Om Prakash at his shop. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 26: Not many booksellers or readers in the city can match Om Prakash love for books.

Prakash, who has been selling books for half a century now, remembers the old days when bibliophiles came in hordes to his shop at Master Canteen Square.

The 64-year-old, who studied at Sainik School, could have made a career in defence services. But he decided to assist his father in running Modern Book Depot in Calcutta.

In 1970, he moved to Bhubaneswar and set up the only branch of the bookstore in the city. “At that time, Bhubaneswar did not have a store that had such an expansive collection,” said Prakash.

He rues the fact that kids today do not have the time to read books. “This generation does not even have the time to browse through books! They just select one and order it online,” said Prakash, whose family moved to India from Multan (now in Pakistan) after partition.

He still has some loyal customers. Once, V.S. Naipaul and his wife Nadira visited his shop asking for a book by the author. Unfortunately, he had sold all his copies. Tarla Dalal, the famous cook, came looking for an English cookbook about Odia recipes but nothing of that sort was written at that time. Prakash’s store has been featured in the Lonely Planet travellers’ guide and referred to as “the place to buy books in Bhubaneswar”.

Prakash does not think much of the numerous seasonal book fairs.

“Their purpose is to clear old stock. They are helpful only for local publishers as their transportation cost is minimal,” he said.

This is not a good time for booksellers and the number of readers is going down by the day. Not surprisingly, not many people visit his bookstore today. But Prakash feels good just to be surrounded by books. “Well, all good things must come to an end someday,” he said.