Amazon has opened a few brick and mortar bookstores in the US over the last two years and plans to add some more this year. The giant virtual retailer responsible for closing down big corporate book stores, which in turn erased independent book shops in the US, is now gradually expanding into the real world. Wow, life has come a full circle! Though the flagship stores may make up a minuscule part of Amazon's business, it is such a welcome news. Growing up in Hyderabad, I had fond memories of this bookstore in Abids, AA Hussain. It was disheartening to hear about their closing down a couple of years back. (The entire stretch of Abid Road that was once the city centre, now looks like a desolate place clinging on to the memories of its past glory) With online retailing thriving in India, quite a few corporate bookstores shut their shops too. I guess, you cannot win a war against technology. Well, we humans are successfully on the course of making ourselves redundant, with artificial intelligence ready to take on from us. So, naturally these are the times we are drawn towards stories that seem human. Be it the popular stories of ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances like Humans of NY (and other cities) or the different Human Library events across the world ( where one could borrow a human and hear their stories)
Along these lines is an interesting tale of a Kolkatta book delivery man, Tarun Shaw who has been home delivering books on two wheeler for decades, including hard to find titles. He has successfully survived the tirade of corporate and online bookstores and boasts of a clientele that includes the who's who of Kolkatta's intellectual society. I am guessing, it must feel like a privilege getting a title hand delivered by this man in the city of joy.
There is something about these seemingly simple narratives that holds our attention in the most complex of times. Never were the seven billion people of this world more connected than today. yet never did humanity find itself in a desperate quest to find the missing link, human bond.
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