Amazon to DaryaGanj ... Review on Five Best Places to Shop for Books

I love reading books. Books are my best companion.(Next only to my beloved;)I just Love spending Lazy Sunday afternoon with a book in hand. If you can relate to these sentences and sentiments, chances are, your eyes betray you each time you pass a bookstore or a pedestrian bookwallah. I for one, shamelessly ogle at the books wherever I go, even at the traffic signals. It's another thing I don't buy them there.Circa 1996.Till a few years back, I completely abided by the Beg, Rent, Borrow or even Steal(Stopped short of stab) to get my hands on a book of my choice. But seldom Buy.

I pardon myself for that. After all, what in the world are hostel and friends and a doting warden for?But now I am far more settled and as the teens gave way to thirtees and forties, I started to realise I actually wanted my own collection. Gradually, I acknowledged that buying is the best option, seconded only by by renting from a Library.Back to present times.And so began my search for places I could buy books from. I live in Gurgaon and till 3 years back, a bookstore in New Gurgaon area(We expatriates like to call this part Newww) meant only a handful of shops(actually only

2) in relatively unknown places and with titles you never wanted or heard of.If you live in and around Delhi, carry on reading the rest of review but if you are not familiar with NCR and it's suburbs, you could choose to skip directly to Generic section - You have been warned!Specific to Gurgaonites (It's a way for me to count number of MSians who belong from Gurgaon:)Top 5 places to buy books in Gurgaon 1)Good bookstores - There are several good bookstores now to choose from                                    (

1) Om Bookshop( Centrally located in Metropolitan Mall near Barista)

(2) Landmark in Grand Mall(Awesome collection)

(3) Spencer's in the mall adjacent to GrandMall, I think it's called MegaCity                                          ( Tough Competition to Landmark and Om)

(4) First and Second(Located in DLF Ph1 with not a very impressive collection

(5) CrossRoads(It's shifted behind 32nd milestones - see akt's comment for more details) - 2) Pedestrian Bookwallahs - There's a regular one at Sector 14 market. But they can spring up on road sides from time to time. You need to be careful to spot them while you drive. They are not so visible as the Fly-By-Night Bulandshahar pottery guys are.

3) Annual Book Fare - This is a regular one at Pragati Maidan and the distinct advantage it has over other possible avenues is vast collection from various fields, languages even countries with some of the little handy ones(like Vedic Mathematics) that you don't find at many of the aforementioned places.

4) Library - These don't necessarily just rent out books. Most of the libraries are run by book enthusiasts and they offer a variety of bestsellers and new releases for sale, besides the usual FillumFare and Planet errr Galaxy whatever Cosmic*Dust. Some even sell second hand books. I bought several of'em and am not regretting that. "Animal Farm" being a second hand version of a masterpiece on my book shelf.There's "Books n More" in DLF Ph4(SuperMart I) where I have been a regular member since 2004. It's run by a book enthusiast lady who's been very cooperative too(See akt's comment for more details).

5) Roadside Canopied stores - This one is sligtly different from the pedestrian book wallah in that it's got more titles and has more permanence in it's standing. Watch out for "Garden Book store" on MG road while you drive.6) Ok, I said only 5 initially, but if I had said 6, that would have dissuaded you from reading till here. So 6th one is a must for all book lovers in Gurgaon. Drive down to saddi dilli and scavenge directly in Dariyaganj. Sad, those roadside markets have been taken off, but that's for a larger good of the city. More on that, some other time.Generic - wherever.whenever. Shop online - Apart from Amazon, check out lots of local bookstores that are online now.

.Lot of guys from Dariyaganj and Nayi Sarak have cyber presence now. Their rates are obviously in Rs. as against international sites where you seldom find price in INR. I ordered once from gobookshopping and was satisfied with their service. Generally, they ship free within India.You could also check out the #2, #3 and #5 above. Only ignore the actual names. Sorry:-p**DOs of book shopping.

*1) Look for Indian edition of Foreign publications. Why? They'll cost less you moron.

2) Always enquire about a discount. Lots of them give discounts to students or even otherwise a 10% discount. If you get it, it's your right. If you don't, it has to be a tradeoff between the depth of your pocket, scarcity of the book and your desire for the title.**DO NOT .

*(i)    Buy from traffic signals. For all you know, they could be pilfered from original stock.

(ii)   Buy a second hand book without checking properly. Verify it has all pages and not scribbled all over. Best is to check few from start and end. Use your best judgement.

(iii)  Fold pages for book marking. It's a bad practice to mutilate the book this way. Use bookmarks instead.(iv)   Start reading out to yourself aloud in a bookstore. You'll end up receiving some nasty looks from fellow customers and store helpers alike.

(v) Try to read more than a page or two in a book of 30 pages. Those that you wanted the book for. That's called stealing.I tried giving my advice. Now go ahead and use this and let me know whether it worked for you or not.PS: The thirtees and forties line was just meant to confuse:)