“If you don’t actively look for a bookstore, you won’t find it,” laughed the owner of Hyderabad’s only independent bookstore Lakshmi Myneni...
“If you don’t actively look for a bookstore, you won’t find it,” laughed the owner of Hyderabad’s only independent bookstore Lakshmi Myneni. A former government officer, the 63-year-old along with a close relative, Ashok Kumar, founded Akshara Bookstore in 1997.
Growing up in Visakhapatnam, Myneni was an avid reader of both Telugu and English literature, but reading took a backseat as family and career took precedence. When she opted for a voluntary retirement scheme in the late ’90s, she was on the lookout for something more than just another job, and when there was a chance to reignite her old love for books through a store, she took it up in a heartbeat.
Today, it remains the last surviving standalone bookstore in a city with a population of 68.1 lakh people (as per the 2011 census). The pandemic has crashed its carefully built-up business, but as the store embraces the newer realities of life, it is determined to make its mark in the new normal.
Kumar recalled, “When we started Akshara, the city already had well-established and reputed bookstores like Walden and AA Hussain. In fact, many people questioned the location, which was a relatively less populated locality of Banjara Hills back then, but I was...
