The Fountain Awards
If I become an author, I’m not extremely keen on seeing my book win a Booker or a Pulitzer.
Actually, scratch that.
When I become an author, I’m not extremely keen on seeing my book win a Booker or a Pulitzer.
Instead, I want to see it on the streets of Mumbai, being sold as pirated copies, for basically a dime, by local vendors on a humid day. Specifically on the pavements opposite Mumbai’s Flora Fountain, where the joy of buying pirated and second hand copies of books resides.
On these pavements, vendors sit with their tarpaulin tents and wooden stools while they sell these books to hungry readers. All three of these (the tarpaulin tents, wooden stools and the hungry readers) fail to wither away even as the harsh Bombay rains try their best to create chaos.
The books sold here are flimsy. Ink leaks through the pages, faded covers are nearly incomprehensible and Os are oftentimes zeroes while commas are full stops. That’s probably why they ended up there anyway.
However, to me, these used books sold in Flora Fountain are the epitome of success. One that is unmatched by any anglicized awards, and untouched by civilization’s need for pretence to honor a good book in front of a bourgeois crowd.
Groups of common people gather around these blue tarpaulin tent stalls and pay (mostly a meagre amount) to read these so-called “flawed” books.
But isn’t that the true mark of a good book?
A book that isn’t bought because of its luminous hardbound cover, one which is exempted from its apparent grammatical errors, one whose flimsiness and running ink people are willing to overlook for the pure joy of reading. For the desire to scan the words strung by the author and nothing else. Not for the ‘nominated for 2019 Edgar’ sign (because most probably it has faded away), not for the forewords given by the big names (that are often torn off in second -and copies) and definitely not for its cover (which sometimes is different from the book inside)
They say a good reader doesn’t judge a book by its cover.
I say a good reader buys their books from Flora Fountain.
And a good writer smiles with pride holding the priceless, pirated copy of their book in Flora Fountain.
10 Comments
avani
this makes me so nostalgic ?
Prakriti Panwar
🙂
Manisha
What a different take on the otherwise roadside picks! Just wonderful.. I marvel at your perspective really! After all, there must be a reason why the books exist there!
Prakriti Panwar
exactly, thank you!
MVP Kumar
Awesome take on awards and nominations through a very real Mumbai life view.
But I still want you to win a Booker or Pulitzer, stand and clap for you, then wait in a serpentine line to get your autograph.
Prakriti Panwar
Hahaha hopefully someday I can send signed copies to your place- why stand in a serpentine line! Thank you for all your support ❤️
Rangoli
There couldn’t have been a more p.e.r.f.e.c.t. read on this beautiful, rainy day in Bombay. Next to the dabba-wallahs in the city, this flourishing ‘pavement books business’ ought to be a subject for deep research! No matter what the field, i have seen so many people rummaging through the mountain of books and always going back with much more than what they came there for 🙂 You have given so much meaning to this everyday roadside phenomenon little girl. Way to go!
Prakriti Panwar
Thank you so much for such a thoughtful comment!! Glad you liked it ❤️
shreya
such a heartwarming piece!?
Prakriti Panwar
thank you!