MEDIA

Shelf life

Tucked into the labyrinthine by-lanes of Hauz Khas Village sits Yodakin, a welcoming little cupboard of a bookshop with a focus on independent publishers. Left Word, Blaft, Palador, Women Unlimited, Seagull Books and Yoda Press rub worthy shoulders on its shelves. A slim ladder leads to a mezzanine, with more books.

Arpita Das, founder of Yoda Press and co-owner of the bookshop, told us that marketing Yoda Press’s books was always difficult. Independent publishing houses field great reviews and talented authors, but retail stores are squeamish about stocking their titles, preferring the safety of multinational publishers. “It was really the recession that did it,” she explained. “Stores kept giving us the recession excuse, so we thought we’d take advantage of it. Rents were low, Hauz Khas is such an exciting place, and we thought, why not set up a space where we don’t allow multinational publishers?” Niche producers are raising the bar for Indian media publishing, striking out in brave and weird directions. Yodakin brings those efforts together in one place, from Underscore music titles to the Under Construction documentary collection.

Meanwhile, in Mehar Chand Market – fast becoming Khan Market part deux – is CMYK, Roli Books’ art and design-focused bookshop. Named for cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black), the pigments used in colour printing, it’s appropriately colourful, and also sleek, friendly and Wi-Fi enabled. They’re happy to let you flip, flip, flip at your leisure, and it’s lovely not to see any shrink-wrapped volumes, the ultimate sign of prudish retail attitude. Instead they give you special gloves to handle their most expensive books.

“Roli’s known for its art and illustrated books, but we found there was really no place to display them,” said Priya Kapoor of Roli Books. “It was just a question of finding the right kind of place – which Mehar Chand market is – and of what niche we were trying to fill.” CMYK will even give you a cup of coffee while you read, which says a lot about the niche they opted for. “These sorts of books require browsing,” Kapoor said. Naintara Maya Oberoi

Yodakin 2 Hauz Khas Village, www.yodakin.com.
Wed-Mon 10.30am-7.30pm, Tue 2-7.30pm.

May the prose be with you

Shalini Singh, Hindustan Times
December 11, 2009

The poster of a relatively unknown film, Jawan Mard, greets you as you enter Hauz Khas village’s latest addition — Yodakin store. The store offers independent works in books, music, films and other titbits. Akira Kurosawa and Mohsen Makhmalbaf share space with Paromita Vohra and Madhushree Dutta.

“Big retail chains are squeamish about keeping our titles, they always want big names,” says Yoda Press’s co-founder and publisher Arpita Das, “So we found a place for ourselves.” It’s situated at 2, Hauz Khas Village, and browse through this little shop from 10.30 am to 8 pm (except Tuesdays).

Independent corner

Girija Duggal, Hindustan Times

In the labyrinthine lanes of Hauz Khas Village stands a bookshop that would go unnoticed by all but the most persistent — or lucky — few. Called Yodakin, this three month old store is the result of a combination of ideology and passion — to promote literature, music and cinema by independent organisations and to counter mass market-driven publishing conglomerates.

“It’s a struggle to get books by independent publishers to bookstores,” says owner Arpita Das, 35, herself an independent publisher. “What we have is absolutely A-class stuff, as good as Random House or Penguin. But in terms of visibility, they do better because of brand value… The idea was to create a space where we don’t let multinationals in at all.”

So, you’ll find none of the ‘usual’ stuff of publishing giants here. Instead, there are shelves devoted to little known publishers such as Tulika, Zubaan, the “very radical” Blaft, Katha, Women Unlimited and Seagull. The music collection ranges from new age records by Shaair + Func to late 19th-century Marathi natya sangeet. In the films section, Akiro Kurosawa rubs shoulders with the most recent award-winning documentaries. A small section is devoted to periodals such as Himal, Civil Lines and The Little Magazine, and another to children’s books.

The books are displayed- according to the publisher, not genre or author, as is common. “The idea is to get readers more familiar with the publishers and their lists,” says Das.

The response, she says, has been “super”. Das hopes to build a collection of young adult, regional language and foreign
language literature.

For Delhi’s bibliophiles, Yodakin comes as a breath of fresh air. “I’ve finally found my corner in Delhi,” writes one lady in the visitors’ book. “The bookshop has redeemed our previously poor opinion of Delhi,” an Australian couple has scribbled. “I was like ‘wow, we must have done something right,” says a visibly delighted Das. “It was just a dream for me, but somehow it matters to people, which is fantastic.”

Delhi’s indie stop

‘Daily Dump’, Blue Frog CDs and parallel cinema titles jostle for space in this store

Veena Venugopal

Located in the belly button of Hauz Khas village, towards the bottom end of its labyrinthine roads, Yodakin offers 400 sq. ft of alternative, independent and interesting titles in music, books and movies. Whether you are looking for eco-friendly activity books for tweens, CDs of alternative rock bands or esoteric art magazines, this is the place to go.

The store is founder Arpita Das’ solution to the problem of alternative books getting lost in large bookstores. Das runs Yoda Press, an independent publishing house that focuses on urban studies, sexuality and gender, among other subjects. “Large bookstores are all about brand visibility and independent publications like ours were absolutely lost there,” says Das. “They only promote books that are mass market and often published by large multinational publishing houses.”

Books are arranged according to the publishers. This helps customers get an idea of each of these publishers’ lists and areas of interest. So you can browse through titles from Katha, Blaft, Ravi Dayal and Westland, among others. For those whose interests lie left of centre, there are several LeftWord titles.

Lounge loves the periodicals section that has some interesting and well-produced titles such as Gallerie, the orange interiors and the cool bohemian vibe. And Lounge really loves the children’s section. If, like most parents, you are looking for an alternative to Princesses and Poohs, this is the place to go. Yodakin is also the only place in Delhi where you can buy Daily Dump, an eco-friendly set of books and activities for pre-teens.

Alternative: Das started Yodakin as a retail space for Yoda books. Priyanka Parashar/Mint

Alternative: Das started Yodakin as a retail space for Yoda books. Priyanka Parashar/Mint
The music section is equally eclectic—with Blue Frog CDs rubbing shoulders with Underscore, the label of Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan. “They have an important list called living music from the past which really is excellent music pulled out of the archives. Their CD on Marathi Natya Sangeet was picked up recently by a Japanese music aficionado. So the matching of the music and the kind of customer we have has been interesting,” Das says.

Yodakin is also developing its world movie collection. Other than Palador and Shemaroo’s lists in world cinema, the store also sells Indian documentaries in the Under Construction label. If you are looking for DVDs of Govind Nihalani and Shyam Benegal movies, you will be able to find them here, too. The store managers are clued in, they know their music and books and you are not met with a blank stare when you enquire about something.

“Hauz Khas was a safety net,” Das says. “This place is full of eccentrics, so I thought we won’t stick out. Now, we realize that this is very much the catchment area for a store like this. A band of loyal and avid readers have now attached themselves to this place. That’s helped tremendously.”

We’re at:

2, Hauz Khas Village,
New Delhi 110 16

Store timings: 11:00 am - 8:00 pm
Except Tuesday: 2pm - 8pm
And Sunday: 12 noon - 8 pm

Tel: 011-41787201 and 26536283
Email: info@yodakin.com

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