Monday, September 24, 2018

Bookshop on the Footpath

For several decades Alwar Book Shop located on the pavement next to Mylapre Club on Luz Church road has been synonymous with old and rare books, including school and college text books. Readers from not only across Chennai but also from other parts of the country came visiting the shop looking for books. One of them was M.S.Gill, the former CEC who had purchased books worth over Rs 1000 during one of his official visits to Chennai. Avid readers, well known writers, popular stars of the tinsel world, politicians , professionals  were regular customers of Alwar Book shop. The famous names who were patrons of the shop were Arignar Anna, Alladi  krishnaswamy,  C.P.Ramaswamy Iyer and Ramnath Goenka among others. Thousands of students who could not afford to buy new text books made a beeline to Alwar`s book shop to buy the text books they needed for their studies, which are sold for half or less than half of the cover price of the books, depending on  their condition. I think, there would not be any serious reader  in Chennai,  who has not visited Alwar Book  shop some time or the other in his/her life time.

Who is this Alwar? Is He still alive?  Is the shop still functioning? My search for the answers led me to Alwar`s  second daughter Ammu`s  home in  Nacchhiyappa street in Mylapore where I found  that 94 years old Alwar is still alive but not kicking. Both his vision and hearing are impaired. I could only communicate with him through Ammu. The shop still exists in the same location where it has been for the last 60 years,  albeit smaller in size and better organised with books arranged on shelfs donated by a well wisher, compared to the haphazard heaps of books found earlier.  While at the peak of its popularity, the shop had nearly a lakh of books, today it has only about 20,000 books.

In the last six decades the shop has suffered closure many times because of its encounter with the law enforcing agencies or nature in the form of rains & storms. Every time, Alwar would be devastated but would bounce back with steely resolve to serve his loyal customers. Often with the help of sympathetic Mylaporeans and other well wishers.

Alwar`s story is one of passion, perseverance and sheer grit. Hailing from Vilupuram, he came to Madras in late forties as a teenager with dreams of making it big in the film world. Unfortunately he only got  to perform as one of the `extras` in many films  with meager income He had to do odd jobs  to earn a living.  Fate had its own plans for his future. When his uncle with whom he was staying passed away, the responsibility of running the small bookshop that the uncle was running fell on young Alwar`s shoulders. He took to the business like the proverbial duck to the water. He was educated enough to read the titles of the books to help him group them subject wise, The first shop which he started in 1952 was located outside the Suguna Vilas Sabha which was later shifted to the location opposite  the old Kamadhenu theatre where it continues to exist even today.

Alwar remembers that the first set of books he received was from the owner of Amrutanjan Pain Balm factory, located close to his shop. This was followed by donations from other well wishers. He also went around door to door to  collect discarded  text and other  books from homes across the city and  from waste paper merchants for a price.  He ran the shop single handedly for the first few years until a friend Ramanan joined him. Ramanan, a Tam-brahm used to run an old books shop in Moore Market which he lost when a fire destroyed the whole market. Ramanan, who was paid a regular salary by Alwar assisted Alwar in his business for over 30 years until he passed away in 2013 due to  cancer.
Alwar  lived on the pavement adjacent to the shop  and would not sleep the whole night guarding  his shop from petty thieves. Looking at his plight, Sadagopan,  a local Corporator &  a well wisher arranged for the marriage of Alwar, a Hindu  with Mary, a Christian. Thanks to her association with an NGO connected with the local Church, Mary  had a working knowledge of both reading and speaking English. This helped in his business. Alwar was in his mid forties and  Mary was nearly 30 years younger than him when they got married.

Inspite of the age difference Mary proved to be devout wife not only  actively helping her husband  in his business but also blessing him  with four daughters, all born in the makeshift living accommodation on the pavement. His daughter recalls,` All four sisters were brought up on the pavement. My father was so involved with running the shop , that  he never thought of having a proper home for the family. It was only in 1999 when we  daughters had reached marriageable ages  that  due to my mother`s initiative we  moved to  a modest rental accommodation in Mylapore. My father, however, continued to live in the shop at nights.  We owe a lot to our mother that all of us got  basic education and married off in due course to respectable grooms. After my father seriously fell ill due to an accident at home in 2012 and after uncle Ramanan`s passing away, my mother ran the shop with help from me and my elder sister Julie. Unfortunately my mother also  passed away in January this year (2018) suddenly  leaving the responsibility of running the shop to my sister and I which we have to do in addition to the responsibility of looking after our own families.`
Ammu is proud of the fact that her father has got recognition from several voluntary agencies for his service to the society, providing `quality second hand books` and being  a` Treasure house of  secondhand books` Among them is the `Thanthai Periyar Award` that was conferred on Alwar a few  years ago.

Alwar, though incapacitated insists on being taken to the shop at least once a week where he spends a couple of hours sitting in his favourite chair lost in thoughts and oblivious to the goings on in the shop. According to Ammu, thanks to availability of books online, the market for the old text books, which were the most profitable business, has shrunk drastically.  Though there is some demand for books of fiction, it cannot make up for the loss of revenue from the sale of old  text books

Will the  Alwar`s book shop,  made popular only by  word of mouth publicity  and which has survived so many disasters  in six decades, survive the latest attack by technology. Only time can tell!

Edited version of this article appeared in Madras Musings

Feedback welcome on rvrajan42@gmail.com or 9840392082


Tuesday, September 11, 2018

My ninth book is out!

Yes, my new book, ninth in nine years is out! Titled `Rajan`s Random Reflections on This & That`, it contains the first 50 of my articles on a variety of topics published in Adyar Times under my column  `Rajan`s Random Reflections`. It also features articles published in other publications like Madras Musings, Times of India, Hindu,  New Indian Express  among  others. This 220 page book, priced at Rs 275/- is published by Bookventure, (Chennai) and printed at Compuprint.  In Chennai it is available at Odessey in Adyar/Tiruvanmiyur and Words & Worth, Besant Nagar. You can also get your copies through  Amazon. If you  place your orders directly with me,  I will courier the book free anywhere in India .  The payment can be made electronically to the following account. I will dispatch the copy as soon as I receive your payment advice on rvrajan42@gmail.com

Beneficiary Name :  R.V.Rajan

 Bank Name :  Karur Vysya Bank

 Bank Address :  Whites Road, Chennai- 600014

 Beneficiary A/c No :  1219155000004455

Account Type : SB A/c

NEFT / IFSC code : KVBL0001219

- The  following books written by me are also available on Amazon or you can order your  copies from me  at: rvrajan42@gmail.comA combo of two or more books  can make an ideal gift for your near & dear ones.
  1. Courage my Companion-  A candid autobiography - considered an uncommon autobiography of a common man ( Rs 295/-)
  2. This & That….. Then & Now- Random Reflections of the author on a variety of topics covering everyday experiences of people ( Part 1) ( Rs.350/-)
  3. A Difficult Choice-A collection 15 short stories ( Rs. 200/-)
I am happy to inform you that the proceeds from the sale of this book will be used for the activities of Prabha Rajan Talent Foundation.






Saturday, September 1, 2018

Grandparents as baby sitters

 A news item in a leading daily regarding the role of grandparents attracted my attention. It seems a woman, from a broken marriage with two small kids filed a case in the family court accusing her old Parents in Law for not coming to her help, to look after her small kids  because of which  she had to pay for a crèche service. The family court passing its final order observed that ` Grand parents cannot be blamed if the children had to be placed in a crèche . With more women getting educated and employed, it is not an unusual scene that their children are kept in a crèche for their care. It is the prerogative of the aged grandparents  to willingly accept to  babysit their grand children considering their own age, health, strength, engagement in extra curricular activities and other plans.` The court also questioned the prevalent presumption of a majority of Indian families that grandparents are a substitute for nannies.

With growing number of NRI parents in the country, it is common knowledge that they have to provide  IAS (Internatioal Ayah Service as the Nanny  service is popularly known) to their children settled abroad , at least six months in a year. If grand children have two sets of grand parents, they take turns in providing this service. While the grandparents are very enthusiastic in the initial years when they are young and energetic, it becomes painful as they grow old and are beset with age related problems. They begin to shudder at the very thought of making such trips. Unfortunately, many self centered NRIs demand such services from their parents, irrespective of the condition their parents are in.

Recently a friend of mine was a faced with such a challenge. His son, working in USA, had decided to move to Hyderabad on a temporary transfer in his company to help speed up his Green card application. Since his wife also managed to get a similar transfer arrangement, he wanted his parents in Chennai to move to Hyderabad to not only help them to settle down in  Hyderabad but  also to look after the grand children for a year. The request ( nay the  demand) meant that my friend  had to uproot his entire family  of three members to Hyderabad, after settling all the issues in Chennai which would need attention in his absence for a year. He was also very concerned that he did not have any contacts in Hyderabad, which would help him in case of any problems he faced in looking after a household. Besides, his wife’s and his own failing health was also a major concern. However, being a typical Indian parent he  decided  to go to Hyderabad to help his son`s family, hoping that `God will take care of everything` .

With the breaking up of the joint family system and many grandparents with financial resources leading independent lives, it becomes a problem when children demand nanny services from their parents, ignoring their health conditions and priorities. If the parents willingly accept such responsibilities, it is not an issue. For any reason if they are not able to provide such services, it should not be held against them.

As the court observed in the said case, `It is the primary duty of the parents and not the grandparents to take care of their children`.

This article has appeared in Adyar Times issue dt. 2-08, Sep.’18 under my column `Rajan`s Random Reflections`

Feedback welcome on rvrajan42@gmail.com  or 9840392082