Verma, sitting in the cramped upper compartment of the 50-year-old bookshop amid old, yellowed copies alongside new glazed titles, says, “Our online rental book service is aimed at people with time constraint, who like to read but can’t go to a library or a bookshop.” One section is stacked with graphic novels and comics that Verma, who spends a good deal of time in the bookshop, says are much in demand.

While bestsellers and titles by authors like Paulo Coelho and chick-lit novels are the obvious in-demand books, Verma says equally sought after is Truman Capote’s ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s. That aside, Salman Rushdie, Mohsin Hamid and, more recently, Arvind Adiga are also popular among the And the title ‘How to kill your husband and other household hints’? “It is very famous and very much in demand,” Verma says with a chuckle. 

Book Me A Book has a warehouse that stores around 12,000 books, including several multiple copies — many of them yet to be catalogued. “On an average, we rent out 60-odd books per day and the numbers are increasing every day.”

Avoiding the rat race

Filmmaker Arti Jain and her software engineer partner Manish Kumar, meanwhile, began their venture since they wanted to do “something of our own and not fall in the usual rat race”, as Jain puts it. Currently living on their previous savings as their present job is not a profitable business yet, the couple says they are happy to be doing what they wanted to.

... contd.