The last bookstores

Walden book store at Somajiguda was closed! 

Two of my friends who are also book lovers like me shared this news on WhatsApp two days back. This has pained me to some extent.  Till now, I  am not aware that so many book shops, including Odyssey, Hussains in Abids, were closed. Hussain's was considered the best in the city.

It is saddening as the elite readers(who frequented these famous book houses)  have stopped reading printed books and gradually shifted to the digital media!

I remember visiting the Walden, usually on Saturday evenings, on my way back from the office,when I worked at our Somajiguda branch.

Here I must confess, that mostly my visits were restricted to window shopping.  occasionally I used to buy books to gift it to some friends. nevertheless, I  enjoyed the tour around the shop. the hardcovers, neatly stacked classics, semi classics n quick browsing through those books was a real feast to the content of my thirst. 

On the other hand, the news had set me thinking about the beautiful days of my avid book reading. I used to devour any print material like an insect. 

Those days, our regular hunt for books was at the secondhand bookstalls in Abids! (one more confession) as they are pocket friendly.  Be it Jeffrey Archer, Agatha Christie, Sydney Sheldon, Russell, or Sartre; from fiction to philosophy everything was shamelessly procured at the second-hand bookshops only.

Now I regret this painful development. Too much water has flowed since then...! Times have changed,an era has just come to an end.