old books, in front of which Paper Subbanna sells newspapers and magazines.
Sathyanarayana Rao set up his small shop, with the help of his father, on 100 Ft Road, diagnolly opposite to the present Krishna Bakery. Later, he shifted to the Visvesvaraya Building and expanded it, with the help of his two brothers.
Uttam- your father had published some excellent Kannada works. I have one or two books printed in your press – Srinivasa Electric Press. Any chance of you having some. I think, after Wesley Press, Srinivasa Electric Press was the important printing press in Mysore for printing books.
Incidently, Wesley Press at the Wesley Mission Building, adjacent to the Wesley Church, was one of the earliest presses to be set up in Mysore. It mainly printed Missionary works and books in English.
I stand corrected Dear Uttama.I should have used the word ‘progress’ in place of ‘achievements’. Yes-I concede Bhashyam etc were average when compared to others mentioned by Uttama.Thank you.
The point I was trying to make was that the press was a meeting place for many.
Gopal,
It is OK. I was a frequent visitor to the first second hand book shop that you mention. It was managed by a person called Murthy. I had a friend who was doing ‘job typing’ at the front of one of the shops, a few yards up from Murthy’s shop. Later on, he got admission to Mysore Medical College and in later life became an Orthopaedic Surgeon. Murthy had grear rapport with students and later in life when I became an academic, he proposed a book project with me with did not materialise as I was heading for the West.
I have seen Prof CDN chatting to people in front of the News Paper Book House. In CDN mysore University had a formidable International Figure in Education. But to the detriment of the University, he was not chosen as Vice Chancellor. CDN would have made an excellent Vice Chancellor, would have pulled the University out of the cess pit to which it was sliding forward fast.
Uttama,
CDN himself was favored as a “backward class” candidate and sent to Oxford at Government expense. Although, on most accounts he comes off as some one more talented than the available material at the time.
DB
It was Cambridge, and he studied under that great Professor Leavis ( his wife was equallydistinguished) who was know not take ‘run of the mill’ students. Perhaps true that his caste helped him, but he was a person who encouraged whoever he thought was deserving, and that was his strength. Person of my vintage have seen people like Dr Y P Rudrappa sent to England to do MRCP, who returned as an arrogant but not a clever person and who many would know became the VC of Mysore University and pulled it fast into the cess pit.
I was an engineering graduate and still liked what CDN wrote, and his easyy way of talikg to students like without assuming airs.
DB
An example of arrogance of Dr Y P Rudrappa who went to England on goverment expense, completed the difficult MRCP or better I would say got his MRCP because the Brits awarded MRCP ot FRCS to doctors who they thought were returning to India, but tested others very rigorously to the extent that their completion rate was in single figure percentages. Rudrappa came back an arrogant man, treated his collegues with comtempt and his caste propelled him upwards in the career ladder very quickly. Whenever any one of his colleagues or students dared to disagree with him, he would say ” you are talking to Dr YP Rudrappa MBBS MRCP and DTM andH” staring at them. I used to compare this with the attitude of Richard Feynman the Noble Laureate and an exceptional exponent of quantum mechanics whose graduate course I was very previleged to take. Prof Feynman’s amazing intellect, the extraordinary ability to reduce difficult concepts of quantum hydrodynamics into a simplistic gripping story and above all treating his students as his equal was miles apart from the arrogant half-baked specialist like Y P Rudrappa.
Uttama,
Thank you–it was Cambridge. You are spot on with your observations on Dr YP Rudrappa. England transformed CDN–made him better (I have been told). Doc Rudrappa turned nasty–as Kailasm would have said, “England returned with thanks!”
Uttama,
I can understand that. But to compare Feynman with the likes of Doc Rudra is a bit of stretch…Surely you must be joking Mr. Uttama:)
I accidentally got to this site and was pleasantly surprised. My father is DRK and I have fond memories of several of the “sights” mentioned above regarding Mysore and “Peoples Book House’ as it was in the 70s. As a child I remember asking my father why he chose to name his book shop “Peoples” while he could have named it after me as “Geetha Book House” before the other guys in town named their store that. Despite all of my childhood influences and environment I am now living and enjoying capitalism. I still have complete faith in capitalism despite the shaky events of 2008.
December 2008
Hi Uttama: Enjoyed reading your insigts. In Bhashyam’s Mech eng class, there was another very bright, top student who was low key and always got first class- he probably went off to US; wonder if you know his whereabouts and what he has been up to.
name of the Progress Book stall Mysore is not mentioned among the list of the old book shops of mysore. Late shri. Venkat Rao was the founder owner of the Progress book stall and I am one amont 7 Grand son of Late shri. Venkat Rao. Any one who has the picture of Progress book stall may kindly establish contact with me on mai – rkgazal@yahoo.com. This is my humble request. R.K.Rao Bisness Head – Pharma – The Himalaya Drug Company Mysore.
name of the Progress Book stall Mysore is not mentioned among the list of the old book shops of mysore. Late shri. Venkat Rao was the founder owner of the Progress book stall and I am one amont 7 Grand son of Late shri. Venkat Rao. Any one who has the picture of Progress book stall may kindly establish contact with me on mai – rkgazal@yahoo.com. This is my humble request. R.K.Rao Vice President – The Himalaya Drug Company FZCo
very well written. Have you come across a retired librarian by the name of G Y Wesley – in Mysore?