13/07/2013
Closing - but not saying Good-Bye. The beginnings and end of a little bookstore in Kuwait City
It was a quiet evening almost a full ten years ago, and after a few months of almost solitary back breaking work to get the store started out, when I asked my Man-Friday Shavali to throw open the doors to the public. The only small sign up there on the glass door was “We are OPEN – At last!; and just below that line was "Inspired by Nottinghill". Except for the smell of fresh paint and the all-wooden theme, the store was sparse with just a sprinkling of books on the shelves. For a bookstore, it had more space than books on it! It took many years to revert it to its true nature. And just when the shelves are full and overflowing it is time to give it up as well.
A Bookstore?
Who amongst us has not wished to own a quaint little bookstore? My own dreams and desire shaped up as I walked in and out of a neighborhood library half way on the hillock where my primary school was located. There were few things then as delightful as bringing home a "Commando Comic" or a mystery filled Enid Blyton to wrap up the day with. The little cash left over from my meager pocket money and all the little coins that I nicked from my mom's purse was never enough to get me all the books that I wanted to read. So when I was 8 years old or so, I told myself that someday I would have a bookstore of my own so that I could read as many books and meet as many girls as I could! Just did not think then that it would take another three decades to get one up and running.
It took many pleasant and unusual circumstances to get this store started. For the likes of a person far apart from being "business minded" or having any acumen in this direction, it was a huge leap indeed. My mom even remarked “I hope you don’t lose your undergarments in the process”! Well, I just went about it without as much as a thought of how it would shape up. Guess it just evolved along with the way. From the handful of books from my own cabinet 11 years ago, from barren shelves to overcrowded ones now, they added up book by book. Many friends and family laughed over it wondering if I could pull it off. If only I had taken bets with them then, I would now be the owner of Shakespeare & Co in Paris!
Q8books has always been a labor of love from it's very conception - mindless of the endless hours of thinking, planning, researching, website designing, visiting flea markets / garage sales, buying and hauling cartloads of books to the store, cleaning, sorting, data entering, racking, re-racking, and so many unexplained tasks that go into making a half way decent bookstore. Not to mention sourcing books, answering emails, and many other tasks needed to keep a bookstore up and running. For someone already occupied with a full time job and a somewhat hectic social life, this was all a herculean task. Yet, the sheer joy of meeting so many interesting people from all walks of life, listening to the fascinating stories of their lives and travels, exchanging thoughts and ideas etc., more than made up for all the burden of operating the bookstore.
Although it was visibly a "one-man army" behind this entire project (just a few days back I heard a customer telling someone else that "it was a one man institution" and I liked how it sounded even!), I must emphasize that if not for the support of so many people throughout the last ten years, this would never have happened - at least not in the way that I am happy and proud of. There is a page on the website dedicated to those who helped me start Q8books. It is only appropriate if they are remembered again and thanked.
http://www.q8books.com/Q8B/eQ8acknowledgments.asp
Then there are others who have continuously helped me thereafter, and I presume ungrudgingly even, carrying loads of books back for me each time they returned from travelling abroad, getting their children to carry books for me, and always supporting me with lasting friendship and generosity - to Mohan Menon and his family, my gratitude.
Q8books was much more than a bookstore for me. It was my second home (I just went home to feed my cat and sleep!). It was a place to meet interesting people, talk about issues which could not be easily spoken off in their homes, or even on the outside, read good books, forge new friendships, for friends to hang out (they all got free books, free coffee, and cookies. I have a faint feeling this is what made Q8books a favorite place for many!). It grew on me and the time I spend here have certainly been the best years of my adult life. For certain it has made me richer (unconnected to do with the size of the purse – it is the thinnest one in Kuwait!), wiser, educated, open minded, and a whole lot greyer too! I would have been an immensely poorer man if not for Q8books, the experiences which came with running it single handed.
One of the most frequent questions I have been asked is “How do you manage to keep the store going?” Rents are high in the heart of Kuwait City and I am only open a few hours each day. Even during this time I out gallivanting with friends or attending to some errands. The store is found closed during holidays, vacation time, dust storms, cold days, sick, and on lazy days!! In spite of all this, I always paid my rent on time and made it a debt free business. And NO - I was not gun-running or pushing drugs on the side! Neither was I ripping of readers. In fact, I must have given out more free books than I ever sold here; with all my relatives, friends, colleagues from Kuwait Airways, and pretty girls always getting FREE books. After reading all this, I now wonder how on earth did I pull this act off without going bankrupt! It surely must have been Divine Providence watching over a fool like me.
None of this would have been possible if not for the patronage of so many loyal customers who supported this store though the years, donated books, spread the word through word of mouth – even when I was adamant not to advertise locally about the store’s existence. Thanks to each one of you for helping me keep the store afloat for a decade, for bringing in your friends, children, and even your pets, for the many cookies, cakes, bottles of wine (non-alcoholic ones!), gifts, and all the little things that gave it all a personal touch and making it all such a wholesome experience and remembrance for me. THANK YOU.
The shutters come down on the night of July 23rd a full ten years from the very day that the bookstore started out in Kuwait City. And I leave dignified and proud knowing that there is a small legacy that I leave behind – and the realization that a little boy’s dream did come true.
Even as Q8Books gets a new owner (FAJER – one the nicest people I have known for years), moves to a new and better location, and perhaps take on a new direction, I urge you to continue supporting Fajer and the bookstore wholeheartedly. For in times like ours, there is greater danger in bookstores closing down - and with it, the age of reading, thinking, reasoning, and most of all, the death of something as elementary as places to gather to read stories, tell stories, and in some cases – even make them.
