Arvind Book Centre

Our place is on Rahon Road, inside the P S Building at number 51. It’s right on Avenue Road, so there’s plenty of noise from the traffic. Arvind Book Centre is basically just one big room filled with books. We have them on the walls and even some on the floor in boxes we haven't unpacked. It’s a bit of a maze sometimes. We’ve been here for years, and the walls could probably use a fresh coat of paint. But we’d have to move all the books to do that, and that seems like too much work. We just keep adding more stock as it comes in. People come in looking for all sorts of odd things. Sometimes we have them, sometimes we don't. We don’t promise anything, but we’ll look through the stacks for you. The counter is usually covered in papers and half-empty pens. It’s a busy life. My brother and I run the place together. We argue sometimes about where things should go, but we get by. The air is always a bit dusty, that's just how it is with so much paper around. We don't bother with fancy bags; we just wrap things in old newspaper or brown paper if we have it. It’s a practical way of doing things. We’re just a local shop trying to stay open and keep the neighbors reading. We stay open pretty late to make sure people can stop by after work. It’s simple, honest work.