When I was 17 years old, I began the journey that would change my life: selling books. At Kirti College in Mumbai, where I was studying, th...
When I was 17 years old, I began the journey that would change my life: selling books. At Kirti College in Mumbai, where I was studying, there were many booksellers, and they were always mobbed by students buying textbooks to prepare for the IIT entrance examinations. Now, one particular book was heavily in demand, and very poorly available. The students who wanted it were desperate enough to pay a higher price for it. So I bought a copy for Rs 5 and sold it for Rs 11. This may seem laughable today, but let me put it this way – back in 1981, an unlimited plate of rice was available at Rs 2.
I was a boy who loved to read but couldn’t afford to buy so many books. Selling books to buy books for myself seemed a novel way of funding my reading habit. My daily expenses were only Rs 30 at the time, so if I sold even one book a day, it was enough. But then, as I grew older, I spent a few years participating in student movements.
By 1988, I returned to Mumbai – Bombay back then – and took up a job at a computer repair company...
