IS THE EPITAPH FOR BOOKSHOPS APPROACHING?

Book stores are vanishing. Undoubtedly, online sellers, with their vast inventories, discounts, and fast delivery, offer tremendous convenience to book lovers. Physical copies of books have faced a brutal battering from E-books and digital reading. The standalone bookshop in India has been in terminal decline since the early 2000s, due to this double whammy. Going to a bookstore, browsing through physical copies has been replaced by recommendations of a breed called influencers, and search engines.

Even so, a few hardy bookstores demonstrate commendable resilience and continue to spew defiance. How so? They, too, confront high rents, changing consumer habits, and diminishing profits. Book stores are cultural destinations, donning a new identity. They host author signings, hold zine fairs, conduct writing workshops, and many are part cafe. Many have transitioned from merely selling books to purveyors of more aesthetic events. This change cannot be replicated online.

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SOME THOUGHTS ON THE RELEVANCE OF THE MAHATMA IN TODAY’S WORLD

October 02 or Gandhi Jayanti celebrates the birth of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation. That day is celebrated globally as the International Day of Non-Violence as well. It stirs the question of the relevance of Gandhian ideas in a world beset by wars, authoritarianism, religious intolerance, pollution, climate change, and racism, all issues that plague our times. This is despite his devastatingly brutal demise on 30 January 1948, aged 78 at Birla House, New Delhi. Gandhi’s ideas are based on his vision of a just and equitable society and are worth a re-look. NON-VIOLENCE. Many would consider the Gandhian idea of non-violence or Ahimsa as redundant in a world armed to the teeth with chemical, biological, nuclear, and conventional weapons. Ahimsa , first propounded by the 24th Jain Tirthankara and ascetic Mahavira in the 6th century BCE, was a method employed by Gandhi to achieve political and social change. Gandhi believ...

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Political freedom and economic freedom are inexorably linked. In July 1905, Lord Curzon, the British Viceroy, announced the Partition of Bengal, a move that was widely resented. It led to a wave of political and economic protest known as the Swadeshi Movement. While no single individual began it, the support came from the trio of "Lal Bal and Pal" - Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Bipin Chandra Pal. Aurobindo Ghosh too prominently supported it. The Movement exhorted Indians to boycott imported British goods in favor of those made in India. Cut to May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Modi ji launched the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, with the slogan of "Vocal for Local." The aim was to promote and buy locally made goods to strengthen Indian industry. The move is in parallel with similar global trends: American "Buy American Policy," China's "Dual Circulation Strategy," EU's "Strategic autonomy in energy, defence and semi-...

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