Read Between The Lanes

Books are portals to the world.

On the corner of a quiet, leafy lane in Cooke Town, a group of women gathered in an uneven circle. The LURU newsletter team was among them as part of Lightroom’s inaugural Walking Book Club. One in a series of many “adult” events planned to celebrate their thirteenth year in the city. On this day, we were there to walk through this neighbourhood and talk about Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop.

Children’s books writer and editor, Bijal Vachharajani led the conversation about this story from the 1950s, on a woman who attempted to open a bookstore in unlikely circumstances. Not unlike Aashti Mudnani, who opened Lightroom in 2013, amidst advice from venture capitalists who suggested that “a bookstore like this would never survive.” Here it stands, despite the naysayers. A cosy garage, a couch to welcome you, the children’s books section on the ground floor and an incredible collection of books for adults — both new and secondhand — occupying the airy and spacious first floor.

We were huddled in the garage as children floated in and out of the store, dressed in cute frocks and return-gifts in hand. They were there for an event on the first floor, as Aashti ushered them all up, “We’re accidentally double-booked today.”

That’s how we stroll, chapter by chapter

Participants had read The Bookshop beforehand, so we were already transported to Florence Green’s world — showing us what it’s like to be a woman who attempted to fight against all odds. While Green lost her battle and couldn’t open the bookshop she wanted, it got us thinking about bookstores, cities, and the kind of space it offers to people. And Lightroom stands testament to what happens when people come together to create something beautiful.

Aashti says that she “couldn’t have opened a bookstore in any other place,” apart from Cooke Town. When they have “food sales and bake sales, everyone shows up,” irrespective of religion or background. Everyone comes together, and the new, shiny walking book club is an example of this. We were a group of 18, walking through the lanes of Cooke Town. When some of us deemed the book “difficult to read,” heads and hands shot up to agree, while others pointed out that this is what made the book special. Conversations broke off like branches of a tree, going in this direction and that.

The four-stop route took us through empty lanes, art deco houses, and parks that looked like they belonged in 1950s England. From Hutchins Road to Davis Road to Lewis Road, who’s to say that we weren’t actually in Hardborough, Florence Green’s mean little town?

Novel take

Bijal described “Cooke Town [as the] antithesis to large communities where the neighbourhood is invisible.” The Bookshop forced her to think about space and how we occupy it, and what it means to “know your neighbour so well that you might abhor some of them.” Aashti, who spends most of her time walking around Cooke Town, knew that she wanted to start the walking book club when a friend who recently visited the UK told her about Emily Rhodes’ Walking Book Club. So while the idea is “not original,” it maps itself on to Cooke Town seamlessly. They decided that the first book should be slim so people would read it without fail. The few outliers who bungled the task stayed silent, but the group was a mix of many voices.

The first stop on Lloyd Road was an old house that looked like it belonged to the trees. From here, the group walked slowly to Cooke Town Public Park to sit in the shade of the large gazebo at the centre of the park. The two men sleeping there promptly got up and left — shooed off inadvertently by the group of women (all women, by accident).

“I'm a big fan of the idea of walking as well,” Bijal said. The short walks between each stop allowed us to speak to each other, air disagreements, and figure out if we secretly didn’t like parts of the book. “It's just interesting to be able to break off into twos and threes, and to just talk about what you pick [up on] and then letting the conversation go to personal spaces to enhance social political [conversations]”.

Staying on the same page

“That has been our biggest thing,” Aashti added, that they wanted “to stick to the books. There’s a lot happening in the city, and spaces are a rarity, so it’s just good to have a focus.” From workshops to book clubs to film screenings — Lightroom is all about the books. We ended the walk in the garage, this time supplied with cucumber sandwiches, iced tea, and tea cakes to refuel. The group continued talking, but the space was quieter. The event upstairs was over so everyone eventually found the adult books section.

In this city, we support our local bookstores.

The details: Lightroom Bookstore will host their walking book club every six weeks. Each ticket is inclusive of the book, and was priced at INR 799 for the first session. Follow here for updates.

Drishti Rakhra is the Senior Editor at LURU.