September 5th, Teacher’s day, is always a special day. It’s the day when we remember & pass on our gratitude to our gurus and peers, who have taught us a thing or two. Experience is no doubt the best teacher. And for us, learning from achievers has been the best experience. To celebrate Teacher’s day, we had probably selected the right place, a charming bookstore on the famous MG Road of Bangalore. Presenting to you, an inspiring interview of a book-seller, who went to evening college to pursue education, and sold books on the roadside during the day, which today has transformed into a flourishing business, and expanded to three outlets! This gentleman has a unique capability of knowing which-book-in-which-shelf in the bookstore. Introducing the builder of the “Temple of Knowledge”, Mr. Krishna.(Do Read Krishna Biography)
The Birth of Worm
I began my journey in a small town called Rangasamudra, a place close to Mysore. I completed my 12th with an aggregate of 70%, and wanted to study further and get a B.Com degree. But as per my family’s wish, I went to Mysore in search of a job. My friend helped me to find a job in Bangalore, and it was here that I saw an opportunity to pursue my higher studies. My family agreed to this reluctantly, as they didn’t want me to venture out far from my hometown. I joined the Vijaya Evening College in 1997 and successfully completed my B.Com degree, all the while spending my mornings selling books on the pavements on MG Road. This also helped me expand my knowledge immensely.
The combination of my knowledge from my degrees and my reading experience as a bookseller culminated in the opening of my own bookstore, called ‘The Bookworm’.
Success Mantra
“A satisfied customer brings hundreds of other customers”. The most valuable asset in this business are my employees. They have thorough knowledge of the books in the store, which helps them assist the customer in all ways possible and ensure customer satisfaction. We still hold the loyalty of the customers who have been visiting us since 1997, all due to this philosophy. Never run behind profits, but instead focus on the contentment of the customer. Giving close attention to customer feedback also helped in developing and building up my career.
I am happy to tell that I am living a contented life because of this mantra.
Recent Trend with Online Portals
Sadly, the mindset of customers has been changing over the years. Media these days gives a lot of attention to commercial books. Instead of falling prey to this hype, customers should have the capacity to distinguish a good book from a bad one. Today various online portals are making an obscene amount of money by luring customers into false statistics and logic. I strongly recommend the customers to stay away from the media hype.
GIFTED
My heartfelt thanks to Ferose, for helping me do my bit for the community of people with disabilities. His association with me dates back to my days of selling books on the roadside. I initially agreed to sell 300 copies of the GIFTED, but as I held the book in my hand, it was magical and had a positive vibe in it! I realized that this book should be read by many more people, and I ended up selling at least 3000 copies.
I look forward to being a part of the Indian Inclusion Summit 2014, the largest summit working towards inclusion in society. I see it as a golden chance to prove that we are all one and belong to one family.
Rapid Fire Round
We wanted to check Krishna’s ability of instantly naming the book for any genre… Here we go –
Fiction: Papillon – Henri Charriere
Spirituality: Living With The Himalayan Masters – Swami Rama, You Can Heal Your Life – Louise Hay
Philosophy: Story Of Philosophy – Will Durant
Children: Wrinkle In Time – Mandeleine L’Engle
Autobiography: The Story of My Life – Hellen Keller, The Story of My Life – Mahatma Gandhi, Made In Japan: Akio Morita and Sony – Akio Morita
Book you will refer to everyone, if you are made Prime Minister: Ignited Minds – Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam and The Power Of Subconscious Mind -Joseph Murthy