THE GENTEEL BOOKSTORE OWNER WITH GRAVITAS

BY DR KAUSTAV BHATTACHARYYA

One dreads the prospect of waking up in the morning with tragic news of death; the fear which lurks in most of us and precisely I had to contend with this terrible episode when I received the news of death of one of my favourite individuals and a bibliophile, Mr. K.K.S. Murthy, the owner of Select Bookstore in Bengaluru. 

I felt truly shattered and the news was received with disbelief for weeks since I just couldn’t come to terms with this loss and void in many of our lives which have been touched by his presence. It took me a while to garner strength and courage to pen this very humble tribute.

Mr. K.K.S. Murthy owned the oldest and one of the most iconic and famous bookstores in Bengaluru and perhaps in India, which was located at the quaint corner of a cul-de-sac off one of the main roads located in the heart of the city.  Mr. Murthy died at the age of 95 of old age ailments and had lived a cherished life with a legacy of making mark in the Indian literary world through his interactions with plenty of authors, scholars, critics, students and plain simple readers. He leaves behind plenty of admirers including myself who miss his presence dearly and hold the memories of interactions with him in our hearts with enormous pleasure.  The concrete edifice of the bookstore traces back its origins to the pre-independence era and exudes history and old-world charm from every corner.

I truly feel thankful that I had sauntered across to his bookstore as a dreamy-eyed young student during the early 90s along with our ‘gang’ being on one of our regular ‘bookstore’ crawls and had the privilege of knowing him. 

I wish to share my very personal voyage with the Select Bookstore and Mr. Murthy whom I would like to define in a simple line as the ‘Genteel Bookstore owner with Gravitas’!! Gravitas indeed and lots of it!!

Mr. Murthy had an encyclopedic mind with a great treasure of past anecdotes and stories from a bygone era including his interactions with the likes of English author RK Narayan, Nobel Laureate Sir CV Raman and plenty of old stalwarts of Indian society.

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As a matter of fact, the bookstore was founded by Mr. Murthy’s father K.B.K. Rao in 1945 and his entry into the bookstore trade and then his success is itself a very fascinating story.

Mr. Murthy was an aeronautical engineer who worked at the public sector giant Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) for 18 years where he spent few years in France for his technical training. At some point he quit his engineering career and joined his father’s bookstore and then became a part of the legend of the Select Bookstore.   

The bookstore and Mr. Murthy finds mention in the essay collection ‘The Last Liberal and Other Essays’ by the eminent and distinguished Historian Dr. Ramachandra Guha who affectionately called it his ‘favourite among all of India’s second-hand bookshops’.

Here I wish to share a small humble personalized tribute where I draw parallels with the novel ‘Brideshead Revisited’ by Evelyn Waugh and then made into a poignant TV Series directed by Charles Sturridge and Michael Lindsay-Hogg with the lead actor role being played by Jeremy Irons.

The story revolves around the protagonist Charles Ryder, an Oxford student of History who visits the ancestral Country House of Lord Sebastian Flyte, the younger son of the Marquess of Marchmain, Brideshead Castle who happens to be his classmate. 

As fate turns out for Charles, he would keep visiting Brideshead Castle in different avatars over the decades and finally as a British Army officer Charles Ryder looking for a new base at the end of the Second World War.  The story and the film revolve around the nostalgic recollections of his past friendships, encounters and memories of interactions with the family at different stages of his life.

Similarly, here as I pay my earnest tribute with a heavy heart to Mr. Murthy I recollect fondly my interactions with the Select Bookstore and Mr. Murthy at different stages of my life. A kind of ‘The Select Bookstore Revisited’……my metaphorical ‘Brideshead Castle’….

If there is one description which aptly captures the raison d’être of Select Bookstore is that of being a treasure trove for readers, both voracious and occasional readers reminiscent of a bygone era of quaint and charming genteel Bengaluru.

My ‘affaire de Coeur’ or love affair with the Premier bookstore started as a young student who wished to be distracted from the abstruse engineering calculations with sparkling wit of P G Wodehouse, the flights of fancy into a genteel world of eccentric, charming characters going about their lives. This was supplemented by ample supply of excellent novelists like William Somerset Maugham, Martin Amis, Graham Greene and a dose of poetry including the esoteric variety of Sylvia Plath. 

Then I returned as a reasonably well-earning NRI who wanted to pick up books on India, travel writing, memoirs and the latest Anglo-Indian literature.  The books which one coveted as a penniless student were now waiting to be possessed as treasures on the bookshelf which includes the likes of Vikram Seth, Amitav Ghosh, Raja Rao and James Cameron.

My most recent avatar was that of a researcher working on a doctorate on Indian Civil Service elites in post-independence India where the bookstore and its owner Mr. Murthy enriched my journey as a researcher.  The research work touched upon key historical questions and here again Select bookstore came to my rescue with its incredible collection of historical books; some of the finest, rare, antiquarian books encompassing different epochs of history, empires and societies covering the Victorians, Prussians, Ancient Indian kingdoms of Mauryas and Guptas to that of the more contemporary Indian post-independence nation-building. 

Finally, I revisited my metaphorical ‘Brideshead Castle’, ‘The Select Bookstore’ as an amateur bibliophile and someone who has no more milestones in my life as far academics is concerned since I have far exceeded my limited ambitions and intellectual abilities with my PhD.  

The restlessness to write theses, exam papers, dissertations has long receded and its with this relaxed state of mind I forged my most enduring and deep friendship with Mr. Murthy.  I recollect fondly how Mr. Murthy would often call me and would tell me ‘come and spend time with me’ and I would admit awkwardly how I am working through the books which I had previously bought from his bookstore not so long ago!!

Although the historical stage is still lingering on in the form of an ‘amateur’ as far as I am concerned with Mr.Murthy meticulously and tediously collecting rare sources of documentation, archives, letters and not just books for my knowledge bank. 

Conversations with Mr. Murthy are itself enlightening with his vast knowledge of books, personalities, anecdotes and incidents for any researcher or curious mind on Indian history. My most delightful ‘foxtrot’ as part of the l’afffaire as a researcher, student, booklover with Select bookshop prompts me to conclude that this is a treasure trove awaiting to be discovered for any curious mind!!

I will state here that The Select Bookstore is thriving and flourishing under the very able and capable command and leadership of Sanjay, the son and heir of Mr. Murthy.  Hence the wider legacy of The Select Bookstore is very much existing and would welcome our CSM readers to visit and experience this enchanting historical bookstore during their next visit to Bengaluru!!

With these heady and wonderful memories in my mind of Mr. Murthy and his iconic The Select Bookstore I wish to bid adieu!!  I his journey to the other side very happy one and hope he is turning the pages of books somewhere out there in the wider cosmos. The rich legacy of Mr. Murthy will live on amongst us and we will continue to indulge in our fond nostalgia of the past interactions.