“Over the last 20-30 years, we had accumulated so many books, so we decided to sell the books,” she shares. Over the years, we have been very happy to receive the books but sometimes the books are duplicates and we have one or two copies and because of a space crunch, we can’t have another copy,” she explains, adding that sometimes the donated books are guides, textbooks and engineering books, which don’t fit within the purview of the Asiatic Society and those also became a part of the sale. “People very often don’t like their old books to go to the raddiwalla and want it to be donated to the library. Photo Courtesy: Dr Shehernaz NalwallaĬity dwellers are well aware of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai and its large library and due to that it has been a very popular place for people to donate books over the years, Nalwalla says. These are young people who are reading,” she informs.ĭr Nalwalla (right) said it was heartening to see people from all age groups visit the book sale - young, old, students and mothers come with their young children too. “It is an eye-opener when we keep on saying nobody reads books and everybody is only reading on Kindle. The calls helped the Asiatic Library team get 20 student volunteers to assist them on the day and they not only helped run the show but also purchased books. Nalwalla, who was a teacher for a long time and only retired four years ago from Wilson College, reached out to the South Mumbai college along with Ramnarain Ruia College in Matunga. The books were priced at Rs 30 and Rs 20 and included every kind that had been donated to the library over two-three decades.Įven though the team is short-staffed, they were able to pull it off because of a few quick calls. The vice president, who is also the chairperson for library administration and the book selection committee, said people came in as early as 8:30 am on the day and the line had extended to the bus stop outside and they didn’t mind standing in the heat without a fan – all to get their hands on the books. So, the very heartening thing about this is that people still read books because otherwise it wouldn’t have had such a response,” she explains. It was not only middle-aged or only young people, but a mixed group. “It was really heartening to see people from all age groups – young, old, students, mothers come with their young children. The overwhelming response not only made the official happy but also reinstilled her confidence in Mumbai’s reading culture.
Among them were books on travel and marine life, art catalogues, biographies and academic textbooks.
The books, priced between Rs 20 and Rs 30, included extra copies of titles that had to be let go from the library collection because of a space crunch.
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