Satiating the appetite of voracious reader of Pune for 57 years

WAn avid reader, Madhav Laxman Gadgil, wanted to serve Punekars with a library, which could stock all kinds of books and was accessible to everyone. In 1954, the idea translated into a small bookshop outside Poona Coffee House near Deccan Gymkhana.

The inspiration came from close quarters, from his uncle Amarendra Gadgil, who used to run a small book shop near Vaishali restaurant in 1952. Determined to start his bookstore, Madhav even pursued a librarian’s course, post which he started assisting his uncle in the shop during his free time.

Fifty-seven years later, the iconic store, Popular Book House, has as many tales to tell as the books stocked in it. The shop was devastated on July 12, 1960, when disastrous Panshet floods hit the city. Like many other flourishing businesses, this shop too was washed away, which resulted in massive losses. Little did they know that this incidence was a blessing in disguise and became a turning point for their venture.

Coming to Madhav’s rescue was close friend and then mayor, Nilubhau Limaye, who ran Poonam restaurant on Fergusson College Road. After his eatery was also affected by the floods he decided to shift to JM Road, eventually offering his place to Madhav. Thus came into existence Popular Book House.

“My father named the new store as Popular Library and Book House and ran a library as well as a bookshop. The next few years saw a re-emergence of the business,” says Sunil Gadgil, who joined his father in 1976.

Sunil used to visit the shop part-time as a child and eventually as time passed his interest grew gradually. “After completing my graduation, I joined him and there was no looking back,” adds Sunil.

Today, this place not only stocks an array of books in English, Marathi and Hindi but also has room for the latest CDs, VCDs, DVDs, MP3s of films, plays and songs and a children’s section, which stocks toys, books and CDs for little ones.

When asked about the changing reading habits, Sunil says, “Books on sociology, politics, history and general knowledge used to sell earlier, today there are no buyers for even the encyclopaedia. Fiction also ruled the roost for some time, these days, however, the demand for non-fiction, management and computer books has gone up.”

The book house also caters to various institutes and libraries in the city. Symbiosis, Sinhgad College, MMCC, BMCC, INS Shivaji, College of Engineering, Pune University, Jayakar Library are among the list of content patrons. The store is also the first air-conditioned, fully carpeted shop and is even credited with making use of computers in the library for the first time.

“Today, youngsters are hooked to their computers, most of the time during their work hours, so they prefer reading the online version of books. But the charm of reading an actual book gives an altogether different experience,” says Sunil. Having said that he adds that despite the availability of e-books, there still is a good number of people who still prefer reading books.

Talking about the ongoing piracy, Sunil adds, “Piracy is of greatest concern today. Publishers are not affected as they easily meet their targets. But piracy is affecting authors, buyers as well as our economy. Strict laws should be made to discourage piracy.” The Gadgils are also planning to come up with a website in two months time to enlighten the readers with the online version of their favourite books.