There’s hardly any space to squeeze past. Even the door opens only halfway. Books stacked floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall make Giggles easily one of the most curious book stores I’ve come across. With works by authors such as Seonmi Hwang and Siddhartha Mukherjee, among others, the store is a treasure house for bookworms. It has seen several seasons go by and holds within its walls the smell of books and memories, and stories. But, it’s the woman behind it who is the most interesting — septuagenarian Nalini Chettur. With over 5,000 books in her ‘Biggest little book shop’, Nalini knows exactly where to find a particular title or author’s works.
“I have an excellent memory,” she smiles. While she has no computerised system cataloguing the collection at her store, she insists that ‘there is a method to her madness’. “It might look chaotic. But we can find a book one is looking for,” says the entrepreneur, who has successfully run Giggles for 41 years in the Taj Connemara (now Vivanta by Taj-Connemara) premises.
In a day and age when shopping for books online is becoming the norm, a book store like Giggles still holds relevance. According to Nalini, this is where one can discover the joy of reading or even stumble upon a new author or book. “You can’t do that online. Here, readers come and discuss their interests and likes and dislikes with me. I recommend them books accordingly, and if they like it, they’ll buy it. I learn so much from them as well. Could you do this online?” asks Nalini, who cannot fathom how one would buy anything on the Internet.
Over the last four decades, she has hosted several authors and book aficionados. She stores titles that other larger book stores might not, sometimes insisting that publishers procure them just for her. She swears by the bestseller lists put out by The Guardian and The New York Times. “I give publishers a hard time to bring me titles and authors that one would otherwise not have heard of. There was a time when books listed in The New York Times and The Guardian would be available, but that has changed. But, I will not stop my efforts to bring in good books. I usually go through catalogues, read the gist and zero in on titles,” she says. Not every publisher might oblige, though. According to Nalini, she is often “the pesky old lady who asks for titles that others might not”.
Incidentally, Nalini’s love affair with books began when she was a little girl growing up in Bangalore. “We lived opposite a book store on St. Mark’s Road, and every day on my way home from school, I would head to Book Mart to look at what was new. The proprietor, a kind man called Mr. Mahadevan, would say, ‘Nalini, come look at these latest comics.’ It was my wonderland, and my mother would have to keep sending for me,” she laughs. Over the years, she has enjoyed reading books by authors such as V.S. Naipaul, R.K. Narayan, Khushwant Singh, Jawaharlal Nehru and Graham Greene, among others.
Likewise, she has also hosted several of these Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners at her store. “They would have heard of Giggles back home, and when they visited Madras, they would make it a point to stop by. Sometimes, I would have a whole conversation not knowing who they were, until they’d tell me,” she recalls.
Giggles, she says, was started by her since she was a very independent woman, who didn’t want a boss or a husband. “I wanted to do something on my own, and thought ‘Why not a book store?’. The idea came to me after I read 84, Charing Cross Road, a book about the correspondence between a London book store owner and a New York writer. I had Rs. 1,000 in my account then, and used it all. Ever since, things have been rolling,” she smiles. And the name? “Oh, I named it Giggles just for a giggle,” she laughs.
Until recently, that is. With extensive renovations being undertaken at the hotel, Giggles has to move out. “It has come as a huge upheaval. But then, I have no intention to ‘hang up my boots’. I am currently looking for a suitable spot in the same area to relocate,” she says, adding, “I still have the enthusiasm and energy to soldier on.”
