Here I will let out some writerly secrets. So we went to Crossword the other day to buy some books for Anjali who got her a gift voucher from her cousin Miskil. The first thing obscure writers like me do is to scan the shelves to see if the book is someplace. Obviously when you are looking you will never find it. A stab of disappointment will course through. The marketing and sales department comes to mind and after a small mental conversation with them I moved on to other things.
Anjali came running. 'Nanna, Jaico books are here.'
She showed me a couple of books, from people I know or have heard of. Hmm. Too bad.
The initial disappointment over I moved on looking at other books, sending pics of my friends books on the shelves to them and adding to their joy and happiness.
In this slightly elated state I noticed that a copy of 'This Way Is Easier Dad' was lying in one of the bottom shelves well hidden from public eye. But my eyes saw it and I pulled it out. Aha. The heart leapt skyward. They have not forgotten me yet. There is a copy, hidden, but somewhere in the book store jostling with the others. I felt happy.
Of course the first thing we do when we see our baby lying in some obscure corner is to pick it up, dust it and surreptitiously place it in some prominent position. I suspect the bookstore fellows are used to this kind of stuff all the time and they probably have some in house detectives who instantly go and replace the books to where thy originally were but we have to do what we have to do.
I quietly glided over to another part of the bookstore feeling very pleased with my work. Anjali was still busy checking out books and fountain pens.
Surprise, surprise, two more copies of TWIED showed up in two separate places, well hidden from the public eye once more. Why would anyone want to hide such a beautiful book? So I called the family and showed them the book in all its glory. We placed them in prominent positions in the shelves and feeling very pleased with our work paid the bill and left. I am sure all three would have been picked up within an hour after we left and sales is now rising rapidly to the million copies mark.
Such are the things that we do. We are unhappy if the books show up - no one is buying. We are unhappy if the books are not there - how will we sell if there are no books. We are unhappy if they are prominent and unhappy if they are not. Only after we do what we do, are we happy.
We celebrated with some ice cream. Job well done. Now for the next book store - it is always one book store at a time, one shelf at a time, one copy at a time.
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| Life's little pleasures - TWIED prominently placed (by me) in bookshelves |
She showed me a couple of books, from people I know or have heard of. Hmm. Too bad.
The initial disappointment over I moved on looking at other books, sending pics of my friends books on the shelves to them and adding to their joy and happiness.
In this slightly elated state I noticed that a copy of 'This Way Is Easier Dad' was lying in one of the bottom shelves well hidden from public eye. But my eyes saw it and I pulled it out. Aha. The heart leapt skyward. They have not forgotten me yet. There is a copy, hidden, but somewhere in the book store jostling with the others. I felt happy.
Of course the first thing we do when we see our baby lying in some obscure corner is to pick it up, dust it and surreptitiously place it in some prominent position. I suspect the bookstore fellows are used to this kind of stuff all the time and they probably have some in house detectives who instantly go and replace the books to where thy originally were but we have to do what we have to do.
I quietly glided over to another part of the bookstore feeling very pleased with my work. Anjali was still busy checking out books and fountain pens.
Surprise, surprise, two more copies of TWIED showed up in two separate places, well hidden from the public eye once more. Why would anyone want to hide such a beautiful book? So I called the family and showed them the book in all its glory. We placed them in prominent positions in the shelves and feeling very pleased with our work paid the bill and left. I am sure all three would have been picked up within an hour after we left and sales is now rising rapidly to the million copies mark.
Such are the things that we do. We are unhappy if the books show up - no one is buying. We are unhappy if the books are not there - how will we sell if there are no books. We are unhappy if they are prominent and unhappy if they are not. Only after we do what we do, are we happy.
We celebrated with some ice cream. Job well done. Now for the next book store - it is always one book store at a time, one shelf at a time, one copy at a time.
2 comments:
Raghuram Rajan isn't the only one who does what he does...
He is doing what he does and writing a book about it too - too bad!
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