D. R. Wijewardane Mawatha's second-hand bookshops boom ...:

Read anything from King to Karunasena

by Umangi de Mel

W. M. Piyasena is the proud shareholder of a flourishing business for over 50 years. Still doing great on the fast lane of success (touch wood) Piyasena along with his uncle, feels that it's the ideal form of earning a living. The line of second-hand book shops on D.R. Wijewardane Mawatha has been their second home, where they've spent the best part of their lives.

The business

"Premadasa Weeraratne, my grandfather started the business in the 1950's near the Maradana train station. After the Non-Aligned Nations Summit he had to shift the shop, so we've been here since 1973" says Piyasena who probably saw changes in the city more than he's seen any other thing in life, having been on D.R. Wijewardane Mawatha for over three decades.

The line of old second-hand book shops filled to the brim with (slightly) dusty, yet great fodder for every soul, definitely looks the second best place on the face of earth, for one to be in... From Sydney Sheldon, Stephen King, Francine Pascal to even the greatest Sri Lankan authors like Martin Wickramesinghe, Karunasene Jayalath and W. A. Silva crowd the book shops attracting even those who never looked at a book after their Advance Level examination.

It's around 5 in the evening and most of the apparent 'book worms' are after work. And I'm pleasantly surprised by the growing number of patrons. People sill do have time to read!

Reasonably priced

"We have quite a few English literature books which sell like hot cakes," says Piyasena interrupting my train of thought. Catering to a wide range of readers, he says that the books are for sale at a very reasonable price.

The books may be second-hand, but they look as good as new, as the previous owner probably cherished them with great care, "Sometimes we go to houses and collect books for a good price.

But mostly, it's them who come to us with their priced possessions, so that somebody else could make use of them. We've also got Chemistry, Physics and Maths books which are quite popular among school goers. We also buy new books from other bookshops at a discount. You can either buy or borrow from us. The prices depend on the book. The reading charges for novels are Rs. 20, Rs.30 and Rs. 50."

Walking out of "Peter's", to merely walk into "Sarath's", we find ourselves surrounded by many a heap of books that could doubtlessly take you into redears heaven. T. H. Sarath, owner of "Sarath Bookshop" says that the shop was moved to the D.R. Wijewardane stretch 30 years back. 'We were near the Maradana station before the Non-Alligned Nations Summit, but this place has been very productive for us. Apart from poya days we work seven days a week."

Sarath being the passionate reader that he is, goes to the extent of getting books down from abroad. Admitting the fact that he sells a lot of English novels, Sarath implies that he never has an issue of running short of customers.

Loyal customers

"I love reading, but it's a pity I can't, having so much of lovely, rare books, because I've got no time to be reading. We open the shops at 9 a.m. and close at 9.30 p.m. We never run out of business," says Sarath.

Siril Karunaratne (Executive) who's a regular buyer, seems to know the shops inside out. Having been a loyal shopper for over seven years, Siril has probably read almost every book possible, but he says he finds more stuff by the next day, "every time I come here, there are new arrivals.

Reading gives me real kick, and places like this are a blessing for people like us who can't afford to buy a lot of books for a reasonable amount, at once.

If I come across rare stuff which I do all the time, I just buy it with no second thoughts, because those might never be found in other bookshops. Every book here comes very cheap and you can borrow a book for just Rs. 20. I buy books even for my children.