Adorable & Affordable, This Pre-Independence Era Library Is All Heart

A pop of teal and overflowing with glitzy magazines, Ram Gopal Sharma & Sons in Shankar Market is happily stuck in a time warp and for the first time, we aren’t complaining. Here, you can both, buy and borrow books and keep the spirit of paperbacks alive.

Geography, children’s literature, literary classics, magazines, novels and a whole world of fiction greets you in this space that’s big enough for precisely two {maybe three} people to browse at the same time. All the books that lie stuffed into the many shelves are ageing gracefully and wear a yellowed charm associated with loved hand-me-downs. Some have also been restored carefully with transparent covers wrapped around them.

You might meet retired Sharma uncle whose father founded this bookstore more than 50 years back. Once an integral part of the forest department in Gujarat, Sharma uncle has now adopted (read inherited) this lending-library-cum-bookshop as his child.

On some days, you’ll find him peering over registers, keeping inventory or just chatting up the occasional visitors. And trust us, nothing screams heartfelt like this tiny gem where you pay the book’s marked price as refundable security and a mere INR 40 for borrowing it for a week. The shop’s second in command tells us that if you default on the return date, they won’t even fine you for a day or two. Remember what we said about it being heartfelt? Make a trip here and buy some books just for the sake of nostalgia because it’s a little heartbreaking when Sharma uncle tells us “people hardly read anymore”.

While everything here is as old-school as a grandma knit sweater, there’s but one thing that helps it “keep up with the times” – an online library with free delivery. Check it out at here and thank us later.

Honestly, this library/bookstore is a unicorn in the times of online book orders and inta-worthy book cafes. We doubt you'll find anything disappointing here.