Over the past two decades, it has often been felt that some book shops in the Doon valley have wrapped up and its great tradition of people (locals as well as tourist) browsing in book shops and taking home bagsful of books is dying slowly. But one needs to visit the book shops in the valley that are flourishing to realise that this is not true.
Dehradun has always been a city of book lovers. People who love to buy books, read them and even talk about them with each other. It has been a literary town and has a special place in the literary map of the country as many well-known writers have either made it their home or been associated with it in some way or the other.
From Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, our first prime minister to Nayantara Sahgal and Ruskin Bond, the Doon valley has always inspired writers and fascinated them. Vikram Seth studied here in The Doon School and so did Amitav Ghosh and Ramchandra Guha. Allen Sealy lives in the Doon valley and is the pride of Doon. As Ruskin Bond once said, Dehradun has something in its air that is conducive for writing. And so is it for reading.
While several book shops in some bigger cities have wrapped up for want of readers, the Doon valley has many good book shops some of which have come up in recent years .One of them is an extremely beautiful and well done up shop by the name “Narayan’s Books n More” where every book lover can find a book or a music CD that will give him or her some joyful hours in today’s troubled times. The atmosphere of the shop is extremely relaxed and just moving around it and browsing over the vast variety of books can be a very pleasant was of spending one’s time.
Says Ashish Narayan Sharma, proprietor of this unique book shop, “We believe in providing a comfortable space for people to come and look at the books and music at leisure. And we also encourage people to engage in conversation with each other while they are here. These days, people are talking less and less!”
The interiors have been done to create a look and feel of warmth. The vastness and space along with the wooden flooring together with imposing shelves collectively lend warmth to BNM not to speak of the cheerful team which consists of Gautam Gurung and Namit Pant besides Ashish Narayan.
Piping hot coffee is available to make one’s visit all the more pleasant. And finding books which one usually never gets at other shops in Dehra Dun is the most thrilling part of going to BNM which has not gone the “bestseller way.”
Earlier this year, a “Faber Festival” was carrying on at the shop where rare volumes of TS Eliot, Sylvia Plath, James Joyce and WB Yeats were put up.
“A few years ago, we had put up an exhibition of Penguin Black Classics at the lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, which was widely appreciated,” says Narayan, adding that he was planning an exhibition of Hindi books.
Among the loyal clients of this eclectic book shop of Doon are retired and serving bureaucrats, senior police officials, professors of English, History and social sciences. Renowned entrepreneur DN Mazumdar, former chief secretary SK Das, lBSNAA director Dr Padamvir Singh, Professor Satish Aikant of HNB University and former DGP, Aloke B lal are among the regulars at BNM.
Besides book, BNM offers exquisite cigars for the connoisseur, cowboy hats, Swiss knives and several other things which we usually do not expect at a book shop. And they also have a good collection of Hindi titles which they plan to strengthen. And soon, beautifully designed bags and file covers made of jute may also be available at BNM.
For those who still smoke despite all health warnings, BNM has “The Smoking Room” where they can sit and read. Perhaps this is the only book shop which has this strange but interesting feature.
So next time you are looking for some serious books and a cosy and lovely book shop, do make a trip to BNM! It is testimony to the fact that Dehra Dun’s people have not lost their love for reading!