Octogenarian’s rare nook for city bookworms

“I never intended to start a bookstore. I started reading and collecting books some 50 years ago because my father inspired me. He was very particular that I should have a good collection of books to my name. Those days, I collected some of the cheapest books available. Most of the books in my collection were bought with four annas, a quarter of a rupee. I started by collecting non-fiction books and then slowly progressed into fiction, magazines, academic texts, advertisements, cartoons and so on. The only two types of books I refuse to buy are school and college textbooks. Everything else is game,” explains Govindaraju, a former HRD official.

Govindaraju’s collection includes 5,000 books spanning various genres such as literature classics, thousands of National Geographic magazines, numerous Illustrated Weekly magazines, Shankar’s Weekly magazines, British weekly Punch, just to name a few. “I love reading history, philosophy, culture, heritage, geography, law, philosophy and ethics. My collection is very vast in nature and every piece was handpicked. Some of these magazines, like the Illustrated Weekly and Punch are no more. Similarly, I also have a lot of clippings of advertisements and newspaper articles right back from the 60s. I also have a good collection of cartoons by RK Laxman, World War II political cartoonist David Low and British satirist Ronald Searle. Shankar’s weekly, a favourite of Nehru’s for its cartoons, also takes a good space in the collection,” he adds. 

Most book collectors are extremely possessive about their collection. Yet, Govindaraju says he is more than happy to be selling his collection. Book lovers who are interested to browse through this collection need only call his number, hand-painted on the top right of his garage shutter, and Govindaraju comes down from his first-floor home in minutes to let you in. “Five years ago, one Wilson from Anna Nagar came and bought my entire collection from the shop, close to 20,000 books. He is a professional book seller and I’m not. So, I felt he could take care of the books better. But since I still collect books I love, I now own around 5,000 books which I have in my garage. I know most people are reluctant to give up their books. But, the way I see it, books are eternal and I’m not. So, if I can sell my books to people I know will love them as much as I have, that would be the best thing. In fact, I want to sell off my entire collection in my lifetime,” he says. 

One of the oldest books in Govindaraju’s collection is an 1866 German book and he also owns over a hundred books that are more than 100 years old. But he insists it’s not the age of the books, but their content that makes them precious. “HG Wells, Bertrand Russell, Nehru’s writings, Gandhi’s writings, Churchill’s writings and Will Durant’s Story of Civilisation are all my favourites,” he chirps. 

Doesn’t he want his children to inherit this priceless heritage? “No. I have two sons, one is a computer engineer and the other works in the stock market. I also have three grandchildren. But I don’t even let them collect books. I don’t want my collection or my store to become a business venture. It’s no easy task to collect such old books. They need proper care and a lot of space. I don’t think the women in their house would be interested in having heaps of books stacked inside their house,” he says decisively.