The Hindu : New Delhi News : Wanting everyone to take to reading

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 09, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Wanting everyone to take to reading

D.N. Malhotra continues to be one of the crusaders for the Indian publishing industry, observes Lakshmi B.Ghosh

He had wanted to see a book in every hand. A simple university professor who almost always fell short when it came to fulfilling his passion for books, D.N.Malhotra had pursued a dream few had thought possible in young, independent India.

Many publishers would perhaps show numbers to prove how popular they are, but this grand old man of the Indian publishing industry will tell you rather unabashedly that he saw his success when he spotted taxi drivers and liftmen reading the works he published.

The man behind Hind Pocket Books, which made books accessible and affordable and more importantly brought in the paperback revolution to the country, Mr. Malhotra was a man who meant `business' all right but in a way few had thought possible in the 1950s.

A revolutionary who went on to receive the Padma Shri for excellence in book publishing and also won UNESCO's prestigious International Book Award, Mr. Malhotra continues to be one of the crusaders for the Indian publishing industry, stressing on copyright and demanding a slash in postal rates to help books.

Born in a family of publishers, it was perhaps only natural for him to walk into a world he was meant to rule. "I was teaching political science in Srinagar when I realised that the books that I wanted to read were very costly. The salaries of university teachers were very meagre then, so buying books like that was not possible. It was then that it struck me that one should make books available at affordable prices,'' he reveals.

What followed was a trip to Europe over the next four months, with Mr. Mahotra visiting various publishing houses. In 1958, he finally set the foundation of what was to become the country's first exclusive paperback publishing house -- Hind Pocket Books.

He remembers the unapproving nod that came his way when he first announced his decision. "Most people thought I had come back from abroad with crazy ideas. But I was convinced and went ahead to recruit the best in the industry. Right from the editors to the salesman, I had the best in the industry,'' quips Mr. Malhotra.

He started with 6,000 copies of the first edition of 10 Hindi works including Tagore's ``Gitanjali'' to be sold at the price of Re. 1. Three weeks is all it took for all the books to go off the shelf. Mr. Malhotra wanted to give publishing a personal touch and knew all his distributors personally.

As the publisher himself puts it: "I knew the name of every pavement book seller from Calcutta to Thiruvananthapuram. I would meet them, have tea with them and ensure that we did more than just business talk. All of them, right from the salesman to the book stall wheelers were part of the company,'' remarks a nostalgic Mr. Malhotra.

Then the Gharelu Library Yojna set off a library movement that had everyone from, housewives to film stars taking to books.

A story that Mr. Malhotra fondly remembers is that of Prithviraj Kapoor and his subscription of works published by Hind Pocket Books. "He would ask for two packets of books every month and distributed it among his crew. For me it was a great example of our success. We wanted everyone to take to reading and these popular books at affordable prices did just that,'' remarks Mr. Malhotra.

With his children taking over the business, the Hind Pocket Book has branched out and publishes books on spirituality, fiction, personality development, management and classics and is well known for the CafeTurtle Full Circle Bookshop. But things have changed since then. The publishing industry continues to fight a battle against the high postal rates and price of paper.

"With an onslaught of foreign publishers, the need of the hour is protection for the Indian industries. We don't have a lobby today in Parliament or otherwise that would take up our issues. Earlier, the Government would reduce the paper price for us and also had a low postal rate. But who cares about the publishing industry now.''

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