The oldest outlet of the Majestic Book Depot – as old as the Quit India Movement – hasn’t changed much with the passage of time. Since July 1942, this little bookstore in Girgaum Naka, a bustling traditional precinct in south Mumbai, has catered to the city’s Marathi bibliophiles. It began life as a hub for tomes and pamphlets on India’s freedom struggle; now the life story of US President Barack Obama and Harry Potter books are the hot favourites. But it hasn’t grown in size or gone digital.

In the age of big retail chains and virtual bookstores, Majestic is a little piece of the city’s history and a testimony to the survival of the humble bookstore. Moreover, Majestic’s sales figures, along with those of the few other shops in Mumbai selling Marathi books, suggest that the Marathi bookstore is indeed not dead. The store’s manager says they sold 18,000 copies of their current best-seller, a biography of Obama by Marathi writer Sanjay Avte, in two months.

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