We are about to enter a restaurant for lunch when our next destination Title Waves calls us to rush to the store because a buyer has asked for 30 copies of Letters to Self and the store is worried that there will be no more copies for me to sign by the time I arrive, so can I please delay my lunch break? We get out of the restaurant and rush to the store but the buyer of the 30 copies was in a tearing hurry and left the book store. We are disappointed but the store manages to arrange for another ten copies and mercifully the signing event is accomplished without complications.

Some readers are waiting for me to sign their copies but my mind is jogging. The journalist in me was curious about the mysterious man who purchased bulk copies and did not wait for the author signature. I ask the team to investigate and we are surprised he not represent a political party, rather their company celebrate events distributing book to their guests. What a wonderful thought. An author writes close to 50,000 words for a book but do that many people buy his copy? No, because everyone wants to read borrowed copy. Art, theatre, dance and books need patronage and unless we do that collectively we cannot grow.

To be continued…

Our next destination is Palladium book store in Lower Parel but we are in double mind because it means changing our route and dealing with the crowded mall. After a lot of deliberation, we agree to visit the mall because the staff is waiting for us.  It is not wading through the various zones, floors, wings, elevators but finally we are at the Crossword Book store and the enthusiastic attendants enlighten us that they have the best sales because of the location, he says, “People come to the mall to spend money and are more than eager to buy clothes, shoes, books and food”. 

As we are chatting, Crossword team pulls out a few of my old books and new books and I am happy to sign them. Some readers join the conversation, buy my book and I sign a few more copies. It is almost 3pm now and my team and I are ravenous thinking about where we can grab a quick meal!

To be continued…

South Mumbai on a working day is always crowded but the mornings because are better than the evenings, so after a quick book signing at Kitaab Khana we headed for the CrossWord book store at Kemps Corner.  This is easily the most good-looking place in the city, shining floor, spacious, super lighting and filled with cheerful youngsters. I spotted a bunch of them students sitting across a table and reading their own books. On interacting with them I discovered that they were from the nearby colleges and preferred to spend their spare time at book stores rather than at coffee shops.  Yes, you heard that right and their parents need to be applauded for that. 

It is close to 1.30 pm and we are a little hungry but decide to complete our South Bombay visits before we take a lunch break…

To be continued…

When I was a reporter in Movie magazine many decades ago, my editor Rauf Ahmed introduced us to a feature called Studio Round Up.  Every month my colleague and I went on a roundup of Bombay film studios, our staff photographer in the car and met up all the dream merchants.  It was a day all of us looked forward to because we got to use the office car for the entire day and gallivant wherever we wanted. Looking back, it was a super way of connecting with the film fraternity and believe it or not, we literally walked into their homes, offices, studios and dubbing stations and shared lunch, tea and snacks with them. They opened their hearts to us and we came back with a trunk full of stories.

Decades later, when the electronic media took over our lives, that is exactly how our filmmakers promoted their films. The actors went on a media round-up hopping radio channels, television shows, engaging in media interactions till everyone was exhausted.  To my surprise my publisher Fingerprint organized an identical trip for me to visit all the retail book stores in the city of Mumbai to promote my new book Letters to Self the English translation of our honorable Prime Minister’s Gujarati book Aankh Aa Dhanya Chhe.

Prakash Books sales team were at my building at 11 in the morning and together we ventured on our courageous journey beginning with  the glorious Kitaab Khana in Fort, Mumbai…

To be continued…

In the olden days, like our vintage movies,  all events ended with a group picture where everyone got into the frame. In the digital age, however, the group picture is the beginning of multiple small group picture opportunities, followed by individual pictures for their private posts on Reels and Stories on Instagram. 

No I am not complaining, why should I because it was a radiant evening and the vibrations super positive. I look forward to returning to the city soon.

Different organizations have different ways of honoring their guests. Some do it with a single rose, some with flowers, some with plants and some with books. 

The Prabha Khaitan Foundation is the only organization I know that honors authors with fabrics. I was honored by the oldest guest in the audience.

A writer is frequently invited to address audiences but is not always fortunate to have the right person engaging her in a conversation. The interviewer either talks too much or knows too little about the author. Sometimes she/ he is lazy and has not done adequate homework. This is annoying because  it is  disrespectful to the guest.

I was fortunate to be chatting with  the young and dynamic Karishma Mehta from Ehsas, Mumbai, a branch of Prabha Khaitan Foundation who asked all the right questions in the most appropriate way and triggered me to share some  fascinating anecdotes. She took me on my journey as a critic, as an author and inquired if  my honest writings affected my relationships with them.

There were equally interesting observations from the audience as well, some of the questions were deep and contemplative. I had insights into my audience as well. We don’t realize this but the city we live in influences our personalities. Lucknow is the land of the nawabs, of courtesy and culture and it is reflected in the  ambience and the evening.