It’s a warm and bright Sunday morning when we find ourselves outside Kiki’s, a tiny little bookstore in Kodaikanal, an idyllic town in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The owner, Paul Raj, is busy stacking books inside and when we walk in, turns around and greets us with a cheery ‘Good morning’.
We tell him that we want to cover the store for a website and he promptly asks me how much he has to pay for it. When we say zilch, he lifts an eyebrow in apparent surprise – are they really doing this for free? Um, yes. Interested now, he opens up with his story and tells us how his love for books was kindled during his tenure as a salesman at the Christian Literary Society in Chennai. He spent 10 years selling religious and other books and was amazed by the impact they made in the lives of the patrons.
From CLS, he moved on to work at Kodai International School (KIS), where his wife, Gandhimathi, also took up the position of Librarian. For Gandhimathi, a diminutive woman with a sunny disposition, this was passion meeting profession. It is a joy meeting Gandhimathi – her smiling face and obvious happiness with life as it is, is infectious. She told us that they were so fortunate that we came looking for them. She actually said, and I quote, “I’m so happy to meet you!” Now, that just made our day. 🙂
Continuing the story, she said that in November 2011, the couple retired from KIS, and in January 2012, Kiki’s was born. Kiki’s is named after their first daughter, Karen, who’s called Kiki at home. Interestingly, all three kids of the couple are named with the alphabet ‘K’. Karan Johar would be impressed – these are people after his own heart. Paul Raj and Gandhimathi set up shop in the current location after taking the premises on rent from a Tibetan who had been selling Tibetan shawls and other oriental trinkets. While renting the store to them, he also bequeathed a few of the shawls, which are now on sale in the store.
Kiki’s has all kinds of books, and the couple have also built relationships with several schools for their book supplies. Due to their past association with KIS, which follows international education standards and therefore has most students from other countries, Kiki’s is a frequent recipient of books from patrons coming from as far off as Israel and Spain. It also sells different kinds of cheese – provided by a Dutch friend. The store’s USP is the fact that they never turn away a customer, even if they don’t have the book in stock – they ensure that they get the book eventually and send it to the customer.
So what did we get from there? Three books, including an autobiography of Diego Maradona, sent in by a loyal Latino patron. 🙂
Tell us what you think – If you’re ever in Kodai – would you visit the store?
The Reading Trail 