Come March 31 this year and the iconic Manneys Booksellers on Ambedkar Road, one of the oldest English bookstores in the city will roll down its shutters.
Come March 31 this year and the iconic Manneys Booksellers on Ambedkar Road, one of the oldest English bookstores in the city will roll down its shutters. With the closure of this 63-year-old bookstore, a significant part of erstwhile Poona, as the city was known in the past, will disappear into the pages of history.
Speaking to DNA at the bookstore on Saturday, Manik Mani, the 68-year-old proprietor of the bookstore said, “I am calling it a day because I want to spend time with my three little grandchildren, my daughters Karishma and Tamanna and wife Bina.”
Manik has completed 42 years at the store started by his father, the late VG Mani on November 1, 1948.
While he acknowledges the threat of Flipkart to the book business, it is not the reason for his shutting shop. “Flipkart with its door delivery system and heavy discounts will be a threat to all booksellers but that is not the reason for my shutting shop. I genuinely wanted time to myself. I have been working for too long. I need to spend time with my family,” Mani said.
Manik said his book selling style involved personal care and attention. “I used to spend a lot of time with each and every customer. However, as I will not be able to do it anymore, I have decided to call it a day.”
According to Manik, he first broke the news to his six-member staff in December. “They were shocked and surprised. But they will be with us right up to the end, which is March 31,” Mani said.
Manneys has had a very interesting history. Manik’s father, the late VG Mani was proprietor of the London Book Company in Rawalpindi, which had 11 branches in pre-partition India.
According to Manik, his father lost everything during the gory partition and reached Pune nearly penniless. Yet, he started Manneys (anglicised version of Mani’s) in a rented premises on the then Moledina Road on November 1, 1948.
Over the years, the bookstore has had many an admirer. When this correspondent met author Ruskin Bond in Mussoorie in 2007, he asked, “How is that lovely bookstore, Manneys doing?”
The ace writer, Khushwant Singh featured Manneys in the Illustrated Weekly Of India in 1974 and the late poet-author Dom Moraes in a literary magazine soon after.
In 1986, when Manneys Booksellers was undergoing renovation, the late Sir William Golding, Nobel laureate for literature (1983) actually walked over the brick, mortar and rubble just to shake hands with the late VG Mani, founder of the bookstore. Golding stayed back for some book signing and a cup of tea, according to Manik.
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