Mumbai: Tucked away behind the Ravindra Natya Mandir at Prabhadevi, is what looks like any other little office. But look a little closer and it’s a bookshop, one that even many of the better informed book lovers in the city don’t know exists.
Perhaps this has something to do with its looks: from the outside, it could easily be mistaken for some government office or just another apartment. The lobby is lined with book shelves, but they’re empty. There are few browsing customers; most of the time all you’ll see is office staff handling orders.
But the store stocks some amazing titles at very low prices. It sells books in six languages —English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Konkani and Urdu — in a range that includes popular science, autobiographies, and titles on art, theatre, and the environment. You could find Inder Malhotra’s biography of Indira Gandhi or Arun Sadhu’s book Maharashtra or Hamid Dalwai’s Fuel , the English adaptation of his famous book Indhan, Jayant Narlikar’s autobiography or Subhash Kashyap’s book on Parliament. It’s a little treasure hunt, really, the store is a treasure hunt of sorts.
This is the National Book Trust store. The same National Book Trust that has a huge annual fair at Delhi’s Pragati Maidan. And its mission is to get books into readers’ hands.
“We aim to make available books of famous authors at subsidised rates,” says Rahul Kosambi, office-in-charge and assistant editor (Marathi) at the NBT’s western regional office. “The prices are deliberately kept low so that we could provide affordable books to people. The cheapest books we stock are children’s books starting from Rs. 12, going up to Rs. 30. Until a couple of years back, we used to have books for as low as Rs. 2, but now that has stopped.”
How does the NBT keep costs so low? Normally, up to 50 per cent — sometimes more — of the retail price of a book goes to the distributor. The author gets from seven per cent (royalties rise as authors get into better bargaining positions) and a chunk of the rest goes into marketing and the publisher’s other overheads. According to Mr. Kosambi, “Those books that get commissioned by us are kept at low costs, since we just charge just a little over the printing expenses. There are no huge marketing or book promotions cost involved in here. Here we are not constrained by such factors. Also, since we print in bulk, the overheads get reduced.”
The shop does have its limitations. Gangasharan Singh, a regular customer, says, “Most of the books here are translations and the variety of books is not that great. Yes, they do have some good classic titles, but if a book tends to be out of print, then it takes some time to get it.”
Perhaps one reason most casual buyers haven’t heard of the store is because the bulk of the NBT’s clientele is schools across the state which bulk-buy for their libraries. Nimba Patil, who ordered books for Mukesh Patel School, Dhule, says: “It has cheap books with good quality writing. And since their books are prescribed for specific age-groups, choosing books for a particular age of students becomes easier. Also, we noticed that since the language and concepts are simple, and topics are generally Indian — being written by Indian authors — students relate to such books and enjoy reading them.”
They also hold book fairs at schools, on invitation. “Schools need not spend a single pie for hosting our exhibition. We travel on our own and set up own books free of cost,” says Kosambi. Schools can also invite the NBT’s mobile bookstore van, which carries about 5000 books, to visit during Parent-Teacher Association meetings, to let the decision makers facilitate an exhibition. The van recently visited Yavatmal, Wardha, and Washim and is scheduled to undertake a tour of the tribal belt of Thane district.
Readers can check out the full range of books online, at nbtindia.gov.in, and order from there; postage is free for purchases above Rs. 200. There is also a book club membership, for just Rs. 100, which gives buyers a 20 per cent discount on purchases.
The writer is a freelance journalist
National Book Trust. Open 9.00 a.m. – 5.30 p.m., Monday – Friday.Ravindra Natya Mandir, 1st floor, Maharashtra Kala Academy, Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400 025. Phone: (22) 24320380, 24315505 Email: wro.nbt@nic.in
