It is quite surprising but a very welcome development that another new bookstore has opened in Hyderabad while all around there is news of the economy taking a beating. Odyssey has opened its latest branch in Jubilee Hills last Friday. From what I heard about it, the store could easily be the biggest bookstore in Hyderabad. It is five stories it seems, and covers ten thousand square feet. I had only a glimpse of the store from outside sometime last Thursday. Through the glass I could see people milling around inside getting ready for the opening the next day. There was a book reading on Saturday there by Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan but I had to miss it.
Sometime soon I am going to drop in at ‘Odyssey’ at Jubilee Hills and check the store out leisurely. I also heard that Crossword is going to have an outlet at the new mall- GVK One- coming up on the Banjara Hills Road. Crossword already has three or four stores in Hyderabad. Odyssey has around four stores. Askhara has four branches here. The city is literally filling up with bookstores. But I wish Landmark and Oxford had branches in Hyderabad. More and more bookstores in Hyderabad means only one thing- Hyderabadis are beginning to take reading quite seriously.
Within walking distance from my office, right behind the SBI’s Gunfoundry office, there’s a new bookstore that opened recently- Central Book Store. It was earlier a wholesale book distributors' but now they’ve moved into retail. It isn’t really a bookstore but it has enough titles of fiction and non-fiction stacked up to be called a bookstore. There’s more stationery there than books but I don’t really mind. I picked up a simple and elegant notebook of Seagull brand the other day. It was quite good looking and was also affordable, priced under thirty rupees.
I am happy there are many new bookstores and also second hand bookstores in Hyderabad. Hyderabadis seem to be reading books but not many seem to be writing any. I am not exactly happy with the writing scene here. There are hardly any well known writers Hyderabad has thrown up. Narendra Luther is one but very few outside Hyderabad know him. The only other published writers I know are Srivatsan and Hari, my friend. Sometimes it is disappointing that there aren’t more than half a dozen published writers in Hyderabad.
Sometime soon I am going to drop in at ‘Odyssey’ at Jubilee Hills and check the store out leisurely. I also heard that Crossword is going to have an outlet at the new mall- GVK One- coming up on the Banjara Hills Road. Crossword already has three or four stores in Hyderabad. Odyssey has around four stores. Askhara has four branches here. The city is literally filling up with bookstores. But I wish Landmark and Oxford had branches in Hyderabad. More and more bookstores in Hyderabad means only one thing- Hyderabadis are beginning to take reading quite seriously.
Within walking distance from my office, right behind the SBI’s Gunfoundry office, there’s a new bookstore that opened recently- Central Book Store. It was earlier a wholesale book distributors' but now they’ve moved into retail. It isn’t really a bookstore but it has enough titles of fiction and non-fiction stacked up to be called a bookstore. There’s more stationery there than books but I don’t really mind. I picked up a simple and elegant notebook of Seagull brand the other day. It was quite good looking and was also affordable, priced under thirty rupees.
I am happy there are many new bookstores and also second hand bookstores in Hyderabad. Hyderabadis seem to be reading books but not many seem to be writing any. I am not exactly happy with the writing scene here. There are hardly any well known writers Hyderabad has thrown up. Narendra Luther is one but very few outside Hyderabad know him. The only other published writers I know are Srivatsan and Hari, my friend. Sometimes it is disappointing that there aren’t more than half a dozen published writers in Hyderabad.
6 comments:
Hi Vinod, just some more names to give your mood a boost...Shiv K. Kumar, prominent Indian English poet, M C Gabriel (novelist, short story writer), and Hoshang Merchant (poet) are some of the creative writers who write in English, who reside in Hyderabad... Pl get up and start working on your draft and give us a chance to add one more name to this list...
And you're forgetting me. No, really.
(Srinivas Rayaprol Memorial Reading comng up on Saturday, 25th at Hyderabad University. 4.30 pm. Jeet Thayil will be reading.)
Jai and Spacebar,
To atone for the lapses pointed out I plan to do a post exclusively about writers and poets in Hyderabad.
Vinod
Hi Vinod,
I came to your blog by chance and liked it. I love books and I too have found that not many people in Hyderabad write. I am an aspiring writer. I have published my first book with Pustak Mahal. I wanted to find if any other writers were in Hyderabad. May be starting a website for Hyderabad writers would be a good Idea. These writers you talk about can help the budding writers (like me :)).
Hi Vinod,
I saw you blog by chance and I too wanted to know if there were any writers in Hyderabad. I dont know if you are a writer, but I was wondering if starting a website for Hyderabad Writers would a good idea. I am an aspiring writer and my first book was published by Pustak Mahal. This website would include the writers you mentioned and would guide and help budding writers like me.
Hi, MS.
Thanks for dropping in on the blog. Glad you turned out to be a published writer!! Keep reading the blog. Everyone who comments here is somekind of a writer or the other.
Vinod
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