On the passing of a bookseller.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

He was gently proud of his family-run establishment, one of Delhi’s most iconic bookstores, located in the capital’s posh Khan Market. But when you chatted with him, it seemed that he would show more enthusiasm for his connections with… Nainital.

To Faqir Chand bookstore’s Anup Bamhi, who died on Saturday following a heart attack, aged 64, merely uttering the word “Nainital” was sufficient to induce him to chat nonstop about the lake town—his school-days in St Joseph’s College, his walks to the Bandstand. If you were willing, he would also lists all the Delhiwale who, like him, were alumni of Nainital’s prestigious boarding schools.

Anup was also a lawyer, but the city knew him for his bookshop. He was very charming, always willing to strike up conversations with customers about books—and also about food. Indeed, he loved talking about food, and he loved sharing it. He would regularly offer a lucky customer a handful of homemade matri, or a cup of “ghar wali chai.” He would look genuinely disappointed if the customer declined.

In the bookstore, he would sit behind the counter, with wife, Mamta—both infusing their bookstore with a mom-and-pop ambiance. At home, while hosting friends in their drawing room, husband and wife would sing duets from old Hindi film songs. Sometimes, they would sing in the bookstore, too.

Anup was also one of Delhi’s most exclusive citizens, in the sense that he was among Khan Market’s last remaining shop owners who still had his home in the market. The family had been living in Khan Market since 1951, when it started with 154 shops and 75 flats. The shops were on the ground floor; the flats were on the first. Until the 1980s, all the flats were homes. Gradually, commerce crept up. Most families moved out after selling or renting out their homes. The Bamhi family continued to live in the market; their home was on the Middle Lane. In 2023, they finally sold the flat and moved to their new address in Defence Colony. They did feel sad about giving up their long-time home, but their Defence Colony apartment turned out to be far quieter than the old address, where the market sounds wouldn’t subside until 2am.

Some years ago, the younger of Anup’s two sons became active in the bookstore. Abhinav made the shop more youthful, giving it a cult status in social media, so much so that today people come to the bookstore to get selfies for their Instagram handles. Anup would often marvel, almost child-like, at the thousands of “likes” his son would gather on his Instagram posts. With the legacy business in good health, he was seen less and less in Khan Market. He would stay at home in peaceful Defence Colony, enjoying semi-retired life surrounded by his wife, his elder son Abhishek, Abhishek’s wife Shilpa, and their daughter Aradhana, and Abhinav.

One afternoon, when he was in the bookstore, Anup acceded to The Delhi Walla’s request, and, in a low voice, sang the following song with full emotion: Lag ja gale ki phir ye haseen raat ho na ho…