To the Bibliophile’s Paradise

By Megha Mariam Sajan

When we say books in Bangalore, they say Church Street. Old, rare or new you will get it all there.

I always had a secret dream of making a library of my own. In my hometown, there weren’t any good libraries. All I had access to was the small library in my school. And all they had with them was some Enid Blyton books, some Malayalam Books, some study guides and science books. I grew up reading the Enid Blyton books in the library. I was the only one in my class who had my library card filled, but when I joined for my Under Graduate course, I realized how poorly read I am. Most of my friends had very good libraries near their homes. That is when this deep desire to collect books for my library grew its roots in me.

It always seemed that I’m hungry for more books. Whenever someone suggested something I noted it down and later bought it from some online website. But the price of new books got me broke every month.

After my Under Graduate course I shifted to Bangalore for my Masters and that is when the city gave me my blessing in disguise. It didn’t take me long to discover Blossoms. People all around the city talked about it whenever we asked them suggestions for a good place to buy books.

I still remember the day I first visited the place. I felt like I could stand there for hours looking at the books and holding them. They had old and new and rare, everything one could ever think of. The most interesting thing is that one can get the same book in different prices if one was willing to search for it.

But one day, one of my friends told me about another book store with the same name in Church Street. She thought that the two book houses are the same. I decided to go and find out and hence started my journey to the bibliophile’s heaven.

The easiest way to reach Church Street is by taking a metro. The MG Road metro station is situated in Church Street and if we take the metro, we can walk out directly to Blossoms. I took the purple line from Majestic Metro Station. Metros are always crowded in Majestic. Even the ladies compartment was crowded and I had to stand all the way to MG Road.

When I reached the station I got out and called up my friend. She told me to take the right from the station. Usually when I wanted to get to Blossoms I took the left but since I was in search of the other Blossom I took a right.

After walking for about 5 minutes, I saw the board of Blossom Book House on top of a very old building. I gave my bag to the security and got inside. This Blossom also had books like the other one, but the books here was a little less organized than the other one. I roamed around the place for sometime in awe.

In the other Blossoms, they had only one floor. But in the Blossom which I discovered today, they had different floors for different genres. I explored the place for some time and took out some books. But then I realized that the prices are a little higher than the usual rates at which I buy books from Blossoms. So I decided to keep only one book. I billed my book and came out. Then I looked at the board again before leaving the place. This was Blossom Book House. It lacked an‘s’. The one which I usually go to, which is in the same lane is named Blossoms.

I walked straight past the metro station to my favourite book store again. For me, nothing could be compared to Blossoms. Every time I went there, I stood there awestruck for some time. I always dreamed of getting hold of all the books in there. But other than that, the way in which they arranged the books is really appreciable. They have separate sections for new books and second-hand books. And they have also arranged the books based on the genres and the name of the author for making the book hunt easier for the customers. Their prices are also reasonable and we can even find the same book in different price range. I bought some five books before I came out. I knew I was broke at that particular moment, but at the same time I was living my happiest moment of the day.

That place is indeed a Bibliophile’s paradise but mind you, if you love books, you won’t be able to come out of there without buying at least five books.