Ambika Book Centre: This Mahim bookseller aims to sell books for Rs 100 to create a reading culture

Every day, when Dhiraj Visariya enters his bookshop, he is transported into a different world. "My wife literally calls to ask me sometimes, ‘Do you know what time it is? Aren't you coming home?' and that's when I realise it's 11 pm" he laughs. It is only then that the 50-year-old packs up to return to his home in Jogeshwari.
In fact, when he has to go for weddings, the Mumbaikar has to keep an alarm so that he doesn't forget to leave on time. On the day we go to meet Visariya, he has literally slept at the shop because he finished as late as 1:30 am, sorting out books for a wholesale books customer, only so that the order goes out in time.

From a scrap shop into a bookshop
Visariya's Ambika Book Centre opened almost 30-years-old and currently has between 8,000 to 10,000 books in English, Hindi and Marathi. Visariya's customers not only include teenagers and adults, but also parents who come along with their children, from the schools near his bookshop. It is walking distance from the railway station, situated near Paradise E-square theatre and runs parallel to the underground Metro-3 currently being built in Mahim. The constant whirring from the machines constructing it is a constant reminder of how the city's landscape is changing but bookshops like Visariya's have stood the test of time. However, it would be unfair to think that these changes aren't affecting everything around it.

So, it is no surprise then when he tells us that the business did take a brief hit when people found it difficult to locate the shop due to all the work. He shares, "Initially, people who used to come regularly thought that the shop had closed down because of all the metro construction work around. However, we have only been pushed back a little." While he says the officials have said it will take another two years, the Mahim bookseller hopes it happens sooner, so that he can go back to putting out his books on the footpath just outside his stall like he used to before. For now, however, he is thankful that business has resumed. Visariya even plans to put up a refurbished board to reinforce that confidence in people that Ambika Book Centre is here to stay for as long as he can do it.

Interestingly, the bookshop wasn't his brainchild but was in fact a result of his father's business which was dealing in scrap material. "When my father used to handle the scrap shop, he used to get a lot of books. People used to tell us that there is a lot of demand for these books and we should keep them aside. My father put up a table with the books outside, with the scrap shop inside. We started getting a lot of people who wanted to buy these books." While moving from scrap to dealing in books was a natural progression of events, it seems like it was meant to be because 30 years on, Visariya loves every moment he spends around books at the shop, which was named after Goddess Ambika, who is also known as Ambe Maa.

Building the business
Visariya has books of every kind - fiction, non-fiction, autobiography, fantasy and even motivational and business books. He evidently loves books but it is also his interest to excel and do well in the business that keeps him going. We weren't surprised then when he told us that ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad' is his favourite book. However, everything that he has learned is from his father, the streets and his customers, who have helped him understand books over the years. Currently, his shop is comparatively smaller compared to all other bookshops in the city, but that doesn't stop him from inviting customers into his shop. When we stop by, a teacher is sorting out books to help her students learn more, another mother drops by to get books for her children at an affordable price. Visariya gives them a discount, and they go off happily.

It is such actions that make us believe Visariya when he says that he has thought of how he wants to make more people read. He explains, "I am going to be pricing every book at Rs 100, so that more people can read. It will also be put up on the board, which is currently being made to replace the old board that has now faded." While the paperbacks will be at a flat Rs 100, he says the hardcovers could go up to Rs 150 but for the sake of reading, he will make sure that people can get the best price.

This comes after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic when business briefly halted for three months. Times did get tough but he soon resumed after going online on WhatsApp. It helped him connect with readers not only in India but around the country. Like many other booksellers in the city, Visariya posts about his book and then gets queries in no time, it is then that his work of packing them up and transporting them comes into force.

Finding hope in readers
He starts by sorting the books, packing the books and then transporting them. Working from 10am till 9 pm, one may think that the job can get monotonous but that is one thought that hasn't crossed the Jogeshwari resident's mind.

For him, the business of making the books available for people come and seeing the happiness on their face is one of the more rewarding feelings. "A reader once came to me and said he had taken a book from Ambika years ago and now it is the same book that has come back to him. Imagine the journey the book has gone through before reaching its first reader again," Visariya concludes. It is this feeling that makes him want to continue for as long as he can, even though he doesn't see his children continuing in the same business because of their varied interests.

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