Manneys: Woven into the hearts and minds of Pune book lovers

“A town isn’t a town without a bookstore...” writes Neil Gaiman in his novel American Gods. If Gaiman was in Pune, it he could well have been talking about the Manneys Book Store.

Manneys is probably the most iconic bookshop in the city, having been around for 63 years. It all started when VG Mani lost everything in the partition, including his renowned chain of bookstores, the London Book Company, in what is now Pakistan.

Mani had started the chain in 1929 and the venture grew and expanded during the Second World War. The partition, however, dealt a severe blow to the business.

He then decided to settle in India and start all over again.

His first stop was Delhi and the second was Mumbai, but things did not work out in these cities due to the exorbitant property prices.

He then decided on settling in Pune, and opening a bookshop that dealt only with English language books. People dissuaded him saying, “The British have left. No one will read English books.” But VG Mani was adamant about his plans for an English bookshop in Pune.

Thus originated the Manneys bookstore in Camp on October 31, 1948.

The initial benefactors of Manneys were Pune University and members of the military establishment in Pune.

VG Mani also single-handedly helped set up the National Defence Academy library.

After Mani’s older son Moti came of age, he initiated him into the family business in 1960. By this time, there were four people handling the bookshop — Mani, Moti, an old London Book Company manager Naroo Mirchandani and Mani’s brother JG Mani.

In 1963, Mani’s youngest son Manik graduated from college and worked with a multinational company till the year 1970 and then joined the family business.

During this time, JG Mani died, and the force was down to four people. Manik wanted to do something creative and constructive for the business, and started a management section in 1970, when management studies were just becoming popular.

He also started adding books on metallurgy and other sciences, and developed this section.
Tragedy struck the family in 1977 when Naroo passed away and Moti was diagnosed with cancer.

Moti passed away in 1978, and VG Mani, unable to bear the tragedy of having lost a young son, suffered a stroke.

The entire onus of handling the bookshop was on Manik’s shoulders in 1979. Manik, who now runs the store with help from his daughter, recalls, “I had to acquaint myself with the procedure for importing books, since you needed an import license, quota and Reserve Bank sanctions.”

In 1985, the building that housed Manneys was bought by a Mumbai builder to build what is now Clover Centre.

Manneys was shifted towards the back during the construction phase. Manik built a tunnel between the old shop and the new one and shifted his books section by section.

Manneys also had their first massive sale in 1985, which lasted a week, but saw the first stock sell out in the first 2 days.

After the construction of Clover Centre was complete, Manney’s shifted back to its old spot on the main road in the front in 1988. But VG Mani did not live to see his new bookshop.

He passed away in 1988. Manik recounts an instance when Nobel laureate Sir William Golding made a special trip to Pune, whilst in India, just to meet VG Mani, who he had corresponded with for many years for business purposes.

Manik says that now, Manneys stocks every conceivable section of books, except for textbooks. He signs off, “We cater to book lovers and I don’t really consider the big book stores as competition. I would regard television and internet as greater competition. In depth books is what has really kept us in business.”