Books — everyone's punching bags ?

"Do you have a Rakhi gift for me?"
"Yes, a book,"replies the young boy.
" A book?" asks the sister with a grim expression and suddenly her eyes light up when she realises the gift pack actually has chocolates inside. Hmm, so what the creative copywriter is trying to say is books are boring, are they?

Now move over to an ad of ' teach yourself English' CD. This guy actually has the audacity to literally throw away books and choose the CD because one CD can replace a whole encyclopaedia in book form. Hmm, stuff for another P.I.L, is it?

The first thing to suffer when the government has a resource-crunch — books of course!

The first thing corporates decide to deduct their budgets from in recession — you guessed it, books!

And finally, the first thing newspapers ensure vanishes from their pages during meltdowns — book reviews, what else!

The Times of India, India's leading newspaper, has no space for books in the main paper, not even in their Hindi version. The only little space they have is for spiritual books, that too is actually sublet to their sister concern Indiatimes. Now, these poor fellas apparently have something that the whole world is ailing from — a resource crunch and to beat that, they have started selling that space. Thankfully, no self-respecting publisher wants to get into a frivolous arrangement, so what do you have? All kinds of strange books being showcased in India's flagship newspaper. But who is the sufferer? Books and book lovers!

Hindustan Times, the other print biggie recently shifted the book reviews to Saturdays, ( from the leisurely Sundays) a bit of a letdown, but they still give it a whole page. May Goddess Saraswati bless them!

I would be failing in my duty if i were not to mention the messiah of writers, book lovers and publishers — The Hindu. They have stood by their values undeterred — recession or no-recession. May both Goddess Saraswati and Goddess Lakshmi bless them!

And for rest of the above, may Ganesha bestow them with some good sense. Amen!

Lucky by Choice

It's usually between 6 and 8 in the evening that i reign supreme in the office. That's because i am the only one around that time. What stops me during the day, you could ask. Now, i would like to believe that i am quite a democrat and we all know the state of Indian prime ministers, don't we?

It was one such evening, around 7:30 when the calming silence of Ansari Road — an interesting place caught in the middle of old and new Delhi and infested with people who are ready to give their lives to get space for parking their severely dented cars, (my car and driver included) was broken by the loud ring of the phone. Unwillingly, i took the call. A heavy but warm voice with a strong South Indian accent beamed, "Is this Wisdom Tree? What is the price of Zen and the art of Happiness ?" 'Okay', i thought to myself, 'here we go.' The gentleman did know how to get me out of my shell though. He ended the fifteen minute conversation with these words, "My dear young man, i must really compliment you, the kind of books you publish, it's really commendable and you should feel lucky that you are earning your money by doing what i think is actually social work. God bless you." I muttered something like "You are being very kind, thank you." and hung up.

It was only after a few seconds that what he really said registered in my mind. How many people in this world receive a call from a 70-year old complete stranger, sitting several hundred miles away, blessing them for what they have been chosen to do?

I surely feel really lucky to be a publisher.

The Reading Effect

In economics, they have what they say is the 'lipstick effect', wherein, during the times of meltdowns, the sale of lipsticks goes up significantly. The reason is understandable — lipsticks don't cost much and have a special 'feel good' effect.

I believe books are much better — most of them cost as little as a lipstick, sometimes even lesser, and the 'feel good' effect is far more endearing. Not to forget, a book is not a consumable and gives us wisdom that may change our lives for good.

So go ahead, intuitively pick up a book from the millions available (don't bother about those funny bestseller lists) and beat the 'meltdown blues'.

That also makes publishing one of the most recession-proof professions, so better still, join it !

Boycotting Books from Pakistan

So what is more important — nationalism or universal brotherhood? While Pakistan relentlessly bleeds India with a thousand cuts, we continue to create stars out of Pakistani singers, comedians and writers. The nation of Gandhi seems to be following his philosophy of offering the other cheek when slapped on one religiously. We are the big brother — forever resilient and pluralist. In that sense, is the Oxford Bookstore's decision to ban books written by Pakistani authors the right one? Or is it merely a knee-jerk reaction?

Well, if they have done it because it's a well thought out stand and they would replicate it across India, we should respect their decision and maybe even follow suit depending on our free will. But if they have done it because they are scared of extra constitutional powers or out of some pressure, all of us who believe in the power of democracy should condemn it in no uncertain terms. Our freedom of speech and independence are our strengths and we must do everything in our means to preserve them.

Forced bans are absolutely unacceptable, voluntary boycotts though are always welcome. Remember we live in India, not Pakistan.

Publishing Grooms

A friend who is a publishing industry veteran recently shared an interesting incident. Almost thirty years back, his parents were looking for a bride for him. The prospective families, for obvious reasons, inquired about his profession. When they were told that he was in book business, all of them seemed to develop cold feet. Apparently, kitaaban da kam ( book business in Punjabi) was looked down upon as unprofitable and of low stature.

Around 2001, when i got into publishing, hardly anyone i met, knew the difference between publishing and printing. They thought a publisher takes money from authors and prints the book for them. Partly, Indian publishers could be held responsible for this perception as a lot of them were doing just that. So whenever i shared with anyone that i was into publishing, more often than not, what i got to see was a blank and unimpressed face.

Come 2008. The world seems to have changed, or is it Indian publishing that has! Publishing is now one of the most happening professions and Indian publishing is up there on the global scene. It has money, stature and job satisfaction. Being on priority in the marriage mandi may just be the bonus.