Strand Book Exhibition

Went last Sunday to the greatest book exhibition in Bombay. I certainly wasn't disappointed. The Strand lived up to its name. All sorts of books could be found. You just had to have the tenacity to look closely. Come to think of it....only a book lover can call anything related to the Strand, good. Just a couple of weeks ago, I had a discussion with my friend, RR regarding this. To know what I mean, you just need to visit their store once and you will understand.

The easiest thing to do would be to walk upto the manager and ask him for the book you want. But, I think its more fun to just go through their large collection and chance upon that dream book of yours suddenly, out of the blue. The reason for this is that their collection never seems to be sorted as per any particular category. They are just stored on the shelves, higgeldy-piggeldy. Now, this is not to point fingers at the store management in any way, no Siree. Its just that I like it that way. :-)

But now, look at the situation from the point of view of a person who reads books occasionally and visits the store to buy just that one particular book he wants, nothing else. Would he have the time to go through the entire collection of the store, just to find his book? In most cases, I think not. This is where behemoths like Crossword come in. The occasional reader I mentioned above can walk in over here and just ask the desk clerk for his book. Then, he either gets it within two minutes, or he doesn't get it at all. Simple!!!

That's why I feel that both types of bookstores are necessary in a city like Bombay. It allows the customer to exercise his choice. As for me, Strand wins hands down.