I still find it difficult to believe ‘Bookram' A.K.Kuppuram is no more. Barely eight weeks ago, I sat with him for over two hours for a detailed chat for this same column. His opening remark, “I am an ordinary man who wants to be different”, touched me.
I recall the first time I saw him several years ago sitting in his library ‘Jonathan' behind a small desk. He exchanged a glance from behind his spectacles. As years rolled on, I spotted him more often, mostly at book exhibitions.
When I learnt he was ‘Turning Point' proprietor, I promptly checked out the store, starved that I was of a decent book shop in the city, and returned pretty impressed by the man's simplicity and high motivation to provide enough food for thought to the city's denizens.
Dedicated
“I am into this work purely out of interest and choice. It is a service. It gives me no returns. Only friends bail me out each time I am in trouble,” he told me eight odd years ago. I returned with a bag load of books and he generously gave discounts and issued a ‘VIP Card' that would entitle me to odd-benefits while buying books in future.
Parking problem was often a deterrent to visiting Kuppuram's shop on Town Hall Road. But whenever I went to that area, I unfailingly made it a point to drop in at Turning Point. Each time I found him sitting behind a small table, poring over registers, reviewing bills, payments, in and out flow of books.
Over a period, the store acquired a neat look. He created a focal point with a standalone shelf of best sellers and latest editions. Display of titles under different categories also made the visits to his shop pleasurable. Once on some other errand, I dropped in his shop first with my four-year-old son. Kuppuram willingly agreed to engage him and told me to finish all work in peace and return.
And on my return, what a wonderful babysitter I found him to be! My son was swimming in books, gazing at bright pictures, trying to read a few words and had piled a stock of books to be taken home! The soft-spoken grey-haired book shop owner had done me a great favour, perhaps unknowingly.
Two years ago, when I started this column, Kuppuram often came to my mind as a deserving choice. But each time, he evaded saying he was “too small a person to be featured, not highly educated, not so-well read, and poor knowledge of English.” This August I insisted that whatever be it, he ought to spare some time.
He finally did on August 10, 2010. I was surprised to hear his story — how he defied his parents by not running the family coffee shop, that his heart lay elsewhere – in books, that he was driven by Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. The book and its central character changed his life forcing him to launch the book business even though his knowledge and qualification challenged him. He burnt his fingers but his spirit soared high like the seagull.
Innovative
Full of innovative ideas and schemes for children and their parents in a bid to rope them into buying books, Kuppuram was always the first to participate in any exhibition or event. He permanently displayed books at the fortnightly meetings of the Madurai Readers' Club. Any big function which offered him the scope to display related books, he would be there in a small corner. Just a month ago, he started a small book kiosk at the Milan-em Mall. It was his genuineness and not the motive to make money that set him apart.
When his story appeared in August 12 edition of ‘The Hindu- Metroplus', he filled my mail box with beautiful messages that he received from his friends and well wishers. And of course, his heart-felt thanks which read:
“Drops of water rolled from my eyes the moment I saw today's paper. You have done me great honour by placing me below Dr. Abdul Kalam's interview. I realize so many of my friends and relatives are reading The Hindu because they all called to congratulate me. You have become one person in my life whom I will remember till my last breath.”
On eve of Diwali, I was shocked to hear that Madurai's Czar of book retailing, Kuppuram, passed away. His last line in the message almost proved ominous. It's extremely unfortunate that with his death, the city perhaps has written the epitaph of its only book store unless someone else with his kind of passion, zeal and grit shows up. But Kuppuram will be remembered like the lonely seagull flying high and above the rest of his lot. Unique and different, as he desired to be.
(Making a difference is a fortnightly column about ordinary people and events that leave an extraordinary impact on us. E-mail to somabasu@thehindu.co.in to tell about someone you know who is making a difference)
